Trading First, Blogging Second

OK, so it's been quite a while since I've done a post. With all that action in the markets I put my blogging efforts down the list a bit, and during that time I've realized that I'm a trader much more than a blogger - at least if you measure it by my level of commitment and interest in it. With that in mind, I'm only going to post trade ideas when it's convenient to do so; if you have a feed of some kind connected to this blog it should be easy to know when I post. Otherwise, the best blog out there is Brian's so I recommend checking that one at least daily.

If you're wondering about my earlier comment about selling SPX put options, it did turn out to be an interesting ride. I was in and out of those August 1400 puts twice, and exited at even both times. Fortunately I was defensive in my approach as they did go 30 points in the money before expiring worthless, so I would have had to roll them for a significant loss had I held them (however, I would have recovered that money shortly thereafter on the bounce with the new positions). I was later early on selling some September 1325's and 1250's, but kept the position small until we turned around, and then added to it nicely and watched one of my best-ever months of trading profits unfold. I'm not saying it was without risk, and the position did go against me, but I've been doing this kind of option trading for quite a while now and with a level head I always get my money in the end

I'm not convinced the volatility is over, though it may be in the very short term. The market needs time to convince us all we know what's going to happen before we get the next surprise. In the mean time, I'll be waiting patiently for the next option opportunity to arise, and will be trading individual stocks and ETF's as usual. To the extent I find nice opportunities and have a few minutes to post them, I'll put them up for you to check out.

Good trading!