In today’s article you’ll find tips about managing an Options Portfolio based on Volatility in the stock market. We’ll explore adjustment concepts that can be applied to any type of option strategy such as the famous Iron Condor, the Butterfly Spread, Calendar Spreads as well as all the others.
As this is being written in October of 2008 the VIX is as high as it’s been. Look at a 5 year chart and see where we are. This level of volatility has made options quite expensive. Before we make any adjustments to our portfolios, we always think about the volatility. Where is it now and where is it going? Should we be buying or selling options at this moment?
Many investors are trading options without an education on option Greeks or volatility. To find consistent success on the markets, one must really understand how volatility affects an option price as well as an option spread. For example, credit spreads rise when the volatility rises. Why? Because when IV rises, the time premium of an option also goes up and increases the price of the contract. This in turn increases the spread. If we don’t understand the fundamentals of option trading, we won’t know how to make good decisions to manage our accounts.
A STUDY IN TODAY’S OPTION MARKET
For instance, let’s say we are in an Iron Condor and the stock market is trending up near the short strike, and we are getting to the instant where we need to formulate an adjustment to supervise our possible danger. If this is the instance, subsequently the IV may possibly have dropped a small amount. We pull up the chart on volatility of the underlying, and we investigate the IV and see it is oversold and will soon rise again.
Options have endless possibilities. Many traders have no idea what adjustment to make when they see their portfolio in danger. If we learn and deeply understand the fundamentals, then adjustments are much easier. They just make sense. So in this case we may see the VIX is about to rise. We could place a long debit spread on the VIX itself as insurance. We could also use a Calendar spread to the downside. We could also use a Broken Wing Butterfly to the downside. Each of these mentioned strategies can take advantage of a rise in IV since they are positive Vega. Also, if your current portfolio is negative Vega, adding positive Vega can help you hedge any loss that you might incur from a rise in IV. Remember, with option trading we are trading direction, volatility and time.
There is really an unlimited number of ways to create a positive Vega position, but the most common positive Vega spreads are Debit Spreads, Short Butterflies, Broken Wing Butterflies (OTM), Short Condors and Calendars. In our mentoring course we discuss option strategies and adjustments in detail.
To summarize, when your option trades come to an adjustment point, always think about the IV of your asset. If you can make decisions based on volatility, direction, and time, then your option trading skills will be much better. It’s the little things like this that make a difference at the end of the year.
