EricSimpson1

I'm just monitoring it, but that's just what works for me. Those percentages are guidelines and I adjusted the exit points for the general strategy yesterday. But I do recommend setting at least a stop for the 15% loss if you have any concerns. Also, these are still speculative plays. Even though I've made some pretty good calls on the trades I've posted so far, I would be surprised if it was 50% accurate in the long run. Most of the trades I expect to be small losses or small gains, and then some occasional big gains. I'm also not going to do these trades when the VIX spikes above 25

Alright good luck to both of us. And allocate very small.

Bought the ANR Oct 8 straddle for 1.63. I'm going to hold until next Thursday (1/5 the time to expiration including weekends). If it's down 15% or up 50% any time until then, I'll exit early. IV not bad.

Decided to take profits a bit early. Out at 1.93. 19% gain.

It's in this thread: http://steadyoptions...-thru-earnings/ Did simulated trades with either puts or calls, but I lost money in the long run due to IV collapse. I've concluded that getting the direction right does not matter nearly as much as managing the potential profits/losses. In that thread, Jig mentioned using bear call and bull put spreads. I think that bull call and bear put spreads might work even better. You structure the trade so that the potential profits are at least 1.25 times the size of potential losses. If you get it right, hold until the max profit has been reached. If you get it wrong, get out immediately. Obviously you will need a little extra movement in the right direction when the max profit is larger than max loss, but if historical moves have exceeded the required move for max profit in at least 9 of the last 10 cycles, then it should be worth doing. With 50% accuracy, this strategy could be profitable. Options should also be very liquid (< 5% difference in bid/ask spread). I've only done this on 3 companies so far: HPQ (+98%), CRM (-79%), ADSK (+84%). Our IV earnings candidates are also the best candidates for this strategy.

Bought the 19 straddle at 1.62

For some reason GME has been up 5-6% the past two days. It could be another post-earnings announcement drift short squeeze like FSLR (until it crashed the past 2 days). I might buy the September 19 straddle tomorrow. Doesn't look expensive, and I'm willing to hold for up to 10 days. If I get a 10% or more move before then, I'll exit. Let me know if this is a good or bad idea.