AMZN -- DON'T BE SCARED OF TRADING THE BIGGIES WITH DEFINED RISK

People frequently remark that they don't like to trade underlyings like AMZN, GOOG, or NDX merely because the price of the underlying is "huge." However, unlike trading these underlyings directly -- a totally unworkable if not inadvisable trade for most people, using defined risk options strategies such as iron condors offer a method to trade these behemoths without putting a lot of risk on the line.

Here's an example:

Feb 5th 525/530/672.5/677.5 AMZN iron condor
Probability of Profit: 69%
Max Profit: $151/contract
Buying Power Effect: $349/contract

Naturally, should you be more risk tolerant, you can merely widen the wings of this setup to increase its max profit potential (which will, in turn, increase the buying power effect); "scaling" the iron condor in this way by either widening or narrowing the width of the wings should make underlyings like AMZN more approachable for the vast majority of traders. (See the "Scaling" Post, below.)

코멘트:

Given today's price action, I've tweaked the setup a bit (and may have to tomorrow, as well, depending on how it moves during the day). Here's the setup I'm looking at now: a Feb 5th 515/520/670/675 for a 1.40 credit, 71% POP, and a buying power effect of $360/contract. I would note that this particular underlying suffers from vol skew; you'll notice that the 670 short call is currently valued at 3.35 at the mid, while the 520 short put is valued at 5.52. If you're picky about fashioning a delta neutral setup, consider a Feb 5th 505/510/667.5/672.5 Iron Condor (net delta .03; 73% POP; Max Profit: $114/contract; BPE $386).

코멘트:

Got busy in the afternoon and totally spaced this out ... . Ugh.