Hello Hive,
Hope you are doing well. :)
This is my trade from yesterday, Friday 2/4/22. I only trade the SPX which is S&P 500. (top 500 stocks on NYSE)
The first thing I check is if there is any talk about news or something I've missed, like there not being any 0dte (zero days till expiration), which are the days I trade on. I belong to a online (discord) group made of other stock/options traders.
The second thing I do is open my trading platform (thinkorswim) and take a look at the SPX chart. (5 minute timeframe) I look at recent price movement and want to see it settling down, and NOT moving outside of it's daily highs/lows as set by the first few candles on the chart.
Here is the pretty indicator called marketwatch. It is only on my broker's (I use TD Ameritrade) platform and shows the current market movement with colors. (the size of each box shows the size of each company)
A mix of green and red is showing the up and down movement of price.. this rangy behavior is perfect for IC (Iron Condor) since it profits when price stays between the strike prices sold.
Here is my triggered order..
I sold 2 contracts that trigger one right after the other. I also place a working stop order that will close my trade for a loss if it reached a certain distance from my entry.
Here is my chart after I've drawn all my short strikes (thick red lines) as well as my profit zone. (where price can travel without being in danger of hitting my stop--the dashed green lines)
As you can see, price is just about centered between its previous daily high and low.
Here are some progress snaps I took as I watch the trade work..
30 minutes after the first snap was taken, the trade is in good shape..
In this one you can see how price is moving higher and higher, but the trade still works since my profit zone also gets wider and wider as time goes on.
Price finally did drop down and the trade won with ease. :)
Here's the final result..
$100 (2 contracts x $50 credit) - $8.40 (fees) = $91.60
Do you have any questions for me or maybe a comment for me? Thanks,
:)