Expired profitable w/ 4.7% to 5.2% gain

Expired profitable w/ 6.0% to 7.7% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4.7% to 5.0% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4.5% to 4.9% gain

Expired profitable w/ 5.0% to 6.0% gain

Expired profitable w/ 6.5% to 7.0% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4.5% to 5.0% gain

Expired profitable w/ 5.0% to 7.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 5.5% to 6.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 5.0% to 8.0% gain - we over weighted on this position this month

Expired profitable w/ 5.0% to 6.0% gain - we over weighted on this position this month

Expired profitable w/ 4% to 5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 6% to 8.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4.5% to 5.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4% to 4.9% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4.5% to 5.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4.5% to 6% gain

Spread got under pressure in the last few days before expiration so we closed the short 136 leg to avoid assignment for a loss of 13%.

The market continued to trend UP putting several of our top bear call spreads under pressure. Because the macro economic indicators started to improve, especially job creation, we decided to make a clean break out of February and not roll any of our Feb bear call spreads into March. Unfortunately, it cost a lot and wiped out most of our gains for the Feb cycle. On the positive, when the market makes a big transitional move like it did in Jan and Feb, our goal switches to capital preservation, and we did succeed in preserving our capital.

Expired profitable w/ 4.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 5% gain

Came in from rolling the Dec 710/720 bull put spread into an equal number of Jan 700/710 bull put spreads. This spread successfully expired out-of-the-money with a 0% gain.

Expired profitable w/ 5% to 5.5% gain

Expired profitable w/ 4% to 4.5% gain

Expired profitable w/5% gain

Expired profitable w/4% to 5% gain

Came in from rolling the Nov 720/730 into an equal number of Dec 710/720 bull put spreads. The market did not recover so we rolled it into the Jan 700/710 bull put spread for a debit of 80 cents. We covered most of this cost by opening the Jan 790/800 bear call spread completing the iron condor for a credit of 55 cents giving this Dec trade a locked in loss of 25 cents or -2.5%.

Expired profitable w/5.5% gain

Expired profitable w/6% gain

Expired profitable - completed the iron condor on top of the Nov 720/730 bull put spread covering a portion of the cost to roll the spread.

Expired profitable - completed the iron condor on top of the Nov 700/710 bull put spread covering more than the cost to roll the spread.

Came in from rolling the Oct 720/730 into the Nov 720/730. The market did not recover so we rolled it into the Dec 710/720 for a debit of 45 cents. We covered this cost and more by opening the Dec 805/815 bear call spread for a credit of 54 cents to complete the iron condor giving this trade a credit of 9 cents.

Expired profitable w/ 4% gain; came in from roll

Expired profitable w/ 7% gain

We've successfully got out of 1 of 2 in-the-money RUT spreads this month, and we got out of the in-the-money SPY and MNX bull put spreads last month. This has been freeing up cash and we've been getting back to work.

Completed the iron condor on top of the Oct 720/730 bull put spread covering a portion of the cost to roll this spread. This spread expired profitable with a return of +14%

Completed the iron condor on top of the Oct 700/710 bull put spread to cover a portion of the cost to roll, where they expired profitable. We opened/closed this top spread twice, churning it to bring in as much premium as possible. We first opened/closed the Oct 780/790 for a net credit/profit of $1.44; we then opened/closed the Oct 740/750 for a net credit/profit of 44 cents, bringing in a total credit of $1.88 and a return of +19%.

Came in from rolling the Sep 730/740 into  the Nov 720/730. The market did not recover so we rolled it into the Nov 720/730 for a debit of $2. We made up some of this cost by opening a Nov 800/810 bear call spread for a credit of 52 cents completing the iron condor and reducing the net cost to roll to $1.48 for a locked in loss of -15%.

Came in from rolling the Sep 710/720 into the Oct 700/710. The market did not recover so we rolled it into the Nov 700/710 for a small debit of 16 cents. We brought in additional premium by opening the Nov 800/810 bear call spread for a credit of 58 cents completing the iron condor, adding a net credit of 42 cents to this trade.

Expired profitable - new trade for month

Expired profitable w/ 8% gain - new trade for month

Expired profitable w/ 4% gain; attached to trade below

Expired out-of-the-money, trade is closed. Came in from roll, expired with a locked in loss of -5 cents debit, or about -1%. However, we opened the Oct 240/245 bear call spread completing the iron condor increasing the return to a +3%.

Expired profitable - new trade for month

Expired profitable 13% gain; came in from roll

We successfully got out of the MNX & SPY spreads this month, Oct, that went in-the-money two months ago; i.e. we rolled them for two months keeping them in a "holding pattern", we didn't lose any money and we actually  made 3% on the SPY trade and 13% on the MNX trade. On the other hand, the two RUT spreads are the ones giving us a problem and we're still rolling them. If a roll costs us money, we show a loss equal to the net cost of rolling the spread, which we call the "locked in loss" to roll. We are not showing the drawdown because this value fluctuates daily and will remain negative until the in-the-money spreads move back out-of -the-money.

Came in from rolling the Aug 750/760 into the Sep 730/740. The market did not recover so we rolled it into the RUT Oct 720/730 at a debit of $4.70; we made up some of this cost by opening the Oct 780/790 bear call spread for a credit of $1.44 completing the iron condor and reducing the cost to roll to $3.26 for a locked in loss of -32%.

Came in from rolling the Aug 730/740 into the Sep 710/720. The market did not recover so we rolled it into an equal number of RUT Oct 700/710 bull put spreads for a debit of $2.80; we made up some of this cost by opening the Oct 780/790 bear call spread for a credit of $1.88 completing the iron condor and reducing the cost to roll to 92 cents for a locked in loss of 9.2%.

Expired profitable w/ gains of 5.5% to 7%

Expired profitable w/ gains of 5% to 6.4%

Came in from rolling the Aug 215/220 into the Sep 215/220 for even, i.e. at no cost so we still had a 30 cent credit in Sep. The market did not recover so we rolled it again into Oct 210/215 for a debit of 35 cents; we also opened the MNX Oct 240/245 bear call spread for a credit of 20 cents to complete the iron condor. Thus, the net cost to roll was .30 - .35 + .20 = a credit of 15 cents.

Expired profitable w/ gain of 7.5%

Came in from rolling the Aug Spy 121/123 into Sep SPY 119/121 with 3 cents credit. The market did not recover so we rolled it again into Oct SPY 117/119 for a credit of 20 cents. Total credit in the trade is 3 cents from Aug + 20 = 23 cents credit for Oct.

Expired profitable w/ gain of 6.9%

The market continued to fall in Sep and we rolled our in-the-money spreads into Oct. We show a "locked in loss" equal to the cost to roll the spreads from Sep to Oct, less extra premium that we brought in with the top bear call spreads that completed the iron condor. We are not showing the drawdown because this value fluctuates daily and will remain negative until the in-the-money spreads move back out-of-the-money.

Rolled into the RUT Sep 730/740 bull put spread for a debit of $1.15; cost to roll, i.e. locked in loss, is equal to the $1.15 debit less the 75 cents initial credit = debit 40 cents, or a loss of -4%.

Rolled into the RUT Sep 710/720 bull put spread for a debit of $1.10; cost to roll, i.e. locked in loss, is equal to the $1.10 debit less the approx. 80 cents initial credit = debit of 30 cents, or a loss of -3%.

Expired profitable w/ gain of 5.8% to 7.5%

Expired profitable w/ gain of 7% to 10%

Rolled into the MNX Sep 215/220 for even, i.e. at no cost; thus, we still have a credit of about 30 cents on this trade going into September.

Rolled into the SPY Sep 119/121 bull put spread for a debit of 12 cents; cost to roll, i.e. locked in loss, is equal to the 12 cents debit less the 15 cents initial credit = no loss to roll and we still have 3 cents credit

The market crashed and forced us to roll most of our spreads into Sep. We show the "locked in loss", which is equal to the cost to roll the spreads, less the initial premium that we brought in. We are not showing the drawdown because this value fluctuates daily and will remain negative until the in-the-money spreads move back out-of-the-money.

Got under pressure so we closed it early to play it safe, but we still made a small 2% profit

This spread was under pressure so we closed 1/2 of our position to reduce risk and let the remaining ride.  It ultimately expired profitable

Click here for more info about the Feb cycle

Got under pressure so we closed it early to play it safe for 10 cents debit - for breakeven

Trade still in play; rolled into Nov 110/112 for an avg. net debit of 12 cents.  High probability that this trade will expire out-of-the-money in November

expired profitable with a small gain - got under pressure so we closed it early for an average debit of 50 cents to avoid settlement risk

Got under pressure so we rolled it down into the same month for an average net debit of 35 cents to give us some breathing room.

Trade still in play; rolled into Sep 110/112 for an avg. net debit of 58 cents.  We'll make this up in Aug and Sep with some fresh bull put spreads and by completing the iron condor with bear call spreads

Trade still in play; rolled into Sep 110/112 for an avg. debit of 49 cents.  We'll make some of this up in Sep with some fresh bull put spreads and by completing the iron condor with bear call spreads

Expired profitable; we completed the iron condor for all of our RUT Jun bull put spreads

Closed early for a profit; rolled from May to Jun for between zero and a credit of 50 cents; then closed early for avg. debit 38 cents to avoid settlement risk

Closed early for a profit; even though safe and OTM we closed early to avoid settlement risk for a debit of 15 to 20 cents debit

We brought in a high credit as we felt comfortable with the technicals. Closed early for a profit to avoid settlement risk for a debit of 15 cents

Expired profitable. Rolled from May where we brought in about 1.20 credit, and then rolled again to June for an additional credit of 1.40 to 1.70, for a total avg. credit of 2.75.

Expired profitable; rolled from May 102/104 for a debit of 2 cents

Trade still in play; rolled into July 111/113 for an avg. debit of 15 cents.  We still show a potential profit of 6 cents, when if finally expires OTM.

Trade still in play; rolled into July 110/112 for an avg. debit of 33 cents.  We'll be able to cover this  21 cents loss by bringing in extra premium in July

Most of our trades expired OTM and profitable and we only had to roll the SPY bull put spreads again since the SPY continued to be under a lot of pressure.

Opened 3 directional bull call debit spreads per 10 RUT 770/780 bear call spreads to protect them as the market trended UP for 55 days.  We then closed them for a credit of .70 to $1.30.

Rolled to Jun 640/650 for between zero and a credit of 50 cents

Even though safe and OTM, it was expensive to close just before expiration so we rolled into Jun 610/620 for additional credit of $1.40 to avoid settlement risk

Even though safe and OTM, it was expensive to close just before expiration so we rolled into Jun 610/620 for additional credit of $1.70 to avoid settlement risk

Rolled into June 102/104 for a debit of 2 cents

Rolled into June 111/113 for a credit of 2 cents

Rolled into June 110/112 for a credit of 3 cents

Rolled into June 110/112 for debit of 1 cent

The stock market corrected 12% in 13 trading days.  We moved in reserve cash, kept clicking down to bring in more premium and successfully protected our risk capital by rolling our threatened credit spreads into June at no cost or for a credit.  We felt comfortable in clicking down our strike prices as the indexes declined allowing us to bring in additional premium since the US economy and corporate earnings are growing and not contracting as they were in 2008.  For more information on why we made certain trading decisions for May please go here.

Under pressure; rolled to May 770/780 Bear CS

Under pressure; rolled to April 720/730 Bear CS

Under pressure; rolled to April 720/730 Bear CS

Under pressure; rolled to April 121/123

Under pressure; rolled to March for even

Closed out on last day for 2 cents prior to Intel releasing earnings anticipating a market rally

Closed out on last day for 10 cents prior to Intel releasing earnings anticipating a market rally