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NikTam

CML TradeMachine Trade Ideas

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1 hour ago, IgorK said:

 

I have a bid in at $3 on 172.5 Jan 26 long call.  PE 3-1  This will be short and sweet or short and ugly - if I get filled.

http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180122185111_OigvK0RpSDAIWxTy  The 1 year looks good.  The chart looks bullish.

Raised bid to 3.05 and just filled.  Half position.

I put OCO 40% gain/30% Stoploss

Edited by NikTam

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11 minutes ago, NikTam said:

I have a bid in at $3 on 172.5 Jan 26 long call.  PE 3-1  This will be short and sweet or short and ugly - if I get filled.

http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180122185111_OigvK0RpSDAIWxTy  The 1 year looks good.  The chart looks bullish.

Raised bid to 3.05 and just filled.  Half position.

I put OCO 40% gain/30% Stoploss

I see last 3.00

What about UTX?

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On 1/19/2018 at 10:29 AM, greenspan76 said:

@NikTam Did you ever hear back from CML about the PE 3-1 trades? I noticed in the BA 3-1 trade they posted on Jan 17th blog post (http://www.cmlviz.com/cmld3b/index.php?number=11902&app=news&cml_article_id=20180117_the-one-day-pre-earnings-momentum-trade-with-options-in-boeing-co-nyse-ba) that they specifically said it was opened at the end of the day Monday, 2 days before earnings, instead of Friday. Every single trade in the backtest is a 2-1 trade, so I'm not really clear why they even bother calling it a 3-1 trade. Maybe more importantly for a subscriber, I don't understand how the software is calculating the 3 days pre-earnings since some 3-1 trades are actually opened 3 days before earnings and others are opened 2 days before earnings.

The response I got back on Jan 12 is as follows:

 

"So, currently the system basically uses a "trading days" style calculation only if earnings is on Monday or Tuesday and if the 'days before' number is <= 5. Otherwise the system uses calendar days. These earnings events are on Wednesday. Since the trade can't open on a Saturday or Sunday, the first day that is <= 3 days before earnings is Monday. Then, Tuesday is the day before earnings, so, you are just seeing 1 trading day instead of 2. For this stock, you can simply increase the days before earnings if you want to force it to open on Friday.
 
That said, we do have plans in the works to create a true trading days calculations that always opens and closes the correct number of days before or after earnings, irrespective of day of week, and that is also "holiday aware". We're hoping to have that out within about 4 weeks."
 
I understand their example to mean that a Wed earnings means Calendar Days are used.  But since 3 calendar days before Wed would be Sunday- a non trading day -- then the trade is moved to Monday.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, NikTam said:

Not sure what to think about UTX.  Short term time frames struggling.

Better be safe than sorry...

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16 minutes ago, NikTam said:

The response I got back on Jan 12 is as follows:

"So, currently the system basically uses a "trading days" style calculation only if earnings is on Monday or Tuesday and if the 'days before' number is <= 5. Otherwise the system uses calendar days. These earnings events are on Wednesday. Since the trade can't open on a Saturday or Sunday, the first day that is <= 3 days before earnings is Monday. Then, Tuesday is the day before earnings, so, you are just seeing 1 trading day instead of 2. For this stock, you can simply increase the days before earnings if you want to force it to open on Friday.
 
That said, we do have plans in the works to create a true trading days calculations that always opens and closes the correct number of days before or after earnings, irrespective of day of week, and that is also "holiday aware". We're hoping to have that out within about 4 weeks."
 
I understand their example to mean that a Wed earnings means Calendar Days are used.  But since 3 calendar days before Wed would be Sunday- a non trading day -- then the trade is moved to Monday.

Thanks for that, not that easy to handle all those trading days :). As part of the enhancement, do you know if they will handle the Before Market Open properly ? Like if you say to close 0 days before earnings, it should close the trade the day before and not the day of the earning (which is after earning) like now.

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On 1/17/2018 at 2:34 PM, greenspan76 said:

...I opened a few trades this morning...

 

SEIC Feb16 75 Call for $3.20

STT Feb16 110 Call for $1.20

GD Jan26 207.5 Call for $3.50

SHW Feb16 +430/-450 Call spread for $6.60 (backtest was call only - i chose spread)

NSC Jan26 155 Call for $2.40 (intentionally opened a day early, which turned out to be 2 days early)...

Closed the NSC today for $1.18, a loss of 51% after commissions (stop loss 40% - I waited and analyzed near end of day) If I remember correctly, this one was up around 30% the day after I opened it.

 

Closed STT for avg of 1.965, a gain of 61.3% after commissions. (Wow! I should have waited until the end of day, I guess - it was $2.40+ about 10-15 minutes to market close)

Edited by greenspan76

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46 minutes ago, greenspan76 said:

Closed the NSC today for $1.18, a loss of 51% after commissions (stop loss 40% - I waited and analyzed near end of day) If I remember correctly, this one was up around 30% the day after I opened it.

 

Closed STT for avg of 1.965, a gain of 61.3% after commissions. (Wow! I should have waited until the end of day, I guess - it was $2.40+ about 10-15 minutes to market close)

STT is interesting -- huge number of call options purchased last Friday.  

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3 hours ago, Djtux said:

Thanks for that, not that easy to handle all those trading days :). As part of the enhancement, do you know if they will handle the Before Market Open properly ? Like if you say to close 0 days before earnings, it should close the trade the day before and not the day of the earning (which is after earning) like now.

I passed this on to CML support.  Will let you know...

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Concerning today's EA 7DPEC...I changed the backtest to use the 30 day expiration (FEB 23 18)  vs the 7 day expiration (FEB 2 18), and the results improved with the same chance of success.  The 40 delta calls are 15% more expensive using the 30 day option, but obviously have much lower Theta.  Can anyone else see any disadvantage to using the 30 day calls?  I have no plans to hold through earnings.

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21 minutes ago, cwerner376 said:

Concerning today's EA 7DPEC...I changed the backtest to use the 30 day expiration (FEB 23 18)  vs the 7 day expiration (FEB 2 18), and the results improved with the same chance of success.  The 40 delta calls are 15% more expensive using the 30 day option, but obviously have much lower Theta.  Can anyone else see any disadvantage to using the 30 day calls?  I have no plans to hold through earnings.

I came to same conclusion.  BUT....

Actually, here are the results -- 10 day expiration Feb 2 417% on Delta 40 1 yr http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180123141720_Oyie5ao480G7EqDu

31 day expiration Feb 23 354% on Delta 40 1 yr http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180123141828_i7xmTzfpIlmvZjQh.  And the Feb 16 monthly 24 days is just bit better at 362%.

 

So the lower cost associated with nearer expiration does appear to outweigh theta to a small degree.  I have taken the longer expiration in the past thinking this would allow me to hold through earnings.  But the IV falls so significantly after earnings that's it is still an uphill battle to recover.

Edited by NikTam

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40 minutes ago, NikTam said:

I came to same conclusion.  BUT....

Actually, here are the results -- 10 day expiration Feb 2 417% on Delta 40 1 yr http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180123141720_Oyie5ao480G7EqDu

31 day expiration Feb 23 354% on Delta 40 1 yr http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180123141828_i7xmTzfpIlmvZjQh.  And the Feb 16 monthly 24 days is just bit better at 362%.

 

So the lower cost associated with nearer expiration does appear to outweigh theta to a small degree.  I have taken the longer expiration in the past thinking this would allow me to hold through earnings.  But the IV falls so significantly after earnings that's it is still an uphill battle to recover.

Wow learned something new...I have always defaulted to the 7, 14, and 30 days that I always see the Pro Scan use.  I didn't know that you would get different results by putting in the exact days to expiration.  Thanks!

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21 hours ago, siddharth310584 said:

Thinking of entering this today: (LRCX PE 2-1)

http://tm.cmlviz.com/index.php?share_key=20180122173005_fbv0PoZNhLaD5ndj

 

Holing onto BA and SHW a bit longer to see how it trends after this vote. May not be smart but taking a risk here. Do no t have that large a position

 

Thanks siddharth310584, entered long Jan26 215 call 10 minutes before close yesterday, exited this morning at +60%

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Closed a couple CML trades today:

GD Jan26 207.5 Call: In $3.50; Out $3.00. Loss of 14.9% after commissions

LRCX Jan26 207.5 Call: In $4.85; Out $8.40. Gain of 72.9% after commissions. (Edit: looks like it kept going into the close and reached almost $10, so note that it might be wise to hold at least half into the close on the ones that have been moving)

Edited by greenspan76
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Closed 2 CML PE trades this morning:

7DPEC CAT Feb02 172.5 Call: In $2.74; Out $4.10. +51.8%

7DPEC PCAR Feb16 78.8 Call: In $1.25; Out $1.60. +28%

Getting killed on the 14DPEC on AAPL, but all the rest are doing well (fingers crossed).

 

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2 minutes ago, cwerner376 said:

 

Closed 2 CML PE trades this morning:

7DPEC CAT Feb02 172.5 Call: In $2.74; Out $4.10. +51.8%

7DPEC PCAR Feb16 78.8 Call: In $1.25; Out $1.60. +28%

Getting killed on the 14DPEC on AAPL, but all the rest are doing well (fingers crossed).

 

Damn, did you close during opening minutes on CAT? I'm in at 2.97 in the same, never saw above 4. Must have been quite a fluctuation.

For others, CAT reports BO tomorrow. Same with SHW. Will be looking to close today.

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1 hour ago, Sirion said:

Damn, did you close during opening minutes on CAT? I'm in at 2.97 in the same, never saw above 4. Must have been quite a fluctuation.

For others, CAT reports BO tomorrow. Same with SHW. Will be looking to close today.

Looks like it was filled at 9:01am CST.

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1 hour ago, cwerner376 said:

 

Closed 2 CML PE trades this morning:

7DPEC CAT Feb02 172.5 Call: In $2.74; Out $4.10. +51.8%

7DPEC PCAR Feb16 78.8 Call: In $1.25; Out $1.60. +28%

Getting killed on the 14DPEC on AAPL, but all the rest are doing well (fingers crossed).

 

I see on mobile app that I’m out of CAT on the bounce this morning.   Away from my office today but set  GTC exit at 40% gain.  

SHW looking better.   My second bite at BA is suffering badly.  Lost all my gains.  

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10 minutes ago, NikTam said:

I see on mobile app that I’m out of CAT on the bounce this morning.   Away from my office today but set  GTC exit at 40% gain.  

SHW looking better.   My second bite at BA is suffering badly.  Lost all my gains.  

Today would begin the 7DPEC on BA.  My 14DPEC is down -25% so I am not confident on adding to this position or adding the 7DPEC.  I use ichimoku and a few other technicals for direction, and they are all saying stay away on the 60 min. chart.  That being said BA has defied everything on its recent run.  Probably need to evaluate about 15 min before market close.

Edited by cwerner376
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Sorry for the double post, but it's more of a separate topic:

Days like today are going to make me avoid multiple trades that have the same hard-close date. I don't think there's been any praticularly bad sentiment about CAT or SHW, but they've both bled off large early gains when the overall market soured. 

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For what its worth I had a Feb 450 SHW call which I had bought for 4.8. I was losing about 25% yesterday, so I put in a GTC order to close at 4.8, and this morning at the open it hit, so I got out at break-even. Half an hour later, I saw the quote at 4.7 - 5.3, so it was possible to get out at a profit (for me, in this case). However, I like the simplicity of the CML trades - almost a set and forget scenario, with low maintenance.

Currently, I am still trades very low volumes on theses - in the future, when I scale up, I plan to have a staggered exit. That should improve returns.

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21 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

For what its worth I had a Feb 450 SHW call which I had bought for 4.8. I was losing about 25% yesterday, so I put in a GTC order to close at 4.8, and this morning at the open it hit, so I got out at break-even. Half an hour later, I saw the quote at 4.7 - 5.3, so it was possible to get out at a profit (for me, in this case). However, I like the simplicity of the CML trades - almost a set and forget scenario, with low maintenance.

Currently, I am still trades very low volumes on theses - in the future, when I scale up, I plan to have a staggered exit. That should improve returns.

Do you just set GTC orders on profit targets or do you also have a stop loss limit order as well? If it is just the former, what happens if the stock price nose dives and the losses get prohibitively large? I've found I'm on the other side regarding these cmlviz long call trades. To me, I guess I don't really trust single option positions, given their huge potential volatility, even with good cmlviz backtest results and small allocations. This in turn forces me to keep checking the prices and situation of each position all day, which has been extremely tiresome. The opposite of low maintenance. I have both EA and OSK calls right now in the red and I think I'll severely limit the amount of these cmlviz long call trades moving forward as they just don't seem to fit me. (might do the MSFT 7 day long call today though)

Edited by akito

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4 minutes ago, akito said:

Do you just set GTC orders on profit targets or do you also have a stop loss limit order as well?

I need to do more stop losses, currently I have very few, and I have, in fact, ended with up very large losses on the odd trade. But since my average gain overall is quite respectable, I am doing little in the way of management. Within a month, I will set up a separate portfolio just for CML trades, and then I will trade these more professionally.

Currently, the SO calendars and straddles are doing to me what the CML trades are doing to you. I am looking to implement less-maintenance trades (eg. SVXY collar, SPX double barrel calendar) into my trading. 

 

 

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5 minutes ago, akito said:

Do you just set GTC orders on profit targets or do you also have a stop loss limit order as well? If it is just the former, what happens if the stock price nose dives and the losses get prohibitively large? I've found I'm on the other side regarding these cmlviz long call trades. To me, I guess I don't really trust single option positions, given their huge potential volatility, even with good cmlviz backtest results and small allocations. This in turn forces me to keep checking the prices and situation of each position all day, which has been extremely tiresome. The opposite of low maintenance. I have both EA and OSK calls right now in the red and I think I'll severely limit the amount of these cmlviz long call trades moving forward as they just don't seem to fit me. (might do the MSFT 7 day long call today though)

What has worked for me so far...and I stress this is not a recommendation to anyone else.  I ALWAYS use stops, personally mine are set at -50%.  I USUALLY use GTC orders, last earnings season they were set at +30%, and this season I have moved them to +50% based on money that I have left on the table.  I never open a CML trade during the first 30-45 minutes of the day.  I usually change the back test to use longer options.  I have found the monthly options to be better based on volume.  I have 2 option trading accounts, SO gets the 10% per trade and no more than 60% total allocation as Kim suggests.  In other account I allocate 3% to 5% portfolio value per trade from CML and stay between 50%-60% portfolio value invested.  I am new to SO so I can only look at the historical performance which is great and speaks for itself or else I wouldn't be a member.  All that being said, my CML performance has been very successful.  Last earnings season when I started using it, I ended up +40% for Q4.  So far for Q1 2018 I am up 25%.  Overall in the money trade accuracy has been 73%.  It does take a lot more active account management, and there is a much larger directional risk since all of the CML trades I focus on are long calls.  I apologize if you know or have tried similar techniques.

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On 1/18/2018 at 7:27 PM, Stanislav said:

I'm in SHW Feb'16 450 call for 4.80 debit as well. Wanted to be in this trade as SHW is heading upwards unlike BA which is falling today.

Exited SHW for a scratch (4.85 credit). Could do it earlier today, but wanted to see what happens, and marked went down. Slightly better entries are possible now.

If anyone is still in the trade, remember to close SHW today as earnings are tomorrow BO.

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Has anyone had much success with the Mammoth indicator trades?  I executed a few of the TTM squeeze trades, but had little success.  They were all before the update that showed price targets.

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On 1/17/2018 at 10:09 PM, NikTam said:

I'm not feeling it for these tickers.  Not compelling back test results.  And wide spreads and low volume.

I have the impression that the Mammoth indicator is better. I have entered two trades (LB, SYMC). Still in the trades.

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6 minutes ago, mustafaoe said:

I have the impression that the Mammoth indicator is better. I have entered two trades (LB, SYMC). Still in the trades.

Im very interested in how they turn out.

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Closed CAT, SHW, SEIC, and BA (Edit: +SBUX) trades today (^=delta)

CAT PE 3-1 40^ Call: -15.1%; In $3.04, Out $2.60 (As some have mentioned, this was up over 20% when the market opened)

SHW PE 6-1 50/30^ Call Spread: +21.9%; In $6.60, Out $8.05

SEIC PE 7-1 50^ Call: +2.8%; In $3.20, Out $3.30

BA PE 14-1 50/30^ Call Spread: -41.9%; In $6.93, Out $4.10

Edit: SBUX PE 6-0 Strangle: +20.5%; In $1.98, Out $2.43 (Closed a day early)

 

And opened my originally planned BA trade

BA PE 7-1 40^ Call: In $6.50 (Feb2 345 Call)

Edited by greenspan76
Added SBUX

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1 hour ago, cwerner376 said:

Im very interested in how they turn out.

I have entered LB 52.5 (call) for 1.75 when triggered on 22nd, currently with 2.25. I will further keep the position hence LB is in uptrend

SYMC was another technical trigger. Sorry.

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On 1/24/2018 at 2:04 PM, akito said:

(might do the MSFT 7 day long call today though)

MSFT long call worked again this cycle. Closed my MSFT calls for 28.5% gain. I mostly used longer expirations to be more conservative. (would have been over 30% gain if just using the closest expiration) Will re-open if stock pulls back a good amount.

 

Also accidentally held my OSK long calls through expiration...Fortunately, the stock jumped at market open allowing 45% gain. (was supposed to be a ~15% loss yesterday)

 

Edit:

Reopened MSFT calls near end of day. Mix of expirations. Average of 1.87 debit.

Edited by akito

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11 minutes ago, NikTam said:

Entered MSFT PE 7-1 40 Delta Feb 2 94 call.  Filled at 1.75 and 1.80   This was right off the CML Discover Tab.

I actually entered this on 24th Jan for 1.41, and just exited at 1.9. Not sure if I got my dates all mixed up, but luckily it worked out okay. 

Earnings are AC 31st Jan so my reasoning was that 7 days PE would be 24th Jan. Did I get that wrong?

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31 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

I actually entered this on 24th Jan for 1.41, and just exited at 1.9. Not sure if I got my dates all mixed up, but luckily it worked out okay. 

Earnings are AC 31st Jan so my reasoning was that 7 days PE would be 24th Jan. Did I get that wrong?

No. I'm getting in late.

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SYMC 7-1 trade has turned around is now at the break even point from Wed.  Technicals look good for anyone who missed entry on Wed or is looking at adding to their position.  Please let me know if anyone sees anything different.

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1 minute ago, cwerner376 said:

SYMC 7-1 trade has turned around is now at the break even point from Wed.  Technicals look good for anyone who missed entry on Wed or is looking at adding to their position.  Please let me know if anyone sees anything different.

What's the position and exit time?

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5 minutes ago, IgorK said:

What's the position and exit time?

I'm in the Feb 16 $28 calls.  Earnings release is on 1/31/18, so exit on 1/30/18.  4th day of trending up.

Edited by cwerner376
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1 minute ago, cwerner376 said:

I'm in the Feb 16 $52 calls.  Earnings release is on 1/31/18, so exit on 1/30/18.

The stock price is 27+. How you in 52 calls?

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On 1/25/2018 at 12:47 PM, akito said:

Reopened MSFT calls near end of day. Mix of expirations. Average of 1.87 debit.

Closed 2nd iteration of MSFT calls for average of 2.24 credit. 19.7% gain. ~48% gain total gain this cycle for the MSFT long call. It's probably going to continue upwards, but I just made a personal call to close seeing how the stock is temporarily plateaued and get the 40% gains that others had achieved in the previous cycle.

Edited by akito

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      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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