Weekly Trade Summary: December 17 - December 23

This week I made two adjustments on my 28-Feb expiration BWB (trade #53). I had planned to also adjust trade #52, but was again to busy with work. Details of this week's trading below:

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Trade #53:  February 28 Weekly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 19-Dec & 22-Dec

• 07-December Entry (post)
• 08-December Adjustment (post)
• 19-December Adjustment
• 22-December Adjustment

I currently have 4 open trades, with expirations in Jan (2) and Feb (2). Total defined risk for these trades is at 68% of the account net liquidation value.

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Of the 4 open trades, all 4 currently have positive P&L:

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49 trades have been closed this year, with 31 wins and 18 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 5.4%.  Total win rate is at 63% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 72%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

I will be on vacation in Mexico all next week, and will try to keep from making any adjustments. Any adjustments to my existing trades will follow the priorities outlined below:

• Highly Likely: N/A
• Likely: N/A
• Possible: #52, #53
• Unlikely: #48, #49

If I was in town next week, I'd start looking at the 16-March monthly expiration trade. So unfortunately / fortunately an entry for that expiration will probably have to wait for the first week of January.



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Weekly Trade Summary: December 10 - December 16

This week I closed two trades for small profits and adjusted my 19-Jan trade. I had planned to adjust one of my other trades, but work meetings kept me too busy this week. Details of this week's trading below:

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Trade #46:  December 29 Weekly Expiration BWB - Closed 11-December (+2.38%)

• 17-October Entry (post)
• 18-October Adjustment (post)
• 27-October Adjustment (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)
• 27-November Adjustment (post)

Trade #47:  December 29 Weekly Expiration BWB - Closed 11-December (+3.40%)

• 24-October Entry (post)
• 26-October Adjustment (post)
• 27-October Adjustment (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)
• 27-November Adjustment (post)

Trade #48:  January 19 Monthly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 11-December

• 03-November Entry (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)
• 27-November Adjustment (post)
• 07-December Adjustment (post)
• 11-December Adjustment

I currently have 4 open trades, with expirations in Jan (2) and Feb (2):

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Total defined risk for these trades is at 66% of the account net liquidation value.

49 trades have been closed this year, with 31 wins and 18 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 5.4%.  Total win rate is at 63% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 72%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

Of the 4 open trades, 3 currently have a positive P&L. The trade with negative P&L was entered on 28-November:

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Next week I will keep an eye out for new trades in the weekly February 23 expiration. I will make adjustments in my existing trades as follows:

• Highly Likely: #53
• Likely: N/A
• Possible: #52
• Unlikely: #48, #49

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Weekly Trade Summary: December 03 - December 09

This week I entered one new BWB on the 28-Feb expiration, and adjusted three existing trades. I also made one mistake on 07-Dec in adjusting a monthly 16-Feb expiration trade...I accidentally used weekly options instead of monthly options. I had to reverse that trade for a $14 loss. Details of this week's trading below:

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Trade #48:  January 19 Monthly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 07-Dec

• 03-November Entry (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)
• 27-November Adjustment (post)
• 07-December Adjustment

Trade #49:  January 31 Weekly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 07-Dec

• 14-November Entry (post)
• 27-November Adjustment (post)
• 28-November Adjustment (post)
• 07-December Adjustment

Trade #52:  February 16 Monthly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 08-Dec

• 28-November Entry (post)
• 08-December Adjustment

Trade #53:  February 28 Weekly Expiration BWB - Entered 07-Dec, Adjusted 08-Dec

• 07-December Entry
• 08-December Adjustment

I currently have 6 open trades, with expirations in Dec (2), Jan (2), and Feb (2):

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Total defined risk for these trades is at 86.8% of the account net liquidation value.

47 trades have been closed this year, with 29 wins and 18 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 4.8%.  Total win rate is at 62% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 71%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

Of the 6 open trades, 5 currently have a positive P&L. The trade with negative P&L was entered last week:

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Regarding the one losing trade (trade #52), the decay of its options are a bit odd. Trade #52 is displaying decay behavior that is completely different than the typical decay of my BWB trades. The images below are from my active trade monitoring spreadsheet and show the decay of the options in % terms, by strike, for trades #49, #52, and #53.

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Typically, the lower long decays faster than the upper long, but this is not happening with trade #49...hence the decay line is sloping the opposite direction from my typical trades.

Next week I will keep an eye out for new trades in the weekly February 9 and February 23 expirations. I will make adjustments in my existing trades as follows:

• Highly Likely: #48
• Likely: 
• Possible: #52, #53
• Unlikely: #46, #47, #49

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Weekly Trade Summary: November 26 - December 02

This week I adjusted my four BWB (expirations: 29-Dec, 19-Jan, 31-Jan), entered one new trade on the Feb-16 expiration, and closed out my debit spread hedges for larger losses than planned. Although the hedges took larger losses than planned, they provided peace of mind while I was in China with no connectivity to my broker. Details of this week's trading below:

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Trade #46:  December 29 Weekly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 27-Nov

• 17-October Entry (post)
• 18-October Adjustment (post)
• 27-October Adjustment (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)

Trade #47:  December 29 Weekly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 27-Nov

• 24-October Entry (post)
• 26-October Adjustment (post)
• 27-October Adjustment (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)

Trade #48:  January 19 Monthly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 27-Nov

• 03-November Entry (post)
• 03-November Adjustment (post)

Trade #49:  January 31 Weekly Expiration BWB - Adjusted 27-Nov, 28-Nov

• 14-November Entry (post)
• 27-November Adjustment
• 28-November Adjustment

Trade #50:  December 15 Monthly Expiration HEDGE - Closed 27-November (-66.5%)

• 15-November Entry (post)
• Note: planned loss exit was -50%, plan exceeded by 16.5%
• Note: if not in China, would have closed on 21-Nov @ $2.10 / -59.6%

Trade #51:  December 29 Weekly Expiration HEDGE - Closed 27-November (-53.7%)

• 15-November Entry (post)
• Note: planned loss exit was -50%, plan exceeded by 3.7%
• Note: if not in China, would have closed on 21-Nov @ $2.60 / -50.2%

Trade #52:  February 16 Monthly Expiration BWB - Entered 28-Nov

• 28-November Entry

I currently have 5 open trades, with expirations in Dec (2), Jan (2), and Feb (1):

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Total defined risk for these trades is at 66.9% of the account net liquidation value.

47 trades have been closed this year, with 29 wins and 18 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 4.8%.  Total win rate is at 62% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 71%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

Of the 5 open trades, 4 currently have a positive P&L. The trade with negative P&L was entered this week:

(click to enlarge)

Next week I will be looking for new trades in the weekly February expirations (if available). I will make adjustments in my existing trades as follows:

• Highly Likely: #48
• Likely: #49
• Possible: #52
• Unlikely: #46, #47

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Weekly Trade Summary: November 19 - November 25

I was in China all this week with limited internet connectivity thanks to the "Great Firewall Of China". This week a contingent order closed my 15-Dec expiration butterfly for a small profit. Details of this week's trading below:

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December 15 Monthly Expiration Trade (#45) - Closed 21-November (+4.1%)

• 27-September Entry (post)
• 29-September Adjustment (post)
• 02-October Adjustment (post)
• 05-October Adjustment (post)
• 17-October Adjustment (post)
• 27-October Adjustment (post)

I currently have 4 open trades, with expirations in Dec (2) and Jan (2), plus two debit spread hedges:

(click to enlarge)

Total defined risk for these trades is at 44.7% of the account net liquidation value.

45 trades have been closed this year, with 29 wins and 16 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 5.9%.  Total win rate is at 64% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 71%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

Next week I will be looking for new trades in the February expirations. I will also evaluate my hedges and likely close them for larger losses than I'd like. They did offer some degree of downside protection while I was disconnected in China. I got back to the USA about 1:00AM on the 26th, and will fly back to my client in Raleigh, NC on the 27th.


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Weekly Trade Summary: November 12 - November 18

I left for China right before this week ended, and was in the air for the close on November 18th...so a bit late with two weeks of trade summaries.

This week I entered 1 new trade on the Jan-31 expiration and added debit spreads to hedge the account. The hedges were added on the down day on the 15th. Details of this week's trading below:

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January 31 Weekly Expiration Trade (#49) - Entered 14-Nov

• 14-November Entry

December 15 Monthly Expiration Hedge (#50) - Entered 15-Nov

• 15-November Entry

December 29 Weekly Expiration Trade (#51) - Entered 15-Nov

• 15-November Entry

I currently have 5 open trades, with expirations in Dec (3) and Jan (2), plus 2 debit spread hedges:

(click to enlarge)

Total defined risk for these trades is at 54% of the account net liquidation value.

44 trades have been closed this year, with 28 wins and 16 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 5.6%.  Total win rate is at 64% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 70%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

I will be in China next week and all of these trades will be on auto pilot. I won't have my laptop with me, so the hedges and butterflies will hopefully work out okay.


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Weekly Trade Summary: November 5 - November 11

I did not enter or adjust any trades this week. The slight drop in the SPX kept me from adjusting. My travel schedule kept me from being able to enter another butterfly this week...too much time on planes. There did seem to be a good entry on the Jan 31 expiration on yesterday.

I currently have 4 open trades, with expirations in Dec (3) and Jan (1):

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Total defined risk for these trades is still at 42% of the account net liquidation value.

44 trades have been closed this year, with 28 wins and 16 losses. Return on the account/portfolio for the year is at 5.6%.  Total win rate is at 64% including hedges. The win rate on the core trades is at 70%, and getting closer to the historical win rate. Still not happy with the core trade win rate, but at least it is improving and the losses have been small.

Of the 4 open trades, 2 currently have a positive P&L.

(click to enlarge)

Next week I will be looking to enter a trade on the January 31 expiration. I will make adjustments in my existing trades as follows:

• Highly Likely: N/A
• Likely: N/A
• Possible: #46, #47, #48
• Unlikely: #45

Quite a bit of travel during the last week and the next two weeks. This could impact both trading and blogging. Was in Raleigh last week, then back home to Salt Lake City for one night, and now in Los Angeles. Heading back home tomorrow night, and then flying back to Raleigh on Monday.


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