July Results - -2.4%

Written on July 16, 2008 by OptionsRopeaDope

… and I’ll take it, gladly.

Closed out the EEM calendar today, and the condors. Given how this market went, and the mistakes I made this cycle, I’m pretty happy with this small loss. I know if I had traded a little smarter, this month would actually be positive.

-2.4%, I’ll count that as a win.

Some key lessons I learned this month, which probably deserve a seperate post:

  • All my calendars were losers, all my condors were winners.
  • I entered a calendar gone wrong (IWM) as an experiment, because I couldn’t find good opportunities elsewhere. That should have been a clue.
  • In each case when I had to adjust the calendar positions, I waited too long. I couldn’t believe the market was falling so far and thought it would bounce back up. In every case, it never did.
  • In good news, the combination of condors and calendars helped… and reduced my losses significantly.

So lots of lessons that echo the same old lessons - diversification and risk control. All in all, I can’t be too disappointed. For me, I sometimes need to learn the hard way, although I wish that wasn’t always true. On theother hand, I’m committed to not making the same istakes twice. Time will tell if my profitability continues to rise in the future, but having this month behind me, with my capital unscathed, is a merit badge in my experience as a trader. And thank goodness for that.

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Other posts like this one:

  • Performance for 2008 - through April
  • Nice July VIX Butterfly possible
  • Closed RTH, EEM, May Results
  • Working on - Condor template, Calendar rules
  • June Results - 8.81%

    • Category Posted in Real Trades, Mistakes, Iron Condors, Calendars

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    1 Comment »

    Comment by Oscar
    2008-07-20 01:39:52

    I learned a decade ago that overtrading leads to exposure that you have to forced yourself to manage. Not being in markets is as important as WHEN to be in them. Continued success

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