<p>As you’re aware, I don’t typically buy put spreads unless I pay for them by selling other put spreads. For some reason, when I bought the 92 - 90 qqq spread, the other half of the trade got screwed up. This was on the 15th. When I tried to look for a good spread to sell after that none really appealed to me. I’ve had situations where I’ve had to roll out the spreads that I sold. I guess I can view selling put spreads that expire next week in that manner and try to get back some of the .78 - probably not all of it.</p>
<p>It is ok to lose on some trades. As you noted, Warren Buffett’s firm is down a billion and he is doing ok. :)</p>
<p>But Warren Buffet got 30-50 billion to afford to loose 1 billion.
I swapped some looser long term trades for better stocks.</p>
<p>I think that we should all congratulate catalan numbers on his vix put trade at 30, getting out at 16. Talk about getting it right!</p>
<p>Can you short Vix or just buying a put only?</p>
<p>The vix is a measure of volatility that you can’t buy or sell directly. There are etns/etfs that are based on vix futures,
including leveraged and inverse products. VERY volatile themselves. I would want to be very sure that I understood what was going on with them before messing with them.</p>
<p>I’ve got 42 1/17/15 aapl 71.43 - 75.71 call spreads. As the dividend > than the time value and expect it to be on the ex dividend date of 11/6, what is the best way of avoiding paying the dividend. I can exercise the 71.43 calls the day before so that my position is that of a covered call which I probably won’t get the dividend. Is there a better way?</p>
<p>You can put in an offer for the spread. The spread is 4.28. Offer it at 4.27 or 4.26. Who cares about a penny or two. I would enter the offer now if you want out. You don’t have to wait. You may want to enter an all or none order. Theoretically the spread is worth 4.25 or 4.26, correct?</p>
<p>If you dont get filled on the spread then yeah you probably have to exercise the day before ex-div. You will be assigned on the other side so you wont have to carry the buy/write. You will have to have the money for the buy/write in your account just in case you arent assigned. </p>
<p>If you arent assigned, you will be able to take the trade off the ex div day and make even more money.</p>
<p>If you want to use the capital to hold the buy/write, you may prefer to exercise the calls the day before the dividend and hope you arent assigned. Judt don’t forget to exercise. :)</p>
<p>thanks for the info</p>
<p>You are welcome . Looks like another great trade.</p>
<p>I ended up buying back the 193 - 192 10/24 spy put spread that went along with the 185 - 162.5 put spread that I sold. I was originally paid $159 for putting this on and ended up with the $234 - better than losing money.</p>
<p>Very nice.</p>
<p>I guess not very nice. Now it was a mistake.</p>
<p>I have a few ideas what to do tomorrow. I did listen to cnbc and should have done something but sometimes I forgot. But I think I still should be able to make money tomorrow.</p>
<p>I think you’re going to have an opportunity to buy a lot of stuff tomorrow - the market is going down.</p>
<p>Doct, you gave me a heart attack. The futures are down 12?</p>
<p>I’m going to short. The way I see it’s hard to stay perfect for some stocks so something got to give. The imperfect ones are the ones I’m going after.</p>
<p>wait until the news is spread more overnight and tomorrow</p>
<p>What news?</p>