The unrelenting August rally put some pressure on the call side of our iron condor positions. However, we were able to close out the month with flat-to-positive performance for the newsletter trades due in part to our ability to stagger trade entries based on volatility and delta exposure and to size positions on a risk-adjusted basis – both techniques that we teach on the members area of the site. We are nearing the end of the September expiration cycle and…
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
February 2009 was one of the most profitable months ever for our newsletter. We were able to enter several positions at optimal moments in the cycle, and a cooperative market allowed us to let some trades expire worthless. Performance Comparison S&P 500: -9.42% Dow Jones Industrials: -11.06% Russell 2000: -11.90% S&P 500 Covered Call Fund: -11.89% Condor Options VAMI: 3.10% Note: the period measured is from expiration to expiration. Our updated Performance page compares the value-added…
Monday, January 5, 2009
The most interesting feature of December 2008 was the rate at which volatility – both historical and implied – declined. While we could view this decline as simply the counterpart to the volatility explosion we saw in the fall, the changes were still very interesting to watch. A rapidly falling volatility environment was ideal for the December expiration positions we published, though it also presented some challenges for the iron condor strategy we follow in our newsletter: specifically, we…
Sunday, November 23, 2008
In last month’s review, we noted that extremely volatile market environments can sometimes be your friend: The good news is that, as we’ve been advising our subscribers, periods following intense market selloffs historically have been the most profitable ones for our strategy, and as implied volatility has already declined from its earlier peaks, we are already seeing some fantastic profits on our positions for the November cycle. An elevated volatility environment is torturous for swing traders and ulcer-inducing…
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Two types of traders really thrived in October – the uber-bearish, and the nimble. Since our Condor Options newsletter follows a non-directional strategy, we aren’t poised to profit from market swings. But we do try to be nimble, and subscribers were subjected to a rather unrelenting series of pleas for caution and for a move to cash throughout September and October. On September 12, we said that we were “trading small” and were “cautious – as we get…
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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