QQQ – 6/30/2016

This trade in QQQ was actually a test trade I did in my virtual account. The only reason I put it in the book is to give you a good example on how I test out new trades and how I am always looking for a better way to bring in premium.

In this Calendar example on 6/30/16 I sold the July week 1 $107 Put for $0.26 and purchased the July week 2 $107 Put for $0.76 with QQQ trading at $107.48. Where this calendar is different from most I trade is that it was designed to take advantage of only one day of time. This was my attempt at what I called a Calendar Scalp. I believed that QQQ was going to pull back some on Friday, which it did not. This is not the only Calendar Scalp I tried but will not put any others in the book because I was not very successful with them. Based on my calculations even if QQQ had finished closer to $107.00 this still may not have been profitable. Since it finished at $108.14 it certainly did not have a chance to be profitable.

The problem with the Calendar Scalp is there is just not enough time. Not enough time to sell and not enough time to let the market move back toward your position if you are initially wrong. No way to make adjustments in this one, if it moves against you, you just lose.

Date	Symb		Exp	Strike	Price	Cont	Type	Cost	Balance
06/30/16	QQQ	BTO	7WK2	107	-$0.79	5	Put	-$402.61	-$402.61
06/30/16	QQQ	STO	7WK1	107	$0.26	5	Put	$122.38	-$208.23
07/01/16	QQQ	BTC	7WK1	107	-$0.01	5	Put	-$12.58	-$292.81
07/01/16	QQQ	STC	7WK2	107	$0.33	5	Put	$157.38	-$135.43