A lot has happened since my last post. I've won a few and lost a few (trades, that is). I've started using twitter regularly (you can follow me @potentcocktail), and quit my traditional jobs (at ThoughtWorks and Amazon.com) to trade full time. I've also realized that in order to make money consistently and with less stress, I need a plan to follow. Sheridan Options Mentoring is helping me create and follow that plan.
I've signed up as a student, but my mentorship doesn't officially start until April. In the meantime, I've been watching lots of webinars, and have been trading a little based on them. I've learned the basics of several strategies, including the Iron Condor, Calendar Spread, Double Diagonal, and Iron Butterfly. Last month I was very successful with the following trades:
- On 2011-02-14, sold the RUT March 760/770/865/875 Iron Condor for 2.35 credit. I was looking to make a 15% profit on my margin of 7.47 (about 1.12 per share), and lose no more than 15%.
- On 2011-02-15, bought the SPX March/April 1325 Call Calendar for 9.30 debit. For this trade my profit target was 20% of my debit of 9.30 (about 1.86 per share), and lose no more than 25%.
- I ended up making a adjustment to roll down the put spread on the Iron Condor to the 750/760 strikes on 2011-02-24. This decreased my credit to 2.08, and upped my margin to 7.92 per share. I adjusted my profit target to 15% of this, or about 1.19 per share.
- On 2011-02-22 my Calendar hit its profit target, and I sold it back for 11.20, leaving me with a profit of 1.90.
- On 2011-03-09 my profit target on the Iron Condor was reached, and I bought it back for 0.89, leaving me with my 1.19 profit.
- On 2011-03-15, bought the SPX April/May 1285 Call Calendar for 12.60 debit. Profit target of 20%, max loss of 25%.
- On 2011-03-15, also sold the RUT April 700/710/845/855 Iron Condor for 2.59 credit. Profit target of 15%, max loss of 15%.
- On 2011-03-15, also sold the NDX April 2100/2250/2400 Iron Butterfly for 93.90 credit. Profit target of 15%, max loss of 20%.
