Since IRONFLY is the flavour these days, sharing my own thread. It has GREEKS incorporated which automatically reduces wing size & risk.

P.S. No one specifically invented ironfly & it's adjustments. A good trader can figure it out on his own. I've been doing it on & off for yrs.

Understanding HIGH & LOW VIX

VIX at 16: If you check today's IV behaviour, they were not spiking much even with decent delta move in BNF. The movement was subtle, giving some time to adjust. So someone having good adjustment mechanism can stay in the game longer.

1/

VIX at 20: The same delta move will be more fierce, coupled with rise in premiums. When premiums rise with movement, then the adjustment cost increases exponentially. The premiums can fall back at EOD, but the damage is done if caught in the spike.

2/

After talking to few traders, their backtest result was in favor of high VIX of 2020, rather than 2017-19. The key flaw in the backtest were the adjustments which are not easy to calculate. Combination of high theta & fixed SL during high VIX, the IV crush is cashed at EOD.

3/

Neutral option sellers who don't adjust & have fixed SL on a static straddle will not be able to benefit highly in low VIX. The straddle which moves away from ATM will increase no matter what. But if we keep on rolling our strikes, then we get good realisation of theta.

4/

I have made majority of my profits in option selling when VIX was at 13-15, mostly just relying on my adjustments. Since 2020 with high VIX, adjustments stopped working because of increase in the frequency of delta + IV spike combos & so had to shift to directional trading.

5/

FINDING EDGE IN OPTIONS

24/08/15: Nifty gap down 250 points & another 250 after that. Previous few months return gone, but since I'm quick to take my losses, was saved from ruin. Before that my only edge in option selling was adjustments & my forever edge of following PA. (1/n)

I soon realised that theta decay with sound adjustments is not an edge, which i earlier thought was & which gave me good returns over the years. After that i went deeper in understanding volatility behaviour, how/where it manifests & all the discrepancies in option chain. (2/n)

With finding edge in logistics i mean how to keep the greeks in check, SL in place & optimum ways of adjustments with minimum slippages. So the main aim here is to write theta without following vol behaviour & having any actual knowledge of what's going on in the markets. (3/n)

A dedicated trader can learn all this in few years & it is something which is 'obvious' to become successful. But majority can't reach this level, as this also requires consistent hustle in live markets. All the seminar/webinar business teaches you till this level only.(4/n)

If you get passed this level though, the real work starts, when you have to find your real edge. This can't be taught in a webinar. It needs serious introspection of your trading skills, psychology & strategies in use, which ultimately allow you to book excellent profits. (5/n)

@javia_savan You answered it yourself 🙂
Adjustment cost is way too high for bnf. Sometimes bnf does exceed nifty in vol crush, but nifty overall is more consistent.

10 mistakes in my 14 years of trading as an option seller 🧵

1. Staying neutral all the time. Majority of the years i have been a neutral option seller. I now realise that having a little sense of direction would have given me an added advantage with better utilisation of capital & also leverage (till the time it was available).

2. Too much importance on adjustments. Initially like most of the new option sellers, i had this notion that i can perfect my adjustment skills for any market conditions. Ofcourse i was wrong. Market is supreme & we need to respect it at times.

3. Not giving importance to greeks. For initial 6 years i didn't even know the existence of greeks. Since i started using them, option selling has become rather less complicated on the contrary of what most people believe.

4. Having too much confidence on the certainty of theta decay. Enough is said about it already. Theta decay is not an edge.

Q: Sir why call option premiums are higher the put?

A: It usually happens when there is big difference between spot & future.

Example

BN Spot: 35110
BN Future: 35300
BN Synthetic Future: 35150

It depends on our perception of what is ATM & accordingly match the calls & puts.

97% of retailers buy options and lose money.

But, you can buy options:

• At the right time
• For BTST
• When premiums are too low

The difference? Understanding how they work.

Here's how you can buy options if you're a beginner:

Collaborated with @AdityaTodmal

1/ Basic knowledge of Technicals:

Option buying is about capturing the momentum, hence sound knowledge of technical analysis is required.

Without any knowledge, if one is buying an option purely because he/she feels market will rise/fall is equivalent to buying lottery tickets.

2/ Technical Analysis knowledge:

The analysis could involve usage of pure price action or indicators or a mix of both to capture momentum.

Getting the direction right is very crucial, however along with the direction the timing is equally important.

3/ Basics of CE & PE:

Option holders can buy or sell a security at a predetermined price using contingent financial derivatives called options.

In return for such access, option purchasers charge a small amount referred to as a premium to such sellers.

4/ Why CE & PE options are purchased:

CE is an abbrevation for Call Option and PE for Put option.

The CE buyer benefits every time the price of the underlying goes up.

Polar opposite is the PE option, as a PE option buyer benefits every time the price of the underlying falls.

https://t.co/av7mZ6uc8a

As promised, here is a thread on how I use @unusual_whales to help me find actionable plays.

Please note that these are TOOLS, they are not a magic perfect tool for you to get rich quick. There will be winners, there will be losers.
@snorlax_support

1. The Live Flow

I use this tool by far the most. Here is where I identify all of the big moving transactions happening in the market. I generally look for Strikes that are OTM and are weekly or bi-weekly expirations, this shows urgency.

Minimum Premium - For me, I set my minimum premium at $200,000

Emoji's - All selected besides Bid Side, ETF, Monthly, and Leaps.

EXPIRY - Nearest 4-5 Dates

Ask Side - ON
Bid Side - OFF
Exclude Deep ITM - ON

I use this tool at night to prep for the following day. I scan through it watching for anything that pops out at me, when it does I immediately check that tickers flow (more on that next). If I see things jumping out at me that skews the stock bull/bear with strength, I chart.

2. Ticker Flow

I start by looking at the 1K, 5K, 15K, and 30K to get a good feel for the volume for each expiry and strike price. I then go to the history to look at the options breakdown for each day. I mainly focus on Call Prem %, anything over 65%
EX. $MU

How to avoid blowing up your account trading OPTIONS
(A thread)

1. Becoming consistently profitable trading OPTIONS takes practice and discipline.

2. Trading Options is similar to trading stock, YOU are in control of your profits per movement (up or down) in the underlying.

3. Buying a CALL- You pay a Premium price based on the STRIKE price you choose. With a call you get paid when the stock moves up

4. Buying a PUT- You pay a premium price based on the STRIKE price you chose. With PUTS you get paid when the underlying stock price goes down

5. Premium price goes up when the trade moves in your favor (call betting upside, put betting downside movement)
6. The goal is to buy a premium and resell it for a higher premium when the trade works
7. Like basic stock trading, you want to scale in and out of your position

9. People see cheap premium and tend to pick those, not knowing in reality they are risking more!
10. Don’t let the premium price dictate which strike you chose.. the higher the premium, the less risk/ volatility that trade will see!

11. When day trading options, you are essentially trading DELTA
12. Delta is what your premium will pay per dollar movement in underlying.
Ex. Delta .5 pays 50c per dollar movement in underlying
So if original cost =50$ premium,
1$ move up in underlying pays .50 or 100% trade