10 mistakes in my 14 years of trading as an option seller 🧵

THREAD ON IRONFLY

These days the most preferred strategy for option sellers due to improved margins is IRONFLY. It's essentially a short straddle with long strangle. Long strangle acting as 'WINGS', which help in capping the unlimited risk associated with a short straddle.(1/n)

You can also view the position as a combination of Cal & Put credit spreads, if that makes it more easy for you.

There are 3 important things to understand while trading this strategy:

1) Initial size of the Wings
2) Risk Management
3) Adjustments

(2/n)

Since we are selling an ATM straddle, the 1st question is how far our wings should be? Ideally i sell .50 delta straddle & buy .20 or .10 OTM strangle, depending on my view on volatility. So the distance of wings depends on the IV setup. Higher the IVs, greater the distance.(3/n)

If you don't understand greeks, then ideally with 30 days to expiry (dte), wings should be around 300pts either side. If your trading in weekly then it should be not more than 200pts. Higher the premiums, higher the distance as we have more cushion of theta. (4/n)

It is important to understand that we need to reduce the distance of wings with time so as to manage our RISK in gap openings or sudden volatile move. So for eg. if you started with 300pt wings with 30dte, the wings wouldn't give the same protection when there is 7dte. (5/n)

AN ESSENTIAL THREAD ON OPTION ADJUSTMENTS

Adjustments can be done in variety of ways & depends totally at the discretion of the trader. To get a clear mind we need to know the following:

1) What to follow,
2) How to make the adjustment,
3) When to make the adjustment. (1/5)

1) We need a way to measure the imbalance created by a delta move in an option strategy. We can measure through premiums, distance from index or delta of greeks (i personally use delta). So basically whatever way of measure we use, both sides should be equal in it. (2/5)

2) Adjustment can either be done by selling extra quantity of profitable side, buying the quantity of losing side or shifting both the sides. I personally shift the sides because with extra quantities our Gamma gets imbalanced & the risk increases if market reverses. (3/5)

3) While the first 2pts are objective, when to make an adjustment is totally subjective. It can be fine tuned through experience. It also depends upon what strategy u are using. For a short strangle the adjustment required is faster than a ratio spread or an IC. (4/5)

Straddle/strangle require faster adjustments because they are more vulnerable to delta or IV spike. Any other strategies like ratio spreads, ironfly, butterfly have some bought option, which can negate the spikes for a while. So we need a defined system as to WHEN to adjust.(5/n)

My previous b'day which fell on expiry day was in 2010. On that day Nifty straddle opened at 45. Day range of nifty was around 30pts :)

(High 5415, Low 5380)

At that time:

•Didn't know the word Straddle though i used to trade them regularly
•Greeks existence wasn't known

•Adjustments felt like a superpower
•Everyday theta decay was a birth right
•Any strategy thought off felt like a personal invention
•Listening to people warning about unlimited loss in option selling was normal
•Making unlimited gain in long straddle seemed a possibility

•Volumes & Oi were closely tracked
•Overnight positions without hedge was a normal routine

All the above points have been changed over the years. But the underlying market psychology & following the price action still remains the same.

Thank you all for the warm wishes 🙏

FINDING EDGE IN OPTIONS

24/08/15: Nifty gap down 250 points & another 250 after that. Previous few months return gone, but since I'm quick to take my losses, was saved from ruin. Before that my only edge in option selling was adjustments & my forever edge of following PA. (1/n)

I soon realised that theta decay with sound adjustments is not an edge, which i earlier thought was & which gave me good returns over the years. After that i went deeper in understanding volatility behaviour, how/where it manifests & all the discrepancies in option chain. (2/n)

With finding edge in logistics i mean how to keep the greeks in check, SL in place & optimum ways of adjustments with minimum slippages. So the main aim here is to write theta without following vol behaviour & having any actual knowledge of what's going on in the markets. (3/n)

A dedicated trader can learn all this in few years & it is something which is 'obvious' to become successful. But majority can't reach this level, as this also requires consistent hustle in live markets. All the seminar/webinar business teaches you till this level only.(4/n)

If you get passed this level though, the real work starts, when you have to find your real edge. This can't be taught in a webinar. It needs serious introspection of your trading skills, psychology & strategies in use, which ultimately allow you to book excellent profits. (5/n)

A THREAD

Topic: HOW TO TRADE IN RISING PREMIUMS SCENARIO

Option sellers specially Straddle sellers feel that rising premiums give them excellent opportunity to make easy money. So what they are seeing is the theta aspect of options & ignoring the delta/gamma/vega forces.

1/

With rising premiums come high delta moves. There is a reason why premiums are all increasing up in the first place. High uncertainty & fear is what's controlling the markets during such times. So a volatile 200 point move in nifty is always on the cards.

2/

Adjusting during such delta moves involves high slippages. Such costs go in our system & are irrecoverable. So if the ATM straddle is around 400 & after 200 point downmove, the next straddle is at 450 & the loss is not just 50points but compounded much more.

3/

Also there are chances that there is no decay throughout the day. So a straddle seller has to take that heavy risk of carrying it forward & chances of gap openings are high during such times. If converted into Ironfly, then the cost of the wings is too expensive.

4/

Thus cutting down the initial credit significantly.

There will also be very few instances when premiums don't fall till expiry day. So with each delta move the cost of holding a straddle gets accumulated & pressure keeps mounting for the stubborn option sellers.

5/

@Ronak_Unadkat Sir has more than 100 videos on his Youtube channel.

He mainly focuses on the same few concepts to take a trade.

I can teach you those in the next 5 minutes:🧵

Collaborated with @niki_poojary

1/— OI unwinding for Aggressive trades

Okay, so you must begin your search for these type of trades "ANYDAY AFTER 1 PM".

For eg:

If the market is going up and you spot some large unwinding on the call side.

Sell the immediate puts from where the market reversed to go up.

Where option sellers are trapped no need to check the support resistance as a big directional move is going to happen.

Just aggressively sell puts straight up, pocket the higher premiums and make high returns.

Explaining the logic in the next tweet.

Logic:

Simple, option sellers are tapped. In this case on the call side.

When a seller is trapped he will buy his option back.

Option buyer will not be in a hurry to square off as he is in profit.

This will result in a huge spike in calls.

A call option seller cutting his position means he is not confident that the market will go down or sideways.

We take a hint from him and sell puts to make a profit.

As promised, here is the first video of Iron Fly Simulation of Reverse buying and scalping in directional market

Expiry - 05 August 2021

Will upload daily one simulation in this week

Link to watch - https://t.co/Pp2nux2iU0 https://t.co/kbgpszLiiP