Rusty

I see... I was trying to get 5% on each side (so, effectively 10%) so I will change that for the next tests. In your GS example, 19.95+19.00=3,895 (not 2,895) so 5% ~ 1.94 so I will target ~.95 per side. Also, for your Sep4 buyback, I believe that price should have been 6.10 to buy-back the short put, not 3.10. On 9/22 GS was 93.98, so the 100 Put had to be at least 6.00.

I ran 2 tests so far: a 3 month test and a 6 month test. Some initial observations w/ GS: It is very difficult to find options to sell that will result in a 5% return, especially if GS is on or close to a strike. It's been ~2-3% and 22 or less delta, on average. Also, the largest loss has been from the long position. When you ran your test did you run it up to the long expiration or did you sell the longs after a few cycles to reduce the theta decay?

Sounds like a great strategy to test. I can take GS. I have access to OptionVue which has historical data every 30 minutes. In looking at your aapl numbers, it looks like you rolled EoD on Thursday. I can use that for consistency. What starting date for the test should I use?

Kim, are the trade fills you paste and post from IB? I haven't found that screen yet. Only the tradelog from the advanced order entry screen. I'm still learning the IB platform by watching the recorded webinars.

I just opened an IB account. When I go into options trader or options chains pre or post market, I can view the last options price but the bid and ask fields are blank. I realize that this information outside of market hours may not be valid, but my TOS account displays this, so I am wondering if I am missing a setting somewhere or if this is working as designed. Thanks in advance.

I just realized that CSTR and EOG do not have weekly options, so the real-time test would only be on 9/20-21. I will search for some other high-vol underlyings.

I'll take CSTR and EOG. AAPL -- Chirs, Dominic AMZN - Scott CSTR - Rusty EOG - Rusty GOOG - Scott GLD -- Chris LNKD -- Chris LULU -- Donald MA (slippage may be too high here) MNST -Fieldy NFLX -Fieldy PCLN - Dominic SINA -FIELDY VMW -Fieldy YELP--Donald SPY - Kim??, Dominic [ I am not sure if Kim agreed to do SPY]

I'd be happy to help also. Would someone mind summarizing the rules and P/L snapshot intervals? This will help me to size this effort and also ensure that we all provide consistent and comparable data.

I have some concerns with TOS fills. I entered an order this morning to open the HPQ weekly straddle at $1.25. This was before Kim's alert. I never got a fill. I see that Kim was filled at 10:30 using IB while my order just sat there. This is not the 1st time that this has happened and others have reported similar experiences. So while I am "grandfathered" in TOS @ 1.00/contract, it really is not a bargain if I can't execute my trades at my prices. I plan on keeping the TOS account minimally funded so I can still use their tools and opening an IB account which seems to have the best executions.

Interesting! Are you looking at the IV for each option? Right now TOS shows 12.76% for the Aug 158 call and 14.92% for the Sep. Am I looking in the correct place or has the IV changed since you placed the trade?

GT Update - I just called them. They only offer options on Futures, not equities or ETF's, so not a match for me. The .59 is per contract plus exchange fees.

I received an email from Generic Trade. They advertise .59 per trade. However, I cannot determine what a "trade" is at this point; i.e. a contract, or position, or spread, etc. There is no charge for their online platform called Generic Trader, but their advanced Firetip platform costs $59.00/month. I plan on contacting them later to find out their full commission schedule. Looks like they are staffed 8-5CST. Does anyone have any experience with GT?