SPX – 9/17/18 – Iron Condor
This was one of my most difficult trades of the year. It was an SPX Iron Condor which I have pretty strict rules for trading but it was moving up and then down so fast that I struggled to trade my rules.
On 9/17 with SPX trading at $2902.00 I entered an Iron Condor expecting easy profits like I had seen throughout the year trading these. I started the trade by selling the $3020.00 Call and buying the $3035.00 Call to cover while selling the $2675.00 Put and buy the $2660.00 Put to cover it.
On 9/20 SPX spiked up to $2932.00 putting my short Call delta at 20, I try to adjust around 30.
On 10/3 SPX was up to $2937.39 but my short Call delta had dropped a little to 18 as the market was slowing down and time had passed.
By 10/11 SPX had dropped from $2937.39 to $2771.00, my Calls were fine now but my short Put was in trouble with a delta of 28 which increased to 31 during that day.
On 10/12 I was able to roll my Puts from from 11/16 to 12/7 and from 2675/2660 to 2650/2630. I increase the spread from 15 to 20 which increased my risk for a net credit which was nice, except for the increased risk! But at least I managed to move the short Put down from 2675 to 2650.
On 10/23 SPX moved against me again down to $2700.00. I rolled my Calls down 100 points and increased their spread from 15 to 20 to match my calls to bring in a credit in order to adjust my Puts again.
I then rolled my Puts down another 50 points from 2650/2630 to 2600/2580 and my expiration from 12/7 to 12/14. I was still able to bring in a net credit from my 10/23 rolls.
On 10/25 SPX spiked down yet again to $2648.00, my short Put delta spiked up to 33 (over my 30 adjustment level). However, because I had moved down twice already I really felt the market might cooperate and move up for me. By the end of the day the market had bounced up to $2686.00 and my short Put delta was now right at 30.0
On 10/26 SPX moved down to $2640.00 and I decided to Puts down again and from 12/14 to 12/21 from 2600/2580 to 2570/2550. Surely this would be enough! I kept my Calls where they were because I still had a credit on this trade and was afraid it would make a rapid move up.
On 11/8 SPX spiked up to $2811.00 bid and my Calls were now moving toward a 30 delta on my short Call.
On 11/18 SPX had begun to pull back. I decided to roll my Call out so they would be on the same expiration as my Puts (makes closing easier) but did not roll them up. I rolled my Calls from 12/14 to 12/21 expiration.
On 11/20 SPX had dropped big over the past couple of days an my short Put delta was at 33. I decided to wait and see because of how much I had moved down already. I really felt the market was WAY oversold and there just could not be that much downward pressure left.
On 11/26 my GTC order FINALLY hit and I closed at about break even. Remember, once I make a single adjustment I move my GTC to break even to just get out of the trade as soon as possible.
I ended up with a $24.00 profit on a risk of $5001.00 or about 0.48% over 70 days. Of course, the profit here is not what is important. What is important is that I kept from losing money and came very close to following my trading rules.
When my trade finally closed SPX was at $2673.00.
| Date | EXP | Strike | Price | Ct | C/P | Cost | Balance | |
| 09/17/18 | SO | 11/16/18 | $3,020.00 | $5.24 | 3 | C | $1,572.00 | $1,572.00 |
| 09/17/18 | BO | 11/16/18 | $3,035.00 | $3.97 | 3 | C | -$1,191.00 | $381.00 |
| 09/17/18 | SO | 11/16/18 | $2,675.00 | $10.74 | 3 | P | $3,222.00 | $3,603.00 |
| 09/17/18 | BO | 11/16/18 | $2,660.00 | $9.96 | 3 | P | -$3,000.00 | $603.00 |
| 10/12/18 | BC | 11/16/18 | $2,675.00 | $34.96 | 3 | P | -$10,494.00 | -$9,891.00 |
| 10/12/18 | SC | 11/16/18 | $2,660.00 | $31.69 | 3 | P | $9,507.00 | -$384.00 |
| 10/12/18 | SO | 12/07/18 | $2,650.00 | $39.99 | 3 | P | $11,997.00 | $11,613.00 |
| 10/12/18 | BO | 12/07/18 | $2,630.00 | $36.07 | 3 | P | -$10,827.00 | $786.00 |
| 10/12/18 | BC | 11/16/18 | $3,020.00 | $0.80 | 3 | C | -$246.00 | $540.00 |
| 10/12/18 | SC | 11/16/18 | $3,035.00 | $0.65 | 3 | C | $195.00 | $735.00 |
| 10/12/18 | SO | 12/07/18 | $2,980.00 | $3.50 | 3 | C | $1,050.00 | $1,785.00 |
| 10/12/18 | BO | 12/07/18 | $3,000.00 | $2.60 | 3 | C | -$786.00 | $999.00 |
| 10/23/18 | BC | 12/07/18 | $2,980.00 | $1.03 | 3 | C | -$315.00 | $684.00 |
| 10/23/18 | SC | 12/07/18 | $3,000.00 | $0.73 | 3 | C | $219.00 | $903.00 |
| 10/23/18 | SO | 12/14/18 | $2,880.00 | $7.20 | 3 | C | $2,160.00 | $3,063.00 |
| 10/23/18 | BO | 12/14/18 | $2,900.00 | $5.20 | 3 | C | -$1,566.00 | $1,497.00 |
| 10/23/18 | BC | 12/07/18 | $2,650.00 | $56.27 | 3 | P | -$16,887.00 | -$15,390.00 |
| 10/23/18 | SC | 12/07/18 | $2,630.00 | $50.54 | 3 | P | $15,162.00 | -$228.00 |
| 10/23/18 | SO | 12/14/18 | $2,600.00 | $47.29 | 3 | P | $14,187.00 | $13,959.00 |
| 10/23/18 | BO | 12/14/18 | $2,580.00 | $42.86 | 3 | P | -$12,864.00 | $1,095.00 |
| 10/26/18 | BC | 12/14/18 | $2,600.00 | $55.65 | 3 | P | -$16,701.00 | -$15,606.00 |
| 10/26/18 | SC | 12/14/18 | $2,580.00 | $50.05 | 3 | P | $15,015.00 | -$591.00 |
| 10/26/18 | SO | 12/21/18 | $2,570.00 | $52.05 | 3 | P | $15,615.00 | $15,024.00 |
| 10/26/18 | BO | 12/21/18 | $2,550.00 | $47.20 | 3 | P | -$14,166.00 | $858.00 |
| 11/18/18 | BC | 12/14/18 | $2,880.00 | $16.26 | 3 | C | -$4,878.00 | -$4,020.00 |
| 11/18/18 | SC | 12/14/18 | $2,900.00 | $10.89 | 3 | C | $3,267.00 | -$753.00 |
| 11/18/18 | SO | 12/21/18 | $2,880.00 | $21.19 | 3 | C | $6,537.00 | $5,604.00 |
| 11/18/18 | BO | 12/21/18 | $2,900.00 | $15.02 | 3 | C | -$4,518.00 | $1,086.00 |
| 11/26/18 | BC | 12/21/18 | $2,880.00 | $1.10 | 3 | C | -$330.00 | $756.00 |
| 11/26/18 | SC | 12/21/18 | $2,900.00 | $0.75 | 3 | C | $225.00 | $981.00 |
| 11/26/18 | BC | 12/21/18 | $2,570.00 | $17.85 | 3 | P | -$5,355.00 | -$4,374.00 |
| 11/26/18 | SC | 12/21/18 | $2,550.00 | $14.70 | 3 | P | $4,422.00 | $24.00 |
| Profit of: | $24.00 |
