Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Yesterday, Today, and Happy Thanksgiving

The SPX opened strongly yesterday, had an intraday sell-off and then closed at new highs. The RUT was again the most bullish for the last two days, while the NDX actually fell today about 0.4%. With volatility so low (VIX around 12) and the market only moving in one direction (RUT up 14 consecutive trading days!), trading has been difficult. I keep having to put on bull puts as the market moves up to counter the call spreads we have on. I will go through all trades below.

Yesterday, I added a SPX 2195/2190 bull put spread that would have expired today for a credit of $1.90. Early this morning, I bought it back for 90 cents. I used this to protect the 2200/2210 spread that we had on already from November 17 which we sold originally for $1.35. I closed that spread out for 1.45 debit early today also. In addition, I also added a SPX 2260/2270 Dec30 call spread for a $1.40 credit. 

I also entered some trades on the NDX yesterday. I had to add a Friday settling 4810/4780 put spread for $1.10. I need some protection against the losses in the NDX 2810/2825 call spread that we have expiring at the same time. I sold twice the number of puts as I have calls. 

Today, I rolled those 2810/2825 calls to next Friday for a debit of $2.90. I am going to sell more puts against this spread in the next few days. 

As for the market, its bullish - obviously. However, many indicators are stretched to the point of very overbought in the short-term. We will see how this bullish period of the next few days acts.