mcmatterson

IB rolled out an update to mobileTWS last night that appears to have reduced functionality. Now all my spread trades (on the watchlis) show only which legs are used to build them, not the prices. Is anyone else having this problem?

I think this one might work. The IBM monthly calendar (short April, long May) is at $0.85 for the calls and $1.45 for the puts. Preliminary earnings release date is April 16 according to the IBM website, so if that happens to move later you could get a nice bonus. Do you think we could profit from this one?

I don't understand. Wouldn't the 14 put calendar value go up if VIX increased in the same way as the 17 put calendar we have? Thanks Kim.

What would you think of another calendar trade? The Mar-Apr 14 put calendar is trading for about a penny. It's the same basis as the original trade, but with Vix at an even lower starting point.

Rolled the short Feb put to March for $0.01.

Happy New Year everyone. Filled at a credit of 0.30. I don't understand why the market would price options this way. Shouldn't longer-dated strikes always have more time value?

I got on board too. Long 159 & 178, Short 165.5 and 170.5 for a net $20.75.

Also wanted to report a completely separate issue for those who trade with the iPhone app. I went to load the app the other day and it told me that I could not log in as I had too many failed attempts. As the phone had been in my pocket with the screen off and had been used just a few minutes earlier, I thought this was odd. A chat with tech support revealed that this is a known bug. They were able to contact their apps folks and reset my account within about ten minutes (not counting the 15 it took to connect with tech support). Just something to be aware of.

An issue occurred on Friday for me that may affect those who trade calendars. Before 15:00, I had the SPY 141 call calendar mentioned in another thread (long Oct 141, short Sept Wk 141) and was trying to roll my contracts. I had an order in to roll, which I had modified several times till I got a fill on one contract and was waiting on more to fill. At that point, IB decided to liquidate the rest of the positions. A notification popped up on my iPhone that it had happened, but I never received an email trade confirmation. It has to do with this policy, which I found out after a painfully slow online chat with their tech support. I found this immensely frustrating because: a) there was plenty of time left, I had an actively-managed order to get rid of the short calls, c) there was no real risk to IB with the long calls covering the short ones, and most importantly d) because they did not make "best efforts" as discussed in the policy to notify me before taking this action (does it seem to you like the policy reads that they will first notify, then take action if still required?). I've put in a ticket and am waiting for a response, which they say may take a month. The lady with whom I chatted told me that they will liquidate anytime between 13:00 and 16:00, apparently even in cases like mine where the short option is protected by a long one. This is an issue for those trading calendars because often the profitability multiplies in those last few hours. What do you guys think, am I being unreasonable here?

Fantastic! I already get a lot from Chris' posts, and now a column too. Thanks Chris and Kim.

This just happened to me too. Technically I only traded once where there was a round trip in the same day (LNKD RIC #2 today), but I guess the fact that it is four separate contracts is enough to trigger the PDT rules. I'd never heard of them till just now. Not sure what to do now.

Do a search to be sure, but I don't believe it's permissible to do the type of trading we do here in registered (RRSP/TFSA) accounts. I believe only outright call purchases are allowed, though again, check with the CRA to be sure. I use IB and Optionsxpress.ca in taxable accounts.