OPENING: XOP MAY 17TH 28/33 SHORT STRANGLE

... for a 1.03 credit/contract.

Metrics:

Max Profit: $103
Max Loss/Buying Power Effect: Undefined/~3.85
Break Evens: 26.97/34.03
Delta: -6.81
Theta: 1.9

Notes: Going directionally neutral short strangle here with 30-day implied more than twice that of the broad market and giving myself a little room to manage intratrade. Will look to take profit at 50% max (.51).

Handel aktiv:

Rolling up the 28 short put to the 29 intraexpiry for a .17/contract credit (delta balancing). Scratch at 1.20/contract.

Handel aktiv:

Rolling the 29 to the 30 for a realized gain and .17/contract credit, cutting net delta in half. Scratch at 1.37.

Handel aktiv:

Rolling the 30 to the 31 for a realized gain and a .38/contract credit. Scratch at 1.75 with break evens at 29.25 and 31.75. I'm fine with giving this setup a little bit more time to work out before rolling for duration, since June is still 59 days out.

Handel aktiv:

Hanging out another week to see if this hits take profit target without further adjustment/rolling ... . It's well within the break evens at 29.25 and 34.75 -- the short put strike (31) minus credits collected (1.75) for the downside/the short call strike (33) plus the credits collected (1.75) for the upside break even. To get .52 out of it (my original profit target), it has to stay between 29.77 and 34.23 ... .

Handel aktiv:

Probably trying to milk too much out of this trade before rolling it out for duration ... . Rolling the 33 short call down to the 32 strike for a .28/contract credit. Scratch at 2.03.

Handel aktiv:

Well, got a little too cute trying to milk all the extrinsic out of this one, which would've been fine if it hadn't moved much running into expiry ... . Briefly inverted defensively to a one wide (which I neglected to post here) and then ultimately rolled out to the June 21st 32 short straddle which I'll work as a bullish assumption, cost basis reduction setup throughout the summer months ... . I'll take that trade up in a separate post and go from there.