Weekly Options Credit Spread – The Foundation Of Consistent Option Income
A preferred non directional trading strategy is the Weekly Options Credit Spread. This strategy is one of the easier option spreads to comprehend for newer option traders. In addition it is simple to place and there is not much to do management wise while the trade is in play – which allows the credit spread trader to be freed from their trading chair and not have to watch every up tick and down that the market makes all day.
A core trading strategy that is found within many of the other option trading strategies like the butterfly trade which is constructed from a credit spread and a debit spread, and also the iron condor which is built from two separate credit spreads placed on either side from where the stock or index being used is trading at.
Option traders love to trade this strategy because the way these trades are constructed can allow the trader to be wrong and still make money. If the trader creates a particular credit spread position, he or she can win if the stock or index being traded winds up doing three out of four possible scenarios. If the stock goes down, the trader makes money. If the stock goes nowhere the trader makes money. If the stock goes up a little, the trader makes money. The only way the trader can lose money if the stock goes up far enough to threaten the credit spread that has been sold. And even then, there are management and adjustment techniques that can be utilized to hedge against losses.
For example let’s say our trader is bearish on the stock XYZ. XYZ is trading at a recent high and our trader believes that the stock will not move any higher over the next 30 days. So, he sells a bear call spread – a call option credit spread that benefits in a neutral to bearish scenario.
The only way this spread trade can lose money is if the stock winds up doing 1 out of 4 possible scenarios – giving our trader a three out of four likelihood of winning. If the stock moves down as our trader predicts he wins. If the stock stays stagnant and goes nowhere, he wins. In fact, even if the stock moves against our trader and heads upward he wins just so long as the underlying doesn’t move so far as to breach the spread sold. The only our trader loses is if the underlying moves far enough upwards passing the option strike price that was sold – which if it does, our trader could still salvage the position through appropriate management and adjustment methods – adding up to yet another reason why option sellers love this strategy so much which is also called the Iron Condor .
Ted ‘The Spread is an option selling loony – chiefly obsessed about trading credit spread and the weekly options . Stop by his Iron Condor Website to be taught more about his Plain Paint By The Numbers Method for trading the weeklys for consistent profits.