Opening (Margin): /MCL April 17th 78.25 Short Straddle

... for a 7.66 credit.

Comments: Re-establishing here with 47 days in the April monthly to go ... . As before, will primarily make additive adjustments to get to the size of position I want and then look to just rolling sides in for adjustments without adding units.

Trade active:

Selling the slightly short delta-skewed 76 short straddle here for a 7.50 credit to flatten net delta. Total credits collected of 15.16.

Trade active:

Yeesh. Selling the standalone +17 delta put at the 70 strike to delta balance running into the weekend. Filled for a 1.01 credit. Total credits collected of 16.17.

Trade active:

And now selling the standalone + 18 delta put at the 71.5 strike for a 1.10 credit to cut net delta. The unit imbalance will bug me incessantly, but such is life. I'll sell call against if at some point I need short delta again. Total credits collected of 17.27. Delta/theta ratio is now back under 1.0.

Trade active:

Rolling the 70 short put up to the 75 for a .90 credit to cut net delta in half or so. Total credits collected of 18.17. Position delta/theta ratio is a smidge >1.0, but don't want to go too crazy here adjusting ahead of API/EIA. Leaning short at the moment running into those.

Trade active:

Closing out the basically delta neutral 78.25 short straddle for a realized gain running into API/EIA. Filled for a 7.36 debit. Total credits collected of 10.81. Will look to adjust after ... .

Trade active:

Sold correspondently delta'd calls against my two standalone short puts -- the 84C and the 80.75C for a total of 3.36 in credits. Total credits collected now 14.17. Position leans slightly short with 41 days to go.

Comment:

Sell the slightly long delta skewed 78.5 short straddle here to flatten net delta. Filled for a 7.25 credit. Total credits collected of 21.42.

Trade active:

Sold the slightly long delta skewed 79 short straddle for a 7.14 credit. Total credits collected of 28.56. Break evens now 70.42/85.24 with a max profit zone wrapped around 78.50.

Trade active:

Closed the 76 short straddle for a 7.05 debit; the 84 short call for a .96 debit; the 80.75 short call for a 1.77 debit; sold the 83 short call for 1.12; and sold the 79.5 short call for 2.16. Net credits received: 22.06 with the position leaning long and a tad shy of delta/theta ratio of 1.0.

Trade active:

After adjusting with existing units, selling the short delta skewed 75.5 short straddle for a 7.07 credit to cut net delta in half. Still leans long, but delta/theta ratio is now <.5. Total credits collected of 29.13 with 40 days to go and about 24.00 of extrinsic to play with.

Trade active:

Closed the 78.5 short straddle for a realized gain and a 6.95 debit. Total credits collected of 22.18 with 39 days to go and around 18.00 of extrinsic to play with. Now leans slightly short.

Trade active:

Sold the short delta skewed 74 short straddle for a 7.37 credit to bring delta/theta back under 1.0. Total credits collected of 29.55.

Trade active:

Closing the 74P/79C for a realized gain and a 4.89 debit. Also reduces short delta a smidge, since the setup was skewed a touch short. Total credits collected of 24.66 with 38 days to go and about 18.00 of extrinsic to work with.

Trade active:

Sold the 80 short straddle for a 7.32 credit to cut net delta. Total credits collected of 31.98, 36 days to go, and about 24.00 in extrinsic to work with. Net position leans short with a delta/theta ratio of around .58.

Trade closed manually:

Closed for a 39.54 debit here. 7.56 ($756) loss.

Couple lessons here: (a) this way of doing things is buying power intensive; (b) this way of doing things is time intensive, requiring fairly constant monitoring; (c) this way of doing things results in a lot of fees/commissions.