Answer:  Yes, the Monthly Cash Thru Options autotrade option trading service would only roll 8 contracts of the RUT Dec 670/680 bull put spread into January, if we needed to roll it.  The new cash level per trade that you select for autotrading will not affect the existing spreads and adjustments that we make to them.  You can change your autotrade cash amount per trade at anytime, even mid-stream during the month,  and not impact existing trades.

Alternative investments; credit spread; iron condor; how to trade options; option trading

Answer:  Options on the RUT trade European style where they cease to trade on Thursday, in the week of expiration, and then the RUT settles on Friday.   For more on how European style options settle and expire please visit the FAQ Page at http://www.monthlycashthruoptions.com/FAQ.htm  and read entries #24 and #25.   If the underlying RUT index gets too close to our short Call on Thursday, in the week of expiration, we need to be careful since we don’t have any control over what value the RUT will settle at on Friday.  So we need to make sure that the RUT index stays a certain number points away from our short Call on Thursday, and if not we need to close it early to avoid settlement risk.   In this situation where we have the RUT Feb 840/850 bear call spread, the settlement value, RLS, needs to settle at 840 or less for us to keep 100% of the premium that we collected when we first opened the spread.

Answer:  You would open the recommended RUT bull put spread when it’s filling for between our recommended price range, let’s say between 48 and 95 cents credit, and then you would hold onto the spread through expiration.  You then would watch the underlying RUT index to make sure it stays above the short 690 put that you sold.   If the RUT starts to pull back and if it gets within 15 points of your short 690 put, you will need to start preparing to roll the spread either down into the same month, or out into the following month.  Right now it’s not necessary to worry about this scenario since there is a very low probability that this will happen.   If you are curious about rolling, please visit the Learning Center at http://www.monthlycashthruoptions.com/LearningCenter.htm  and you’ll see a bunch of case studies on how to do a roll.  In the case that we need to do a roll, we send out detailed instructions to our subscribers on what/when/how to do the roll.

 Question:   My confusion comes from where you say to click down a strike to keep your credit between 48 and 95 cents for people who are writing more than one spread.  At the point where it is necessary to click down to open another spread should I close the existing spread that I have and click down to sell again or just keep the original spread open?

Answer:   You would hold onto all of your existing spreads if you are forced to click down.   Let’s say you are holding the RUT Feb 680/690 bull put spread.   A week later the RUT starts to drop and the RUT Feb 680/690 bull put spread starts to fill for more than our recommended maximum price of 95 cents.  In this case you would click down to the RUT Feb 670/680 bull put spread.  You would also need to put this spread in a different account as the 680 strikes will overlap.  (we do our best to maintain 10 point spreads in our accounts when using the RUT as it provides flexibility when we open the top bear call spreads to complete the iron condors)   In parallel, we would be watching the original RUT Feb 680/690 bull put spread and will need to adjust it if the RUT pulls back too far.

Answer:   Trading credit spreads on the SPX, the S&P 500 index, is like the Roach Hotel….you can check in, but you can’t check out.  Opening credit spreads on the SPX seems to be just fine and it feels great to bring in a solid 9% premium on a 90% probability spread that has less than 30 days to expiration.   However, even though there is a lot of liquidity on the SPX options, it doesn’t act like it where if our trade gets into trouble, it will cost 20% to 30% of our risk capital to make an adjustment, such as rolling it into the same month or rolling it into the following month.   In other words, we won’t have many chances to roll our spread if it gets into trouble and we’ll pretty much be taking a 50% to 60% loss after rolling it just 2 times, which is not good.  When trading credit spreads on the RUT, for example, if our spreads unexpectedly go in-the-money, it’s quite possible to roll it for 6 to 9 months, if required, and we can still get back at least 50% of our maintenance, and sometimes as high as 70% of the original maintenance.   One possible reason that it’s difficult and expensive to make adjustments on SPX credit spreads is that it’s only traded on one exchange, the CBOE, and not on the other 7 exchanges.   In contrast, options on the RUT are traded on 6 exchanges, and options on the SPY are traded on all 8 exchanges.  It seems that the more exchanges the options are traded on, the more competition there is and thus the cheaper it is to make adjustments on the trade if necessary.

Answer:   The RUT provides the best strike price placement, usually above past resistance levels and below past support levels, while paying a nice premium when opening a bear call or bull put credit spread options.  It also has good liquidity, i.e. a high number of options contracts are traded daily on the RUT, which allows us to easily get into and out of our trades. 

The next best underlying index to trade credit spread and iron condor options is the SPY, (and ETF that tracks at 1/10th of the value of the  S&P 500 index – SPX) but in order to get the best return we need to open 2 point wide spreads, which has a drawback.  (a 2 point wide spread has two points between the leg that we sell and the leg that we buy)  The negative of a 2 point wide spread, as compared to a 10 point wide spread that we would open on the RUT, is that we have to open 5x the number of spreads to allocate the same amount of cash and this has higher commissions.  Also, the liquidity is very high on the SPY….i.e. a million or more options contracts change hands every day – and this is both good and bad.   The good part is that we can easily get in and out of trades….even during volatile times when the market is moving a lot.   The bad is that when the market is bouncing…and let’s say we need to make an adjustment or roll the spread, because there is so much liquidity we have to pay what the market is asking (between the bid and ask prices)  and we rarely can get a special low price that is outside the bidask price range.   On the other hand, if the market is moving a lot and we need to make an adjustment on the RUT, many times we’ll be able to get a cheap price that is outside of the bid/ask prices.

For a case study that compares and contrasts 2, 3, 4, 5 , 7 and 10 point wide credit spreads on the SPY please go to the Learning Center at http://www.monthlycashthruoptions.com/LearningCenter.htm  and read entry #6 – “why we usually open 2 and 3 point wide spreads on the SPY and IWM”.  

Regarding the SPX, you have to be super careful in trading credit spreads and iron condors on this underlying index.  I liken it to Hotel California….it’s really easy and everyone is friendly when you check in, but when things get ugly and you need to get out of your trade, you’ll usually get your head handed to you. (i.e. it will cost a lot to close out your spread and you’ll probably take at least a 25% loss)    Overall, do your best to avoid trading credit spreads on the SPX.

Answer:   You could if you wish, but I don’t recommend it.  In order to buy back the short leg it will be really expensive.  And, I’m not convinced that the market will climb any more.  On the other hand, if I thought the market was going to continue to rally for the next week, this would be a good strategy.  Let’s look at the numbers as of March 11, 2010:

 To close out the RUT Mar 680/690 bear call spread it would cost a debit of $2.55

To BTC the 680 leg it would cost a debit of $3.85

To STC the 690 leg we would collect $1.30 credit

3.85-1.30=$2.55

 You can see that if we just hold onto the long 690 call, it will cost us $1.30 and the RUT would need to continue to rally in order for this long 690 call to pay off.