SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Apr 22nd 4280/4300-4475/4495 condors for 1.40, SPX at 4398, IV 24.75%, deltas -.06 +.07

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $%SPX Apr 20th 4355/4375-4515/4535 condors for 1.35, a few minutes after the closing bell. Closing SPX: 4463, IV 19.5%, deltas -.06 +.06

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Apr 18th 4280/4300-4480/4500 condors for 1.20, SPX at 4402, IV 12.45%, deltas -.05 +.06

Expiring: Apr 14th 4350/4370-4510/4530 condors, sold yesterday for 1.20

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX April 14th 4350/4370-4510/4530 condors for 1.20, SPX at 4447, IV 19.5%, deltas -.06 +.06. Markets closed Friday so these are Weekly options expiring Thursday.

Expiring: April 13th 4305/4325-4495/4515 condors, sold yesterday for 1.25

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX Apr 11th 4415/4395 put spreads for 1.75. Condors sold for 1.65 on Friday.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Apr 11th 4395/4415-4565/4585 condors for 1.65, SPX at 4499, IV 12.4%, deltas -.07 +.07

Expiring: Apr 8th 4415/4435-4590/4610 condors, sold yesterday for 1.50.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Apr 8th 4415/4435-4590/4610 condors for 1.50, SPX at 4518, IV 20.7%, deltas -.07 +.04

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX Apr 6th 4440/4420 put spreads for 2.95. Condors sold yesterday for 1.25

Upside Warning CANCELED

#VIXindicator Another run bites the dust.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte sold to open $SPX Apr 6th 4420/4440-4590/4610 condors for 1.25, SPX ar 4518, IV 20%, deltas -.06 +.06

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expiring: $SPX April 4th 4455/4475-4600/4620 condors, sold Friday for 1.15.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Apr 4th 4455/4475-4600/4620 condors for 1.15, SPX 4546, 10.2%, delta -.06 +.06

SPX closed

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX Apr 1st 4475/4555 put spreads for .35. Condors sold yesterday for 1.20. Normally don’t close before stop is hit, but I don’t have a good feeling about the market today. Also, SPX dropped over 30 points AFTER I sold this yesterday.

March Jobs report

#Jobs — Slightly below expectations, but all stats are strong

Gain of +431,000 non-farm payroll jobs, vs. expected gain of 490K
Unemployment drops to 3.6%, down by 0.2 (vs expected drop of 0.1)
U6 unemployment fell to 6.9%, down by 0.3
Labor force participation 62.4%, up by 0.1
Average hourly earnings up 0.4%, and up 5.6% over 12 months.

February jobs revised up by +72K to +750K
January jobs revised up by +23K to +504K

SPX trades

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX April 1st 4455/4475-4635/4655 condors for 1.20, SPX at 4560, IV 21.2%, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring: March 31st 4490/4510-4660/4680 condors, sold yesterday for 1.375

#SPX5dte Sold to close $SPX March 31st 4555/4575 call spreads for 9.85. Condors bought for 16.90 on Monday. Puts sold for 1.30 yesterday. So loss of 5.75. What a disappointment. Another Upside Warning that has fizzled out immediately (last one was similar, from Dec 27th, but that time we at least got a few days before a drop). This trade looked like it would survive only a few minutes ago. I have been playing this strategy very conservatively and should have stuck to that approach and sold for 18.00 earlier in the hour.

SPX trades

#SPX5dte Sold to close $SPX March 31st 4545/4525 put spreads for 1.30. Condors bought for 16.90 on Monday. Looking for 20.00 max credit tomorrow on the 4555/4575 call spreads.

#spx1dte

Upside Warning in effect

#VIXIndicator A likelihood of higher levels in coming days or weeks.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte – at 12:34p PT, Sold to Open $SPX March 30th 4540/4560-4700/4720 condors for 1.15, SPX at 4632, deltas -.07 +.04

SPX trades

#SPX5dte Bought to Open $SPX March 31st 4525/4545-4555/4575 condors for 16.90, with SPX at 4550.

#SPX1dte Expected to expire worthless: March 28th 4410/4430-4590/45610 condors, sold Friday for 1.40

Downside Warning canceled (again)

#VIXindicator Based on the $VIX close under 21.17, the Downside Warning is canceled. It first went into effect on January 20th, was canceled on Feb 9th, only to be reinstated only two days later on Feb 11th.

The arrow on this chart shows last time it was canceled. (Feb 9th).

Screen Shot 2022-03-25 at 1.03.22 PM

So while it is usually a pre-cursor to an extended rally, the better sign will come with an Upside Warning, which will require two more CONSECUTIVE closes below 21.17.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 28th 4410/4430-4590/4610 condors for 1.40, SPX at 4519, OV 12.8%, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring: March 25th 4405/4425-4585/4605 condors, sold yesterday for 1.45

SPX long

#SPX5dte Sold to close $SPX March 25th 4445/4465-4475/4495 condors for 17.60. Condors bought yesterday for 16.30. I got the move, so 1.30 profit is good for 24 hours rather than waiting for more at the risk of a chunky loss.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to open $SPX March 25th 4405/4425-4575/4595 condors for 1.45, SPX at 4510, IV 19.4%, deltas -.06 +.06

SPX trades

#SPX5dte Bought to Open $SPX March 25th 4445/4465-4475/4495 condors for 16.30, with SPX at 4468.

#spx1dte

SPX trades

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 23rd 4430/4450-450/4600 condors for 1.95, SPX at 4513, IV 20.6%, deltas -.12 +.05.

The put side was an error, meant for the 4430 to be short strike, not the long one. But I will let it ride.

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expiring: $SPX March 21st 4320/4340-4540/4560 condors, sold Friday for 1.60.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 21st 4320/4340-4540/4560 condors for 1.60, SPX at 4461, IV 15.9%, deltas -.07 +.06

Expiring: March 18th 4270/4290-4490/4510 condors, sold yesterday for 1.30.
Also expiring, ill-fated 4060/4040 bear put spread, when I foolishly thought we’d be headed down. Had I bought the same on call side it would be expiring for 20.00 today.

#spx5dte

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Mar 18th 4270/4290-4490/4510 condors for 1.35, SPX at 4406, IB 28.1%, deltas -.07 +.06.

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX Mar 17th (monthlys) 4445/4465 call spreads for 1.75. Condors sold yesterday for 1.75. Lost commissions but otherwise breakeven… can’t risk overnight gap risk since these settle in the morning.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 17th (monthlys) 4160/4180-4445/4465 condors for 1.75, SPX at 4328, IV 28.8%, deltas -.06 +.06. These stop trading at tomorrow’s close… but settle on Friday morning’s open.

Fed decision in

#FOMC A quarter percent increase, to a range of 0.25-0.50%

SPX stopped

#SPX #SPX1dte Double loser for me today, clearly wrong about a short-term bearish direction (although still have until Friday on that trade), but also just stopped out on the 1-dte trade. Shouldn’t mess with the Fed, I guess.

Bought to close $SPX March 16th 4385/4405 call spreads for 3.30. Condors sold yesterday for 1.65.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 16th 4105/4125-4385/4405 condors for 1.65. SPX at 4268, IV 36.05%, deltas -.05 +.05

SPX bearish

#SPX Taking a low risk trade to downside… The Fed will likely announce IR increase, but who really knows what short term effect will be? I believe we still have lower to go regardless of tomorrow’s decision. Right now we are hitting against the top of the downward channel on the daily chart.

Bought to Open $SPX March 18 4060/4040 put spreads for 1.75.

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expiring: $SPX Mar 14th 4030/4050-4335/4355 condors, sold Friday for 1.60

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 14th 4030/4050-4335/4355 condors for 1.60, SPX at 4212, IV 24.1%, deltas -.06 +.06

On our way to 4000!

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 11th 4110/4130-4355/4375 condors for 1.75, SPX at 4253, IV 31.3%, deltas -.06 +.06

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX March 9th 4300/4320 call spreads for 2.60. Condors sold yesterday for 1.75. Stop level hit at the open as we traded over 4250, and the expected range of today’s move was +/-54.

SPX trades

#SPX Sold to close $SPX May 9th 4320/4340 call spreads for 3.85. Bought yesterday for 2.50. I was away from the computer, so I got filled on the limit order at 9:38am PT, a little before today’s high.

#spx1dte

SPX trades

#SPX Bought to open $SPX March 9th 4320/4340 call spreads for 2.50, with SPX at 4200. It’s about time for a bounce, so taking a small risk to find one tomorrow.

#SPX1dte Expiring: March 7th 4115/4135-4425/4445 condors, sold Friday for 1.65

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Mar 7th 4115/4135-4425/4445 condors for 1.65, SPX at 4314, IV 24.3%, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring: Mar 4th 4220/4240-4470/4490 condors, sold yesterday for 1.55.

February Jobs report

#Jobs — Above expectations again

Gain of +678,000 non-farm payroll jobs, vs. expected gain of 444K
Unemployment drops to 3.8%, down by 0.1 (vs. estimate of unchanged)
U6 unemployment at 7.2%, up by 0.1
Labor force participation 62.3%, up by 0.1
Wage growth sluggish at only 0.03%. increase, vs. 0.5% estimate.

December jobs revised up by +78K to +588K
January jobs revised up by +14K to +481K

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to pen $SPX Mar 4th 4220/4240-4470/4490 condors for 1.55, SPX at 4366, IV 31.4%, deltas -.07 +.05

SPX trades

#SPX Sold to close $SPX Mar 2nd 4400/4420 call spreads for 1.95. Bought yesterday for 2.20. This did not work out the way I wanted, as we went lower rather than higher into yesterday’s close. I fortunately got the opening bounce I was looking for, but from the lower level it’s not enough, so I’m closing now to keep the loss small. Theta is a stone-cold killer on options expiring today. I’m not waiting for the small (but possible) chance of a huge spike up based on what Powell says. I’ll save the chips for another day.

#spx1dte

SPX trades

#SPX Bought to open $SPX Mar 2nd 4400/4420 call spreads for 2.20, with SPX at 4305. Just a small trade that we will move up into the close, or open higher tomorrow. Looking for a double or triple, not the full 20 spread.

#spx1dte

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expired: $SPX Feb 28th 4190/4210-4490/4510 condors, sold Friday for 1.35

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 28th 4190/4210-4490/4510 condors for 1.35, SPX at 4377, IV 21%, deltas -.06 +.04.

Giving myself a lower delta on call side in case rally continues.

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX Feb 25th 4385/4405 call spreads for 3.50. Condors sold yesterday for 1.55. Takes away much of this week’s profit, but that’s the way the ticker bounces.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 25th 4120/4140-4385/4405 condors for 1.55, SPX at 4271, IV 35.6%, deltas -.07 +.06

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Bought to close $SPX Feb 23rd 4185/4165 put spreads for .15. Condors sold yesterday for 1.80.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Still pretty far away from my stop point but not taking any chances. Bought to close $SPX Feb 22nd 4175/4155 put spreads for .15. Condors sold for 1.80 on Friday.

SPX trades

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 22nd 4155/4175-4475/4495 condors for 1.80, SPX at 4356, IV 22.1%, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring worthless: Feb 18th 4225/4245-4475/4495 condors, sold yesterday for 1.50.

#SPX5dte Expiring for max credit of 20.00: Feb 18th 4460/4440 put spreads. Condors bought for 17.50 on Tuesday.

The Bistro Hall of Revolving Presidents

Back by popular demand, in observance of Presidents’ Day, it’s the Hall of Revolving Presidents. Click “Home/Refresh” or refresh your browser to change the featured President.

SPX 1dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 18th 4225/4245-4475/4495 condors for 1.50, SPX at 4378, IV 32%, deltas -.06 +.06

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Stop hit at 4494 and then nothing but down movement since then… Bought to close $SPX Feb 17th (monthlys) 4355/4335 put spreads for 4.50. Condors sold for 1.55 yesterday. My closing trade probably means we get the bounce now.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 17th (monthlys) 4335/4355-4565/4585 condors for 1.45, SPX at 4485, IV 22%, deltas -.06 +.06.

Expiring: Feb 16th 4320/4340-4545/4565 condors, sold yesterday for 1.55.

SPX trades

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 16th 4320/4340-4545/4565 condors for 1.55, at 3pm ET, deltas -.06 +.06

#SPX5dte (3-dte) Bought to Open Feb 18th 4440/4460-4470/4490 condors for 17.50, at 3:39p ET.

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expiring worthless: $SPX Feb 14th 4210/4230-4545/4565 condors, sold Friday for 1.65

#SPX5dte Expiring with max credit of 20.00: Feb 14th 4560/4540 put spreads. Condors bought last Wednesday for 17.20.

Downside Warning is back

So much for Wednesday’s headfake. #VIXindicator

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 14th 4210/4230-4545/4565 condors for 1.65, SPX at 4427, IV 23.5%, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring: Feb 11th 4360/4380 – 4595/4615 condors, sold yesterday for 1.55.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 11th 4360/4380-4595/4615 condors for 1.55, SPX at 4494, IV 23%, deltas -.07 +.05

Downside Warning canceled

#VIXIndicator So the last UPSIDE warning was kind of a bust… let’s see if we get another shot this time. Two more consecutive $VIX closes below 21.17 will trigger it.

SPX 3-dte

#SPX5dte This is falling under my 5-dte hashtag, but it’s actually 3 trading days to expiry. Since we’re currently trading between 4500 and 4600 and not too close to either, I’m trying this one-off betting we won’t end Monday near here. Hopefully the market will love me on Valentine’s Day .

Bought to open $SPX Feb 14th 4540/4560-4570/4590 condors for 17.20, with SPX at 4567.

SPX stopped

#SPX1dte Had a good run but got stopped out this morning,
bought to close $SPX Feb 9th 4585/4605 call spreads for 4.80. Condors sold for 1.70 yesterday.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 9th 4405/4425-4585/4605 condors for 1.65, SPX at 4518, IV 16.7%, deltas -.06 +.07

Expired yesterday: Feb 7th 4385/4405-4595/4615 condors, sold Friday for 1.70.

SPX trades

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 7th 4385/4405-4595/4615 condors for 1.70, SPX at 4513, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring: 4335/4355-4590/4610 condors, sold yesterday for 1.55

January Jobs report

#JobsAbove expectations for a change; wage growth strong, labor participation up, Nov & Dec jobs revised upward by ridiculous amounts.

Gain of +467,000 non-farm payroll jobs, vs. expected gain of 150K
Unemployment at 4.0%, up by 0.1 (vs. 3.9 estimate)
U6 unemployment at 7.1%, down by 0.2
Labor force participation 62.2%, up by 0.3
Average hourly earnings up 0.7%, vs. 05 estimate

December jobs revised up by +311K to +510K
November jobs revised up by +398K to +647K

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Feb 4th 4335/4355-4590/4610 condors for 1.55. SPX at 4481, IV 24.3%, deltas -.07 +.05

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expired: $SPX Feb 2nd 4415/4435-4615/4635 condors, sold yesterday for 1.30.

SPXpire

#SPX1dte Expiring: $SPX Jan 31st 4245/4265-4535/4555 condors, sold Friday for 1.65.

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Jan 31st 4245/4265-4535/4555 condors for 1.65, SPX at 4424, IV 19.3%, deltas -.06 +.06

Expiring: Jan 28th 4150/4170-4465/4485 condors, sold yesterday for 1.65

SPX 1-dte

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Jan 26th 4150/4170-4465/4485 condors for 1.65, SPX at 4333, IV 32.1%, deltas -.04, +.07.

When I set this trade deltas were .06/.06… it filled a few seconds later when the SPX spiked up just a bit, but deltas move very quickly in this market.

SPXpire

Well, my same-day gamble paid off and helped mitigate my loss on my one-day long condor. First one I sold in a few weeks, and sure enough, it was another loss. The range on each tick today was so big I just didn’t have the confidence to play the swings.

Expired for credit of 12.74: Jan 26th 4360/4340 put spreads. Condors bought yesterday for 18.00, so loss of 5.26.
Expired worthless: 4490/4510 call spreads, sold earlier today for 4.00.
Expired worthless: 4155/4175-4500/4520 condors, sold yesterday for 1.95.

So only a .69 profit for the day.

Fed decision…

…in 5 minutes (2pm ET, 11am PT)

SPX trades

#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX Jan 26th 4155/4175-4500/4520 condors for 1.95, SPX at 4352, deltas -.07 +.06, IV 36.5%

#SPX5dte Bought to Open $SPX Jan 26th 4340/4360-4370/4390 condors for 18.00, with SPX at 4353.
This is under the “5dte” moniker but it’s only a one-day trade. Pretty good bet each day will swing us at least 20 points away, but I’m only comfortable doing it away from an even 100 multiple…. SPX closes (like yesterday) seem to gravitate toward 00’s.