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NikTam

CML TradeMachine Trade Ideas

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8 hours ago, greenspan76 said:

FDX -91.8%   (IC 21DTE 35/15^ 2/21) - not the SO trade; missed closing for a 40% gain by about 0.05, so that kinda sucked

-91.8% loss? (O_O) This is a typo, right? From almost 40% gain to -91.8% loss?

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16 hours ago, NikTam said:

ASML could be great -- or not.  Gapped down this morning.  If it gaps up to fill tomorrow morning, I will be go for it.  It's a 3:1 PE so it will happen quickly one way or another!

Just for clarification, a 3-1 PE would mean entry today.  Then Friday, Monday and Tuesday count as the 3 days.

 

From CML Support:  "For anything 3-days or less before earnings, we use trading days, not calendar days."

 

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4 minutes ago, siddharth310584 said:

I believe it would be tomorrow, right ?

YES -- tomorrow.  My mistake. The 3 days would be Monday Tuesday Wednesday (the day of earnings).  Close the trade on Tuesday which is one day before earnings.

 

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1 hour ago, scubaskeeter said:

Hi green,

What are "Short PS trades".? Thanks. 

Short Put Spread - generally selling an out of the money put and buying a further out of the money put

 

 

1 hour ago, akito said:

-91.8% loss? (O_O) This is a typo, right? From almost 40% gain to -91.8% loss?

Nope. This is correct. I believe I held a day longer than the CML trade called for, so it dropped from 80ish% loss to almost 92%, but it was up over 30% at one point before giving up all gains and becoming a big loss. Trades like this one are why my allocations are so low to these trades (less than 1% of portfolio currently)

 

Edited by greenspan76

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54 minutes ago, NikTam said:

YES -- tomorrow.  My mistake. The 3 days would be Monday Tuesday Wednesday (the day of earnings).  Close the trade on Tuesday which is one day before earnings.

 

EDIT: D'oh! Didn't read your post closely enough. Sorry.

 

ASML earnings is Wednesday. I've been interpreting the CML backtesting for a 3-1 to mean the trade was "opened" at the closing price the 3rd day before earnings and "closed" at the closing price 1 day before earnings. So, that would mean opening at end of day Friday and closing at end of day Tuesday. I *thought* I had verified this to be true by looking at the detailed trades back when they still allowed non-members to look at the details of shared trades, but I don't have the data to go back and look now. I know you were adding technical analysis to some trades, so you may have a different take, but isn't that what CML backtests mean by 3-1 pre-earnings?

Edited by greenspan76

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17 minutes ago, greenspan76 said:

EDIT: D'oh! Didn't read your post closely enough. Sorry.

 

ASML earnings is Wednesday. I've been interpreting the CML backtesting for a 3-1 to mean the trade was "opened" at the closing price the 3rd day before earnings and "closed" at the closing price 1 day before earnings. So, that would mean opening at end of day Friday and closing at end of day Tuesday. I *thought* I had verified this to be true by looking at the detailed trades back when they still allowed non-members to look at the details of shared trades, but I don't have the data to go back and look now. I know you were adding technical analysis to some trades, so you may have a different take, but isn't that what CML backtests mean by 3-1 pre-earnings?

Yes.  

However, as I look at the last couple of 3-1 trades on the back-test details, they are two day trades, not three.  So buying on Monday and selling on Tuesday, with earnings on Wednesday.  I will ask about this.

Edited by NikTam

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30 minutes ago, traveller said:

@cuegis congrats on RAD. what are your plans

Wow...I 'm embarrassed to admit this but, I was so busy , with my main positions, that I didn't even see this until you brought it to my attention.

I will sell a few, but, I don't see any reason to liquidate the whole thing , as it is pretty much in an uptrend.

I also like the behavior following earnings.

I felt that if it held $2.00, then that would be a sort of floor.

The market told you what it thought, so just follow what the market is telling you.

But, after any spike, you have to lock in some gains. So, sell a small portion, and hang on.

Also, there is that time factor.. There is SO much time, and now they are almost .30 cents in the money.

Which means there is only .10- .15 cents of time value on a 3 month option.

Edited by cuegis
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6 minutes ago, mustafaoe said:

I' am in Long Call in UNH , Earnings next Tuesday.

Looking at the backtest for 3-1, it doesn’t look good. Which one are you looking at ?

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37 minutes ago, cuegis said:

Wow...I 'm embarrassed to admit this but, I was so busy , with my main positions, that I didn't even see this until you brought it to my attention.

I will sell a few, but, I don't see any reason to liquidate the whole thing , as it is pretty much in an uptrend.

I also like the behavior following earnings.

I felt that if it held $2.00, then that would be a sort of floor.

The market told you what it thought, so just follow what the market is telling you.

But, after any spike, you have to lock in some gains. So, sell a small portion, and hang on.

Also, there is that time factor.. There is SO much time, and now they are almost .30 cents in the money.

Which means there is only .10- .15 cents of time value on a 3 month option.

My April 1.5 calls have no time value !!! Do you know why that would be the case ?

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5 minutes ago, siddharth310584 said:

Looking at the backtest for 3-1, it doesn’t look good. Which one are you looking at ?

You are right. But, strange, I am made the analysis couple of weeks before and there I had a 65% probability for 40 delta long calls with profit. Now it looks completely different. Strange, very strange.

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2 hours ago, NikTam said:

 

2 hours ago, siddharth310584 said:

I believe it would be tomorrow, right ?

YES -- tomorrow.  My mistake. The 3 days would be Monday Tuesday Wednesday (the day of earnings).  Close the trade on Tuesday which is one day before earnings.

 

If this is referring to ASML reporting BO on Wed 17th, then - (correct me if I am wrong, I'm not from the US) - isn't Mon 15th a Martin Luther holiday, and thus the markets are closed? This means three business days before Wed would actually be today.

 

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4 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

If this is referring to ASML reporting BO on Wed 17th, then - (correct me if I am wrong, I'm not from the US) - isn't Mon 15th a Martin Luther holiday, and thus the markets are closed? This means three business days before Wed would actually be today.

 

Good point. I overlooked that.

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7 minutes ago, siddharth310584 said:

My April 1.5 calls have no time value !!! Do you know why that would be the case ?

Well, it is sort of an unusual situation, as it is a $2.30 stock.

Remember, the time value of an in the money call is the price of the same strike put. (same expiration)

So, when you are looking at a $1.50 put, that percentage wise, is so far out of the money, you would expect it to be small, or even non existent.

I just looked it up. That put is .02 bid / .04 ask, which is as close to zero as you can get.

At $2.30, the $1.5 call should be priced around .83 cents.

Tight now, the stock is at $2.27, and the $1.5 call is .73 bid / .82 ask.

That is just based on the market makers bidding and offering below, and above, "fair value".

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57 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

If this is referring to ASML reporting BO on Wed 17th, then - (correct me if I am wrong, I'm not from the US) - isn't Mon 15th a Martin Luther holiday, and thus the markets are closed? This means three business days before Wed would actually be today.

 

Wow.  I hadn't figured this in -- you're right.  The rules are Trading Days for the 3-1 PE.  

But I will wait for end of day.  This thing is really struggling to get a bid.

Edited by NikTam

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3 minutes ago, NikTam said:

Wow.  I hadn't figured this in -- you're right.  The rules are Trading Days for the 3-1 PE.  

But I will wait for end of day.  This thing is really struggling to get a bid.

I'm watching for an entry as well. This thing has a pretty hard downtrend though, so it's looking like it'll be EOD entry unless it finds some legs.

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3 minutes ago, greenspan76 said:

Opened ASML Jan19 180 call for $3.30 a little earlier. Not entirely sure if others were planning to open the Feb monthly, but I went with Jan monthly.

I went with the 185 Jan 19 call for 1.65

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14 hours ago, krisbee said:


Still not subscribed, but can now see the details of some shared backtests again. Any idea why the backtest says it is opening 3 days before earnings, but it is showing that it opened 2 days before earnings? Is there some sort of parameter for not holding 3 day pre-earnings trades through the weekend, maybe?? I believe you mentioned seeing the same thing in one of the backtests as well, @NikTam

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8 hours ago, greenspan76 said:


Still not subscribed, but can now see the details of some shared backtests again. Any idea why the backtest says it is opening 3 days before earnings, but it is showing that it opened 2 days before earnings? Is there some sort of parameter for not holding 3 day pre-earnings trades through the weekend, maybe?? I believe you mentioned seeing the same thing in one of the backtests as well, @NikTam

I have an inquiry submitted to CML Support about this.  I am waiting to hear back.  

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9 hours ago, greenspan76 said:


Still not subscribed, but can now see the details of some shared backtests again. Any idea why the backtest says it is opening 3 days before earnings, but it is showing that it opened 2 days before earnings? Is there some sort of parameter for not holding 3 day pre-earnings trades through the weekend, maybe?? I believe you mentioned seeing the same thing in one of the backtests as well, @NikTam

It may be the difference between earnings before open versus after close.  I've noticed before that if a company announces BO on Aug 15th for example, and you configure the rule to enter 0 days before earnings, you'll actually miss it by a day (it'll enter EOD on the 15th, AFTER the earnings release). 

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18 hours ago, zxcv64 said:

I went with the 185 Jan 19 call for 1.65

I got filled for this one at 1.70 yesterday, just closed at 2.45 for 40% profit. 

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7 minutes ago, Sirion said:

I got filled for this one at 1.70 yesterday, just closed at 2.45 for 40% profit.


Thanks for the heads up - I'd forgotten to put a GTC order on this. Just closed for a net 45.5% after comms.

I have also got a similar long call on a 7-day P-E basis, for which I had paid 2.3 (1.85 strike again), but will hold onto that one a bit longer.

 

 

Edited by zxcv64

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On 1/11/2018 at 11:04 AM, traveller said:

@cuegis congrats on RAD. what are your plans

Yesterday I sold a tiny portion of what I was holding.

Then, after more careful examination, I bought it right back, plus a bit more.

Today, I actually added to the position, on a dip.

It looks very solid to me.

So far, it definitely is not a 1 day spike. 

The continuation, and not being able to pull back, indicates there is more to come.

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50 minutes ago, krisbee said:

Not sure how much it matters but there are no weekly's so 7 day expiration wouldn't be possible.  Here's an alternative that still looks pretty good using a 60 delta call option.  7-1 PE.

http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180112190836_odUSM9phkKV18ei3

And based on detailed trading report I think SHW has always been monthly only options.

Date                           Description                             Size    Symbol Expiration    StrikeType Trade Price Profit/Loss    Stock Price
21-Jan-16    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Feb19`16    250    Call     $8.1          $245.97
27-Jan-16    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Feb19`16    250    Call     $10.6     $249     $252.25
14-Apr-16    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    May20`16    300    Call     $6.4          $294.5
20-Apr-16    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    May20`16    300    Call     $8.4     $199     $300.02
14-Jul-16    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Aug19`16    310    Call     $6.25          $306.25
20-Jul-16    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Aug19`16    310    Call     $8.35     $209     $312.1
18-Oct-16    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Nov18`16    280    Call     $3.7          $270.85
24-Oct-16    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Nov18`16    280    Call     $6.35     $264     $277.88
19-Jan-17    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Feb17`17    290    Call     $5.45          $283.09
25-Jan-17    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Feb17`17    290    Call     $4.7    -$76     $283.42
13-Apr-17    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Apr21`17    310    Call     $6.4          $308.35
19-Apr-17    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Apr21`17    310    Call     $6.95     $54     $311.54
13-Jul-17    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Jul21`17    360    Call     $5.4          $355.15
19-Jul-17    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Jul21`17    360    Call     $7.45     $204     $359.72
17-Oct-17    Open 7DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    1    SHW    Nov17`17    390    Call     $7          $382.68
23-Oct-17    Close 1DaysBeforeEarnings:Long Calls    -1    SHW    Nov17`17    390    Call     $7.95     $94     $386.58
 

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1 minute ago, akito said:

Looks like this should have been opened yesterday, but regardless, looks interesting. I'll give it a try if I can get filled.

That's right, I forgot to open it, but backtest with 7 days after earnings is still 11-1.

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23 hours ago, greenspan76 said:

Opened ASML Jan19 180 call for $3.30 a little earlier. Not entirely sure if others were planning to open the Feb monthly, but I went with Jan monthly.

I guess technically I am "supposed" to hold since it is short of 40% at end of day, but closed for $4.50, a gain of 35.8% after commissions.

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I've been using the CML backtesting since end of Oct 2017.  Just wanted to get others opinion on when they close their Pre Earnings trades, especially on the back tests that show 75%+ accuracy and returns ~100% for each winning trade.  My options mentor always taught me to "smoke em if you got em" once you reach your profit target, and my strategy has been successful, so please don't look at this as me sounding greedy.

All that being said, do any of you actually hold out until the +1 day before earnings to close the trade when it shows no improvement in accuracy for taking the +40% gain?  I usually close between 30-40% profit based on reviewing some technical indicators, and have my stop loss at -50%.  I have yet to actually hold on until the +1 day to see if I get higher returns.  Any thoughts are appreciated.

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1 minute ago, cwerner376 said:

I've been using the CML backtesting since end of Oct 2017.  Just wanted to get others opinion on when they close their Pre Earnings trades, especially on the back tests that show 75%+ accuracy and returns ~100% for each winning trade.  My options mentor always taught me to "smoke em if you got em" once you reach your profit target, and my strategy has been successful, so please don't look at this as me sounding greedy.

All that being said, do any of you actually hold out until the +1 day before earnings to close the trade when it shows no improvement in accuracy for taking the +40% gain?  I usually close between 30-40% profit based on reviewing some technical indicators, and have my stop loss at -50%.  I have yet to actually hold on until the +1 day to see if I get higher returns.  Any thoughts are appreciated.

If I'm going to be at the computer, I don't leave GTC profit takers on. I will watch the trade at open and let it ride for a bit if it's surging. However, I'll pretty much always close at EOD if it's above 40% (sometimes a little under!). I try to take the win. This type of trade is volatile enough, imo. I already limit the position size, so letting one of these when it's already almost 1.5x the position size ride.. it's a little too aggressive for me. 

Not to say it wouldn't work!

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Very good question and one which I need to think about too. I have an impatient streak in me, and it's a personality trait not best suited for trading, so am learning to reign it in. 

7 minutes ago, cwerner376 said:

I usually close between 30-40% profit based on reviewing some technical indicators, and have my stop loss at -50%.  I have yet to actually hold on until the +1 day to see if I get higher returns.

Yep, this is what I do too. Currently, I am trialling CML trades on a very small allocation, and once I have 70-80 trades behind me then I will approach the CML trades more methodically. At times it would help to hold till +1 day - classic case this week, I bought UAL long calls for like 1.15. The next day the stock rose and I closed at 3.0. Another two days later the same calls would have been over 7. It just takes a one bigger outlier like that to bring the whole portfolio up for the week.

 

Edited by zxcv64

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1 minute ago, Sirion said:

If I'm going to be at the computer, I don't leave GTC profit takers on. I will watch the trade at open and let it ride for a bit if it's surging. However, I'll pretty much always close at EOD if it's above 40% (sometimes a little under!). I try to take the win. This type of trade is volatile enough, imo. I already limit the position size, so letting one of these when it's already almost 1.5x the position size ride.. it's a little too aggressive for me. 

Not to say it wouldn't work!

That's pretty much how I have felt.  I maintain a spreadsheet for all of my trades and I do put the back test profit and loss per trade on it, but when I am staring at a 30%+ winner its hard for me to justify staying in the trade.  I have had a few from last earning season turn from +30% to a -45% in a few days.  Thanks for the thoughts.

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2 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

Very good question and one which I need to think about too. I have an impatient streak in me, and it's a personality trait not best suited for trading, so am learning to reign it in. 

Yep, this is what I do too. Currently, I am trialling CML trades on a very small allocation, and once I have 70-80 trades behind me then I will approach the CML trades more methodically. At times it would help to hold till +1 day - classic case this week, I bought UAL long calls for like 1.15. The next day the stock rose and I closed at 3.0. Another two days later the same calls would have been over 7. It just takes a one bigger outlier like that to bring the whole portfolio up for the week.

 

Did you mention this trade in the UAL thread? If not, :@ Just kidding.. I'm just sitting here relieved that I only got a partial fill on my UAL calendars. Sick surge up. Nice job on UAL - what made you pull the trigger on those long calls?

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9 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

Very good question and one which I need to think about too. I have an impatient streak in me, and it's a personality trait not best suited for trading, so am learning to reign it in. 

Yep, this is what I do too. Currently, I am trialling CML trades on a very small allocation, and once I have 70-80 trades behind me then I will approach the CML trades more methodically. At times it would help to hold till +1 day - classic case this week, I bought UAL long calls for like 1.15. The next day the stock rose and I closed at 3.0. Another two days later the same calls would have been over 7. It just takes a one bigger outlier like that to bring the whole portfolio up for the week.

 

I usually only allocate 2-3% of total portfolio value per trade into the CML trades. Maybe I need to try selling 1/2 the position at my profit target and then letting a smaller part ride closer to earnings.

 

Great job on UAL!  This is a great example, I pulled the trigger to sell at +79% yesterday.

Edited by cwerner376

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5 minutes ago, Sirion said:

what made you pull the trigger on those long calls?

The thought of a 176% profit in a day. But it was a tiny allocation - as mentioned, I am simply trialling the CML trades right now. By mid-end Feb, I'll hit it properly.

Edited by zxcv64

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4 hours ago, cwerner376 said:

I've been using the CML backtesting since end of Oct 2017.  Just wanted to get others opinion on when they close their Pre Earnings trades, especially on the back tests that show 75%+ accuracy and returns ~100% for each winning trade.  My options mentor always taught me to "smoke em if you got em" once you reach your profit target, and my strategy has been successful, so please don't look at this as me sounding greedy.

All that being said, do any of you actually hold out until the +1 day before earnings to close the trade when it shows no improvement in accuracy for taking the +40% gain?  I usually close between 30-40% profit based on reviewing some technical indicators, and have my stop loss at -50%.  I have yet to actually hold on until the +1 day to see if I get higher returns.  Any thoughts are appreciated.

I've been trying to follow the actual CML backtest. At first, I was closing as soon as the profit target was reached intraday, but then I realized their methodology is to wait and analyze at the end of the day, so I started doing that. For me, it is about common sense, given my own individual circumstances at the time. In today's ASML case, there were several reasons I closed just below the profit target: 1) The chart didn't look that great when I took the trade yesterday, and I was concerned it might be a dead-cat bounce type of thing; 2) It was Friday and Monday is a holiday, so anything could happen over the 3-day weekend; 3) It was teetering just above and below 40% gain most of the day and still could potentially reach that target by end of day; but mostly 4) my toddler woke up from her nap, so I didn't want to try to deal with her and trading the last 30 minutes of the day.

 

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On 1/12/2018 at 8:39 PM, greenspan76 said:

I've been trying to follow the actual CML backtest. At first, I was closing as soon as the profit target was reached intraday, but then I realized their methodology is to wait and analyze at the end of the day, so I started doing that. For me, it is about common sense, given my own individual circumstances at the time. In today's ASML case, there were several reasons I closed just below the profit target: 1) The chart didn't look that great when I took the trade yesterday, and I was concerned it might be a dead-cat bounce type of thing; 2) It was Friday and Monday is a holiday, so anything could happen over the 3-day weekend; 3) It was teetering just above and below 40% gain most of the day and still could potentially reach that target by end of day; but mostly 4) my toddler woke up from her nap, so I didn't want to try to deal with her and trading the last 30 minutes of the day.

 

I entered ASML on 1/3/18 for the 14DPEC and exited on 1/5/18 with a 35.9% profit based on the technicals I use, even though the backtest had 75% accuracy for the last 12 months and a average win of 115%.  I entered again on 1/10/18 for the 7DPEC and exited on 1/12/18 with a 13.8% profit for the same reasons you listed above, except the toddler.  The 7DPEC had a 100% accuracy for 12 months and an average profit of 44%.  I am definitely happy with these results, and it is very hard for me to hold out until the +1 day for earnings to try for a  larger profit when my technicals are saying to close the position.  Thanks for sharing your thought process!

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ASML 3-1 PE   Exited for 66% gain at open.  This one made me nervous -- and I held through the weekend -- so it was a smaller than average allocation.  Entered at 4.50 exited at 7.50.

Edited by NikTam

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      Couple of weeks ago, the CML published an article The Volatility Option Trade After Earnings in PayPal Holdings Inc.

      The setup was:

      "The week following PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) has had one fairly consistent pattern -- volatility. If we take a myopic view after looking at the last three-years and focus on the last six-months, that pattern is yet more decisive. Irrespective of whether the earnings move was large or small, if we tested waiting one-day after earnings and then holding a long out of the money (40 delta) strangle for one-week (using two-week options), the results were quite strong. This trade opens one-day after earnings were announced to try to find a stock that moves a lot after the earnings announcement."

      If we bought the out-of-the-money strangle in PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) over the last three-years but only held it after earnings we get these results: 
       
      PYPL
      Long out-of-the-money strangle   % Wins: 64%   Wins: 7   Losses: 4   % Return:  174%  Tap Here to See the Back-test

      The backtest also defines very clear rules for the trade:

      * Open the long out-of-the-money (40 delta) strangle one-calendar day after earnings.
      * Close the strangle 7 calendar days after earnings. 
      * Use the options closest to 14 days from expiration (but more than 7 days). 
       
      On July 25, I posted the link to the PYPL potential trade on the forum:
       


      On the next day I posted my entry:



      Please note that this trade didn't make it into the official model portfolio due to higher potential risk - hence I mentioned "small allocation only".

      The next day, some of the members started posting their exit prices:





      I was out a day later for 27% gain:



      Some members did even better:



      And finally an interesting comment from another member:



      Those are real trades, from real traders, posted in real time. 

      Attention tastytrade: Buying premium does work - you just need to know how to do it.

      This is how people profit from the option market. It's not guessing or speculation. Take a reasonable idea or hypothesis, use a rationale system to help overcome cognitive biases, and test it. Tap the link below to learn more: 

      Tap Here to See the Tools at Work 

      When you combine the best options trading community with the best backtester, the results are unbeatable.

      Related articles:
      Lessons From Facebook Earnings Disaster The Incredible Option Trade In VXX Post Earnings Option Trade In Facebook Why We Sell Our Straddles Before Earnings Earnings Momentum Trading In Google
    • By Ophir Gottlieb
      How to Trade Options Before Earnings in Fabrinet (NYSE:FN)
       
        How to Trade Options Before Earnings in Fabrinet (NYSE:FN)
      Date Published: 2017-06-28 

      This article can be seen in a video or as a full written article below the video. 
       

      PREFACE 
      Trading options in Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) using a short window before earnings are released has been a staggering winner over the last several years. 

      This is it -- this is how people profit from the option market. Identifying strategies that are tightly risk controlled, take no stock direction risk and no earnings risk. Strategies that are immune from a bull or bear market. 

      STORY 
      Everyone knows that the day of an earnings announcement is a risky event for a stock. But the question every option trader, whether professional or amateur, has long asked is if there is a way to profit from this known implied volatility rise. It turns out, that over the long-run, for stocks with certain tendencies, the answer is actually, yes. 
        Yes, there is a systematic way to trade this repeating phenomenon, without making a bet on earnings or stock direction.

      THE SET UP 
      What a trader wants to do is to see the results of buying an at the money straddle a couple of weeks before earnings, and then sell that straddle just before earnings. Here is the setup: 
       

      We are testing opening the position 14 days before earnings and then closing the position 1 day before earnings. This is not making any earnings bet. This is not making any stock direction bet. 

      Once we apply that simple rule to our back-test, we run it on an at-the-money straddle: 

      RETURNS 
      If we did this long at-the-money straddle in Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) over the last three-years but only held it before earnings we get these results: 
         
      Click here to see the back-test live

      That's a 162% return over the last three-years, with 9 winning trades and 3 losing trades. But, let's take a step toward risk reduction before we move forward. 

      While we are looking at this same trade, let's also set a rule that if at any point in the two-week period the straddle loses 25% of its value, we just close it and wait for the next pre-earnings cycle. While we're at it, we will do the same with the upside -- that is, if at any time during the two-weeks the straddle goes up 25%, we take the profits and close the trade. 

      For clarity, this is what we test: 
       

      And now we can see the results over the same three-year period: 
         
      Click here to see the back-test live

      While we are taking 75% less risk, we are seeing about the same results -- we will continue down this risk adjusted path for the rest of this dossier. 

      Digging Deeper 
      Now we can see the results over the last two-years: 
         
      Click here to see the back-test live

      That's a 126% return and 7 winning trades with 1 losing trade. Remember, this trade takes no stock direction risk and no earnings risk -- this is completely agnostic to a bull or bear market. 

      Even further, that 126% actually came on just 16 weeks of trading (2-weeks per earnings cycle, 8 earnings cycles), which is over 400% annualized returns. 

      Now we look at the last year: 
         
      Click here to see the back-test live

      We see a 65.2% percent return on 3 winning trade and 1 losing trade. 

      Finally, we can look at the last six-months: 
         
      Click here to see the back-test live

      That's 40.1%, winning both of the last two pre-earnings trades. 

      WHAT HAPPENED 
      This is it -- this is how people profit from the option market. Identifying strategies that are tightly risk controlled, take no stock direction bets or earnings risk. It's preparation, not luck. 

      To see how to do this for any stock we welcome you to watch this quick demonstration video: 
      Tap Here to See the Tools at Work 

      Thanks for reading. 

      Risk Disclosure 
      You should read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. 

      Past performance is not an indication of future results. 

      Trading futures and options involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation. Only risk capital should be used when trading futures or options. Investors could lose more than their initial investment. 

      Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. The risk of loss in trading can be substantial, carefully consider the inherent risks of such an investment in light of your financial condition.
    • By Ophir Gottlieb
      How to Profit from Trading Options in Autodesk Inc Right After Earnings
       


      Date Published: 2017-05-18 
      Written by Ophir Gottlieb 

      LEDE 
      While Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) just crushed earnings again, sending shares soaring in the after hours trade, one option trade after earnings has been a consistent winner. It takes no earnings risk, little stock direction risk and over the last year has never lost while returning over 160% annualized returns. 

      The Trade After the Excitement 
      While most of the focus is on the actual earnings move for a stock, that's the distraction when it comes to the option market. For Autodesk Inc, irrespective of whether the earnings move was up or down, if we waited one-day after the stock move from earnings, and then sold an out of the money put spread, the results were very strong. 

      We can examine this, objectively, with a custom option back-test. Here is our earnings set-up: 
       


      Rules 
      * Open short put spread 1 day after earnings 
      * Close short put spread 29 days later 
      * Use the option that is closest to but greater than 30-days away from expiration 

      Here are the results over the last year: 
       


      That's a 47.3% return, with 4 winning trades and 0 losing trades. The total holding period was less than 4 full months, meaning the annualized return was over 160%. No earnings risk was taken -- this is not a coin flip over earnings. 

      The Logic 
      This strategy works beautifully in many companies where heavy stock volume follows the earnings release. The logic behind this trade follows a narrative that even after a bad earnings release, if we wait a day after, we find the stock at a point of equilibrium. 

      If it gapped down -- that gap is over. If it beat earnings, the downside move is already likely muted. Here's how this strategy has done over the last 6-months: 
       


      That's a 21.3% return, on 2 winning trades and 0 losing trades. Since this is a total of a two-month holding period, that 21.3% is actually over 120% annualized. 

      If you're curious, yes, this also produced positive returns over the last 3-years. Here are those results. 
       


      Now we can find some comfort in this approach where is shows 9 winning trades and just 2 losing trades over the last three-years. 

      WHAT HAPPENED 
      There are patterns to stock behaviors before and after earnings and those patterns reveal opportunities in the option market, without taking the actual risk of earnings. You can find them, stock by stock, Apple, Google, Netflix and of course Autodesk Inc are just a handful of examples. There has been edge here with this strategy. 

      To see how to do this for any stock and for any strategy with just the click of a few buttons, we welcome you to watch this quick demonstration video: 
      Tap Here to See the Tools at Work 

      Thanks for reading. 

      Risk Disclosure 
      You should read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. 

      Past performance is not an indication of future results. 

      Trading futures and options involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation. Only risk capital should be used when trading futures or options. Investors could lose more than their initial investment. 

      Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. The risk of loss in trading can be substantial, carefully consider the inherent risks of such an investment in light of your financial condition. 

      The author has no position in Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) as of this writing. 

      Back-test Link
       
       
       
       
       
    • By Ophir Gottlieb
      How to Trade Options Before Earnings in Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO)

       
      How to Trade Options Before Earnings in Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO)
      Date Published: 2017-05-15 

      PREFACE 
      Trading options in a short window before earnings are released benefits from the rising implied volatility but avoids the risk into the actual earnings release and also avoids any kind of stock direction risk. 

      This approach has returned a annualized rate of 198%. Now that's worth looking into. 

      STORY 
      Everyone knows that the day of an earnings announcement is a risky event for a stock. This can be explicitly seen in the option market, where the implied volatility (the expected stock move) rises into the earnings event. 

      The question every option trader, whether professional or amateur, has long asked is if there is a way to profit from this known volatility rise. It turns out, that over the long-run, for stocks with certain tendencies like Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO) the answer is actually, yes. 
       
      Yes, there is a systematic way to trade this repeating phenomenon, without making a bet on earnings or stock direction.

      THE SET UP 
      What a trader wants to do is to see the results of buying an at the money straddle a few days before earnings, and then sell that straddle just before earnings. The goal, is two-fold: (i) to benefit from that known implied volatility rise, and (ii) to own the straddle for a very short period of time when the stock might move 'a lot,' but taking no earnings bets. 

      If either of those two phenomena occur, there's a very good chance this wins, if neither occur, the amount risked is normally quite small. Here is the setup: 
       


      We are testing opening the position 6 days before earnings and then closing the position 1 day before earnings. This is not making any earnings bet. This is not making any stock direction bet. 

      Once we apply that simple rule to our back-test, we run it on an at-the-money straddle: 

      RETURNS 
      If we did this long at-the-money (also called '50-delta') straddle in Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO) over the last three-years but only held it before earnings we get these results: 
       
      Long At-the-Money Straddle * Monthly Options * Back-test length: three-years * Open 6-days Before Earnings * Close 1-day Before Earnings * Holding Period: 5-Days per Earnings   Winning Trades: 5 Losing Trades: 7 Pre-Earnings Straddle Return:  17.1%  Annualized Return:  102% 
      We see a 17.1% return, testing this over the last 12 earnings dates in Broadcom Limited. That's a total of just 60 days (5 days for each earnings date, over 12 earnings dates). That's a annualized rate of 102%. 

      We can also see that this strategy hasn't been a winner all the time, rather it has won 5 times and lost 7 times, but here's the key -- it wins about half of the time, but the average gain per winning trade is substantially larger than the average loss on a losing trade: 
       


      Consistently Successful 
      This idea has also been a successful approach over the last two-years:
      Long At-the-Money Straddle * Monthly Options * Back-test length: two-years * Open 6-days Before Earnings * Close 1-day Before Earnings * Holding Period: 5-Days per Earnings   Winning Trades: 4 Losing Trades: 4 Pre-Earnings Straddle Return:  22%  Annualized Return:  198% 
      Now we see a 22% return, testing this over the last 8 earnings dates which is a annualized rate of 198%. 

      Yet again, we see a trade that wins about half the time, but the average win is much larger than the average loss: 
       


      If you really want to see how we found this, and how to do it for other stocks like Apple, Google and Amazon, here is a 1-minute and 34-second video that every professional option trader would rather that you don't see. 

      Learn more here: Try the Back-tester Yourself

      WHAT HAPPENED 
      There are patterns to stock behaviors before and after earnings and those patterns reveal opportunities in the option market, without taking the actual risk of earnings. You can find them, stock by stock. This is how people profit from the option market -- it's preparation, not luck. 

      To see how to do this for any stock we welcome you to watch this quick demonstration video: 
      Tap Here to See the Tools at Work

      Thanks for reading. 

      Risk Disclosure 
      You should read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. 

      Past performance is not an indication of future results. 

      Trading futures and options involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation. Only risk capital should be used when trading futures or options. Investors could lose more than their initial investment. 

      Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. The risk of loss in trading can be substantial, carefully consider the inherent risks of such an investment in light of your financial condition. 

      Back-test Link
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
    • By Ophir Gottlieb
      The Secret Behind Options Pre-Earnings Trading in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
       
       
      Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC): The Wonderful Secret Behind Options Pre-Earnings Trading
      Date Published: 2017-05-4

      PREFACE 
      There is a wonderful secret to trading options right before earnings announcements in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) , and really many stocks, that benefits from the rising implied volatility but avoids the risk into the actual earnings release and also avoids any kind of stock direction risk. 

      THE WONDERFUL SECRET 
      What a trader wants to do is to see the results of buying an at the money straddle a few days before earnings, and then sell that straddle just before earnings. 

      The goal, is two-fold: (i) to benefit from that known implied volatility rise, and (ii) to own the straddle for a very short period of time when the stock might move 'a lot,' but never take the risk of actually owning options during the earnings release. 

      If either of those two phenomena occur, there's a very good chance this wins, if neither occur, the amount risked is normally quite small. Here is the setup: 
       


      We are testing opening the position in Intel Corporation 6 days before earnings and then closing the position right before earnings. This is not making any earnings bet. This is notmaking any stock direction bet. 

      Once we apply that simple rule to our back-test, we run it on an at-the-money straddle: 

      RETURNS 
      If we did this long at-the-money (also called '50-delta') straddle in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) over the last three-years but only held it before earnings we get these results: 
       


      We see a 47.8% return, testing this over the last 12 earnings dates in Intel Corporation. That's a total of just 72 days (6 days for each earnings date, over 12 earnings dates). That's a annualized rate of 242%. 

      We can also see that the win/loss rate is split with 6-wins and 6-losses, yet the return is enormous. That means the winning trades are much larger than the losing trades, which is exactly what a successful trading strategy attempts to do. No magic bullets -- rather smart methodologies for wealth creation. 

      MORE TO IT THAN MEETS THE EYE 
      While this strategy is benefiting from the implied volatility rise into earnings for Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), what it's really doing is far more intelligent. 

      The ideal stocks for this strategy have a couple of common characteristics: 

      (i) The companies rarely pre-announce earnings -- this is an investment that does not look to make an earnings bet, so an earnings pre-announcement is the opposite of what we're hoping for. 

      (ii) The underlying stock price of these companies tend to move a lot (or some) as earnings approach and various institutions and traders shuffle the stock price around in anticipation of the earnings result. The more one sided the outside world starts betting on direction -- up or down, the better it is to own the straddle. 

      WHAT HAPPENED 
      This is it -- this is how people profit from the option market -- it's preparation, not luck. 

      Test the results on Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc, and the results are staggering. 

      To see how to do this for any stock and for any strategy with just the click of a few buttons, we welcome you to watch this quick demonstration video: 
      Tap Here to See the Tools at Work 

      Thanks for reading. 

      Risk Disclosure 
      You should read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. 

      Past performance is not an indication of future results. 

      Trading futures and options involves the risk of loss. Please consider carefully whether futures or options are appropriate to your financial situation. Only risk capital should be used when trading futures or options. Investors could lose more than their initial investment. 

      Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. The risk of loss in trading can be substantial, carefully consider the inherent risks of such an investment in light of your financial condition. 

      The author has no position in Intel Corporation Inc (NASDAQ:INTC) as of this writing. 

      Back-test Link (does require custom earnings settings).
       
       
       
       
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