QQQQ Condor - July 41/42 puts and 51/52 calls
Written on June 24, 2008 by OptionsRopeaDope
Another condor, on the QQQQs this time. QQQQ is actually my favorite index to put condors on, but last month the IV was a bit low, making the range too tight. Back to normal this month. I opened this yesterday, so still flat .12 credit on $1 risk here. QQQQ seems to be a little less stable than the other indexes so I’ll keep a close eye on this.
| Symbol | QQQQ |
| Current Price | 47.1 |
| Current IV | 26 |
| IV Percentile - last 12 months | 50% |
| IV Percentile - last 6 months | 40% |
| Technical Support/Resistance | 42, 50 |
| Opening Strikes | 41/42 puts, 51/52 calls |
| Deltas of Shorts | .07, .11 (now .06, .09) |
| % distances from underlying | -15%, +8% |
| Opening Credits | .05, .07 |
| Initial Margin Req. | $1 |
| Break Evens | 41.88, 51.12 |
| Srikes w/current delta of 20/-20 | 44.5, 49.5 |
| Prob of expiring w/o adjustments | about 85% |
| Profit Traget | .08-.09, 8-9% |
| Max Loss | .15 |
| Earnings/news catalyst before exp? | Fed funds? |
| Risk Graph |
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Posted in Real Trades, Iron Condors, QQQQ
Hi. Nice blog you have here!
Im wondering why you didnt put the IC on with 2 strike seperation eg sell the 42 put and buy 40 instead of 41? It would cost you less in commissions (assumin the credit is comparable).
OTM
That’s a good question, and I’ve put some thought into it. First, I use OptionsHouse so commissions would be the same, so I can eliminate that concern.
My next concern is getting the max credit I can. For each adjacent strike moving down from where QQQQ is, the premium spread gets smaller. So, the 41-42 spread might be .06, and 40-41 might be .03. If I spread between 40-42, my premium might be .09 or so, which is .045 per point, and that’s the key - I want the .06 per point. It’s important to note that the spreads on QQQQ options are very tight.
Hope that makes sense. Now on IWM i’ll go over two strikes because the bid-ask spread is wider… so I can get more premium that way in my experience.