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Trading volume was low today; stock trading results were mixed with modest increases across all of the market indexes. RUT closed at $496.52, up $3.21. This market is still quite volatile and capable of large moves in either direction on the quirkiest of data points, so you must watch your positions carefully. But, in general, we are trading in a choppy, sideways market - ideal for delta neutral income generation options trading.
The iron butterfly I initiated yesterday is sitting essentially at break-even with position delta of -$16 and theta of +$76.
My Aug iron condor stands at a small profit at this point; by all measures this position should be in adjustment mode: the delta of the short $530 calls = 23 and the debit to close the calls stands at about double the original credit. Buying the two Sept $530 calls yesterday was the right move. It was $1,920 well spent for insurance. This buys us time to see if this market is going to continue upward or not.
As you can see from following these trades, three attributes of the delta neutral options trader are essential: 1) patience - much of the time you are just waiting for time decay, 2) specific rules for adjustments, and 3) the discipline to follow your rules.
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Strength in the financial sector appeared to boost the entire market today. The S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 indexes bounced strongly off the support levels they were toying with for the past few sessions. RUT closed at $493.31. I will be watching the next levels of resistance on RUT around $520 and $535. I re-established the call spreads for my August iron condor this morning. I would have preferred the 540/550 strikes, but I have another position with long $540 calls, so I dropped down to the $530/$540 call spreads for $1.40 (or $2,800 for 20 contracts). As it turned out, the market continued up strongly all day and I hedged my position by buying 2 Sept $530 calls at $9.60 in the early afternoon. This hedge will hold my position loss to less than $1,000 up to around $525-$530 on the RUT. This buys me time to see if the RUT bounces off its resistance levels at $520 and $535 before I pull the plug on this trade. At the close, the iron condor position stood at a gain of $280, delta = -$15 and theta = +$95.
I also established a new iron butterfly position late in the trading day with the $440/$490 puts for $13.70 and the $510/$560 calls at $9.55, for a total credit of $6,975 on 3 contracts ($8,025 of capital at risk). I positioned this butterfly with some bullish bias (positive deltas) because the RUT bounced so strongly off support today. I will plan to be in this position for two weeks or less.
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The major indexes all traded close to sideways with lower volume today. The Russell 2000 index closed at $479.27. I took advantage of the little bit of upward motion this morning and closed the put spreads remaining from my July iron butterfly; I closed the 450/480 put spreads for $7.85 for a $1,750 loss. I had closed the call spreads for a $3,300 gain Tuesday; so the net gain on the position was $1,550 or 17%.
I also closed the 570/580 call spreads in my Aug iron condor today for $0.25 or a $1,600 gain. If we have a strong day in the market within the next few days, I will re-establish my call spreads. I don't feel too exposed with the put spreads since I have the long Sep $430 puts as a hedge.
It is interesting that the RUT has paused here in the neighborhood of support levels formed in early May. If we have some definitive moves upward from here, I will breathe a sign of relief and re-establish new call spreads for my condor. If it breaks support, we may be in for a severe leg downward. Those of you who follow chart patterns may see the head and shoulders pattern on the RUT and the SPX. That is traditionally seen as a topping pattern, so that would predict breaking support and forming another leg downward. But if that happens, I am hedged and will close the remaining spreads of my condor for much less than an average month's credit. That is risk management and it's essential for managing iron condors.
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Trading today was choppy with mixed results; there were some bright spots in tech stocks, but otherwise, it was sideways to downward for most stocks. Overall trading volume was low; maybe traders are waiting to see what the earnings announcements look like next week. RUT is holding at the support levels of mid-May, closing at $480.98. I am still waiting for a strong day in the market to re-establish the call spreads of my Aug iron condor. That position now consists of 20 contracts of the Aug 420/430 put spreads and 1 contract of the Sept 430 puts. The position delta stands at +$50 while theta = $26. This position now stands at a net profit of $345; my options analysis software predicts I could tolerate a move down to about $460 and hold the position loss under $1,000. So we continue to wait and see if the markets break support and drop toward the March lows or meander sideways from here (a rally doesn't seem probable).
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Today's market started out looking like we were going over the edge... sell everything!! But news from the Treasury auction appears to have brought some buyers back into the market and repaired some, but not all, of the damage. The S&P 500 closed for the second day below its 200 dma (200 day moving average), but it closed $10 above its session lows. This area of about $875 is the support level that the S&P 500 found back in May. That is why I found today's market action somewhat (not very!) encouraging; if we break this support level, it could get nasty. Today's trading volume was the highest in two weeks, but I am unsure if that is a good or a bad sign. I could argue stronger volume on the severe downward move throughout most of the day was very negative. However, one could also argue that the higher volume reflects confidence that the intraday lows were seen as buying opportunities. Reading tea leaves isn't easy.
RUT closed at $479.6. I still have the 480/450 put spreads from my July iron butterfly. Today's action wasn't sufficient to cause the entire trade to go into the red, so I decided to give it more time. This was a debatable call - a more conservative trader would have closed the puts at the open this morning and locked in a gain on the trade.
The market tripped the adjustment triggers on my Aug iron condors: the delta of the $430 puts hit 21 today. I bought one Sept $430 put and cut my position delta to +$30; the position theta = +$41, which gives us a weak, but acceptable, theta/delta ratio. The position P/L stands at +$210. This hedge should hold our position losses to under $1000 for RUT prices as low as $460 - and that's the point; we are buying time and giving the market a chance to recover.
