Just wanted to share something that’s worked well for me in the current environment we’re all dealing with - strangles/straddles. Whenever the orange man posts/does something crazy (I.e., on a day that ends in ‘y’), we all know it’s going to affect the markets. The question those of us that on the outside and/or without a Time Machine struggle with is the direction. Will spy dump 1-2% for the next few days or paradoxically will the market love it and rally 3%? Sitting out feels like a wasted opportunity but not losing money is, realistically, the main goal. Take yesterday for example, markets were red all day due to oil prices/WW3 fears . Would Iran fold? Would the orange man follow through with his threat? What do you do?
The answer is straddles/strangles. Getting the pricing right can be tricky but I’ve found GPT/Claude can really help with finding a strike/exp for each that has been pretty successful so far. Today I cleared $4,470 on a $1.4k outlay I set up yesterday afternoon (665C and 645P) x5 1DTE. Could I have made more by only buying one leg? Absolutely. Could I also have lost everything? Without a doubt. Either way, that’s a stressful way to end the day.
Instead, yesterday, I went into the evening relaxed knowing whatever happened, I’d make some money. Woke up today, closed out the position at open, took the profits, going about the rest of my day.
TLDR; we’re in super uncertain times. I love a good yolo as much as the rest of you regards but straddles/strangles need more love in the current environment.
Edit: Regarded math on my part - $5.900 -> $4,470