We added two new positions last week, an iron condor in IWM and a bear call spread in DIA. As a result, we have three open positions, all of which are currently in profitable territory. My hope is that we can add a bull put spread to the mix this week to balance out our deltas as they are currently leaning slightly bearish. And while I’m not opposed to some bearish-leaning deltas, I would still like to bring in more premium in May and, at the moment, a bull put spread makes the most sense.

We closed out our DIA bear call spread last week for a 15.74% profit. Another winning trade should put us close, if not above, our all-time highs in the portfolio. This week I intend to add one, if not two trades to the portfolio. My goal is to go out to the April 21, 2023 expiration cycle if possible, but with the April 21 expiration only 32 days away, I might have to go out a bit further in duration. Either way, expect to see several trade alerts as we progress through the week.

All is well in Quant Trader land. Our two positions are currently in great shape with the potential to take some decent profits off the table. We still have 39 days left until the April 21, 2023, expiration cycle, so there is a good chance that we take both of our open trades off the table for profits and look to immediately sell more premium, especially with the recent pop in implied volatility.

We locked in a small 4.38% gain in our IWM iron condor last week. However, had we waited a few days we could have taken off the trade for a much greater gain. But hey, that’s investing/trading. We take profits when we can, given the information we have at our fingertips. The market was looking particularly weak at the time of our profit-taking, so we thought it was best to go ahead take some small profits and move on to the next opportunity.

We locked in an 11.86% return in our DIA March 17, 2023, 355/360 bear call spread last week. The return marks our second winning trade for the March expiration cycle for a total of 22.48%. Our average holding time for both trades was 12 days.

As it stands, we currently have two iron condor positions, and my hope is to add another position, preferably a bear call spread, early this week. If we see even a mild bounce in IWM we should be able to take off our IWM iron condor for another nice return, thereby building upon our current profits for the March expiration cycle. If our IWM trade works out we could see March expiration bring in close to, if not exceeding, 40% on a cumulative basis.

We locked in our first profit since our two losing trades back at the beginning of February, near the near-term highs for the S&P 500.


Our SPY March 17, 2023, 440/445 bear call spread that we sold for $0.63 on February 2 was only worth $0.15 after the pullback in SPY mid-week. As a result, we decided to lock in the $0.48, or 10.6%, and take all risk off the table. With over three weeks left in the trade it didn’t make sense to continue to hold on to the trade for the potential to make an additional $0.15.

We currently have three open positions due to expire in March, all of which are leaning towards the bearish side of things. As a result, we need to add some positive deltas to the mix, which I intend to do this week. Other than that there really isn’t much to discuss at the moment since we are relatively early in the March expiration cycle.

We took a few losses last week, which at the moment looks a bit premature.

At the time I wrote, “Well, I think we all knew the time would eventually come. We are going to close out our February IWM iron condor as it has reached our stop-loss. This marks our first loss since August 11 and only our second since initiating the Quant Trader service back in early June.”

The market was in a short-term overbought state, so while I was hesitant to take off the two trades, mechanically it made sense and it’s the mechanics that keep us out of trouble and give us the opportunity for long-term successful results.

I wanted to start adding a few March positions last week, but decided to push them off towards the beginning of this week. I intend on adding at least two, if not three, March expiration trades this week as we are only 46 days away from the March 17, 2023 expiration cycle.

We currently have two open positions and, thankfully, both currently have a high probability of success. My hope is that we can start to look at taking off both trades for profits towards the latter part of the week, but we need a bit of cooperation from Mr. Market.

My goal this week is to start adding positions for the March expiration cycle. As always, I want to add, at minimum, a bear call, bull put and iron condor. If I can get all three off this week, I would be incredibly pleased, but, as always, I’m not going to force it.

The market raced higher again last week and is now officially in a short-term overbought state. In fact, all of the major indices stand in a short-term overbought state. Historically, this type of situation leads to a mean-reversion event, but if we are indeed in a “new” bullish market environment, an overbought state can lead to extended moves. It’s always the transitions from high to low IV environments or vice versa that give high-probability spreads challenges. And while our positions are okay at the moment, another round of bullishness over the next week or two will force us to make either an adjustment or simply take off our trades for a small loss. Of course, I’m also still looking to add a position or two to the mix, but I don’t want to lean too heavily in one direction.

We locked in our first profit of the year last week, a 19.0% return in our IWM January 20, 2023, iron condor. With two weeks remaining in the trade, and only $0.06 worth of premium left, the most prudent move was to take the profits and risk off the table and move on to the next opportunity.

Thankfully, we were given a few opportunities last week and decided to pounce on them by adding two new trades to the mix, another IWM iron condor and another SPY bear call spread. Now the focus will be to add a bull put spread to the mix to balance out the deltas.

Cabot Options Institute Quant Trader is focused exclusively on creating consistent returns using high-probability options strategies including bear call spreads, bull put spreads, iron condors and more. Whether you have questions about the strategies, or even about setting up your account, or how to make your own trades, Andy will answer all of your questions

Cabot Options Institute Quant Trader is focused exclusively on creating consistent returns using high-probability options strategies including bear call spreads, bull put spreads, iron condors and more. Whether you have questions about the strategies, or even about setting up your account, or how to make your own trades, Andy will answer all of your questions

Cabot Options Institute Quant Trader is focused exclusively on creating consistent returns using high-probability options strategies including bear call spreads, bull put spreads, iron condors and more. Whether you have questions about the strategies, or even about setting up your account, or how to make your own trades, Andy will answer all of your questions

Cabot Options Institute Quant Trader is focused exclusively on creating consistent returns using high-probability options strategies including bear call spreads, bull put spreads, iron condors and more. Whether you have questions about the strategies, or even about setting up your account, or how to make your own trades, Andy will answer all of your questions

Cabot Options Institute Quant Trader is focused exclusively on creating consistent returns using high-probability options strategies including bear call spreads, bull put spreads, iron condors and more. Whether you have questions about the strategies, or even about setting up your account, or how to make your own trades, Andy will answer all of your questions

Cabot Options Institute Quant Trader is focused exclusively on creating consistent returns using high-probability options strategies including bear call spreads, bull put spreads, iron condors and more. Whether you have questions about the strategies, or even about setting up your account, or how to make your own trades, Andy will answer all of your questions

With 24 days left until expiration, we have the ability to take off our SPY iron condor for a nice profit.

With the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) trading for 172.95, I want to place a short-term iron condor going out 57 days. As always, my intent is to take off the trade well before the May 19, 2023, expiration date.

With 39 days left until expiration, we have the ability to take off our DIA bear call spread for a nice profit.

With the DIA trading for 335.70, I want to place a short-term bear call spread going out 46 days and outside of the expected range to the upside, or 348. My intent is to take off the trade well before the April 21, 2023, expiration date.

Even with a probability of success that sits just over 80%, we still have 16 days until our IWM March 17, 2023, iron condor is due to expire.

With the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) trading for 397.25, I want to place a short-term iron condor going out 57 days. As always, my intent is to take off the trade well before the April 21, 2023, expiration date.

Just 12 days ago we added a bear call spread in DIA. The recent decline has given us the opportunity to take some nice profits off the table.

SPY continues to rally and has now pushed through our short 415 call strike. As a result, I am going to take off the trade. I will be following up this trade with a few opening trades as we need to start looking towards March expiration for premium-selling opportunities.

SPY continues to rally and has now pushed through our short 415 call strike. As a result, I am going to take off the trade. I will be following up this trade with a few opening trades as we need to start looking towards March expiration for premium-selling opportunities.

SPY continues to rally and has now pushed through our short 415 call strike. As a result, I am going to take off the trade. I will be following up this trade with a few opening trades as we need to start looking towards March expiration for premium-selling opportunities.

Well, I think we all knew the time would eventually come. We are going to close out of our February IWM iron condor as it has reached our stop-loss. This marks our first loss since August 11 and only our second since initiating the Quant Trader service back in early June. If you wish to hold, please be aware of the risks. Remember, trading is a marathon, not a sprint.

Today I’m going to open a conservative bear call spread in SPY going out to the February expiration cycle (42 days until expiration).