http://winning-options.com Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:51:29 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   Let's do a quick update before market opens. In the last post, I mentioned "the Jan 28 and Feb 9 double-top forms the next resistance in the 870 area". Yesterday's big drop shows that the overbought market has decided to that a breather (more like a big sigh!). Our positions are looking ... http://winning-options.com/update-for-our-current-iron-condors/2009/04/21/   Just a quick note to say that 'Yes, I am alive!' Also, an apology to the regular readers for the sudden 6 months sabbathical. It has been a rather eventful 6 months for me. 4 of those months were spent conducting courses for a group of private investors-turned-traders. I have kept those ... http://winning-options.com/i-am-back/2009/04/05/   Months from now, we'll look back and proudly say we survived September 08. Having a trade on this month does give one some boasting rights. Coming out from it unscathed deserves a beer. Iron condor can be very nasty strategy to trade when things turn volatile, like during a 60 points ... http://winning-options.com/october-iron-condor-closed/2008/09/23/   As mentioned in the last post, our October Iron Condor is as follows: Bear Call Spread Our October Bear Call Spread was opened on the 3rd September at 1385/ 1410 (specifically sold SPX October 1385 Call and bought SPX October 1410 Call) for a net credit of $1.70. The SPX was hovering ... http://winning-options.com/october-iron-condor/2008/09/10/   While I was right about the down move (see previous post "Kiss of Death"), the sad thing is that I did not fully capitalise on it. When I first began to trade options many years ago, I remember an often-asked question : "Would you want to be right or would ... http://winning-options.com/september-iron-condor-omission/2008/09/06/   In the last post, I mentioned that "a pull-back at this point towards the underside of the wedge would make a nice lower-risk set-up for a short". Sure looks like the SPX is doing just that ! See chart : While the SPX can continue to challenge this rising trend-line, a ... http://winning-options.com/bearish-rising-wedge/2008/08/25/ Market Situation It doesn't look good ! Recall we talked about the "rising wedge" (see post) ? We mentioned that chances are high that it would result in the continuation to the downside. Well, on Monday, the pattern showed its hands by breaching the lower trend-line for the first time since mid-July (see ... http://winning-options.com/september-iron-condor-update/2008/08/21/   We are a little late this month and it has resulted in lower credits. On Wednesday (13 August 2008), we opened a Bull Put Spread at 1150/1125 for a credit of 1.50. Specifically, we sold the SPX September 1150 Put and bought the SPX September 1125 Put for a net credit ... http://winning-options.com/september-iron-condor/2008/08/15/   The SPX has been confined to a congestion for the past 20 odd trading sessions, forming what chartist like to call a rising wedge. Sudden big up day followed by big down day is typical during periods of consolidation. The big question is what will result from this type of consolidation? ... http://winning-options.com/trading-chart-pattern/2008/08/14/   Looks like August is kind enough to give us our 16%! Our Bear Call Spread was under threat over the weekend and on Monday. The SPX registered a high of 1313, just 17 points short of our short call at 1330. I did not check the delta at that point (I ... http://winning-options.com/2-days-to-option-expiry/2008/08/13/