SPX – 6/23/16

I placed this Iron Condor the day before the Britain European Union exit vote. This could have been considered a high risk trade, except I legged into it. I sold my Calls on 6/23 and waited until 6/24 to sell my Puts. I was able to take advantage of the market panic sell, since I believed it would bounce back up quickly I was happy to do so. In the end this was one of my best Condor trades. Things worked out better than I could have hoped as you will see.

SPX was trading at $2,104.48 on 6/23/16. I sold 10 August 2016 expiration $2215 Calls and purchased the $2240 Calls to cover them for about $1.80 per contract. My risk was $23,304.90 with a potential profit of $1,695.10 on just my calls. On 6/24 the SPX had dropped to $2,051.00 and volatility was moving up because of the drop. Because of the volatility being so high I was able to sell the August 2016 $1760 Puts and buy the August 2016 $1735 Puts to cover them for about $1.00 in more premium. The high volatility allowed me to pick a strike $291.00 away from where the SPX was currently trading and bring in another $1,395.10 in premium making my potential profit $3,090.20 and reducing my risk to $21,909.80. If I held until expiration my return would be about 14%.

After I my Puts filled I placed a GTC order to close this position at a debit of $1.25. On 6/28 with the market rebounding nicely my GTC order filled and I pocketed $1,719.90 in just 5 days. A return of about 7.5% on my initial risk of $23,304.90. They do not all work out this way, but when they do it is great.

Date	Symb		Exp	Strike	Price	Cont	Type	Cost	Balance
06/23/16	SPX	BTO	AUG16	2240	-$2.00	10	Call	-$2,052.50	-$2,052.50
06/23/16	SPX	STO	AUG16	2215	$3.80	10	Call	$3,747.60	$1,695.10
06/24/16	SPX	BTO	AUG16	1735	-$10.00	10	Put	-$10,052.50	-$8,357.40
06/24/16	SPX	STO	AUG16	1760	$11.00	10	Put	$11,447.60	$3,090.20
06/28/16	SPX	BTC	AUG16	2215	-$0.55	10	Call	-$580.02	$2,510.18
06/28/16	SPX	BTC	AUG16	1760	-$6.25	10	Put	-$6,280.10	-$3,769.92
06/28/16	SPX	STC	AUG16	1735	$5.20	10	Put	$5,169.90	$1,399.98
06/28/16	SPX	STC	AUG16	2240	$0.35	10	Call	$320.10	$1,720.08