JAN08 Trade Log

SPY ratio IC trade with bearish bias, executed the trade 12/1/08
12/10 closed the call side out as my bias turned bullish short term.
closed call side out for a .16 loss (2)
12/17 closed out 1/2 of the put side for .09 = .13 (1) gain
trade balance is -.19 with 1 contract left on the put side 74/73 for .21
Trade will most likely be a wash...
take away: Because I was wrong initially I panic closed my call side and in hindsight I would of been better off keeping it on. Again another reason to be more mechanical in this market by setting a mental stop on the trade if it goes against you to this amount take this action if it works take profits at this amount. Adjusting this pre-set plan as the trade moves along must be done with a detailed rationale. Underlying methodology should be not loose more than 1.5x your cash flow or 1.5x your avg. gain on a trade, the idea being that you don't want your loosers to engulf your winners.

12/12
QQQQ and EEM IC trades are biased bullish for year end rally and or trading range: Q's trade was placed on 12/12 and the EEM was placed on 12/15 both are approx up 10%.
12/18
EEM mark25.47 ratio IC:
shaved off some pos deltas by closing out 1 of 3 EEM 21/19 put vertical for a +.19 profit, position is now a little more even on a p/l graph (lowered my downside risk as my opptimism is running thin for a year end blast!)
12/29 mark 24.11
closed postion for a total gain of $100 on $400 of risk or 24% Return.

QQQQ mark 29.91 ratio IC:
shaved off (1 of 1) 28/27 put vertical for a +.10 profit
still biased bearish but just reduced some downside risk in the trade.
Volatility has been vacuumed out over the past few days and has profited my pos theta I>C trades! off about 10points in the VXN or approx 20% to the 45 level, the vix is trading at the same price but has seen a larger % move down during the same period.
12/30 mark 29.35
closed out completely for a $82 profit or 23% return on risk ($350)

Light trading for Jan08 proved profitable as my negative vega, income postions blossomed with the vix/vols falling to the low 40's from the high 50's when placing the trades. Also the range has been tight letting my trades collect theta decay and vega premium drop.