EU Bailout - Cyprus impose bank levy

Dear fellow traders,



Yours Truly,

Tony Chai

How to find the capital outlay for putting up a double calendar option trade

Dear fellow option traders,

To find out the capital outlay of putting up any trade, for instance, the double calendar - in the TOS (ThinkorSwim) platform :

1. Go to Monitor tab, select account statement.

2. Change the date view accordingly to the date that you wish to locate a specified trade

3. Select the trade that you want to check the capital outlay, right click on it, select "Analyze Duplicate Trade"

4. You'll be brought to the Analyze tab. Look at the "Price Slices" section. In the "Live" price row, look at the amount indicated under the column of "BP Effect". This will give you the capital outlay required for putting up the position, in this case, it's a double calendar position.

You will realize that for a double calendar position, the other way to know the capital outlay required would be to multiply the debit used to buy the double calendar position and multiply this amount by the no. of contracts.

Hope you find the above information useful.

By the way, the customer service at the ThinkorSwim platform is excellent. They are very knowledgeable in their trading platform and can provide you with very comprehensive steps explicitly.

Good Trading,

Tony Chai

Progress of option trades so far

Dear fellow option traders,

Here were the 2 trades that I had established last month :

Sold Iron Condor with DIA. 5 contracts. Have adjusted once. Bought back the Mar13 143/145 Call spread and extend the upper price range by selling 5 nos. of Mar13 144/146 Call spread.

On 11/3/13, bought back the Mar13 137/135 Put spread at $0.05.

As for the Double Calendar established with IWM on 16/2/13 with 5 contracts :

I sold the double calendar position at $2.01 for a profit of $170 (excluding commissions).

At the same time, established 2 new positions on 15/3/13 :

Sold Iron Condor with SPY. 5 contracts. capital outlay = $625. Possible credit = $375.

Bought Double Calendar with IWM. 5 contracts. capital outlay = $695. Possible credit = $480.


Yours Truly,

Tony Chai

Option Trading Course

Hi fellow options traders,

I've also started revising this home-based option trading video course that I've invested 3 years ago. Basically this options guru taught a way to earn residual income by :

1. buying double calendar
2. selling iron condor

The good thing is : just 2 option trading strategies that an option trader can focus, practise and perfect upon until the trader can earn a residual income from the strategies eventually.

I also found the videos on adjusting positions important and useful in salvaging the positions when the price goes too near the breakeven price level.

Here's my paper trading results so far. I will practise more before I trade with real money.

Iron Condor trade with DIA. Profit of USD165 with 3 contracts. Adjusted position once.

Double Calendar trade with EEM. Profit of USD21 with 3 to 5 contracts. Adjusted position once.

Iron Condor trade with SPY. Loss of USD260 with 10 contracts. Adjusted position 3 times (SPY just kept reaching the breakeven points and I have to roll the bull put spread upwards).

Here are the 2 trades that I've just established :

Sold Iron Condor with DIA. 5 contracts.

Bought a Double Calendar with IWM. 5 contracts.

You can find out more about this home based option trading video course here. Hope you find it useful too.

Yours Truly,

Tony Chai

Started my options trading

Dear fellow traders,

Recently I have started paper-trading options again. I want to brush up my skills and build up my confidence before I trade with real money. I wish to express my Thanks to Trader Travis from http://www.learn-stock-options-trading.com/ for sharing his precious knowledge with me.

Although I have to admit my trading methodology and trading style are not following exactly what Trader Travis has taught, the tools and the trading psychology that he has shared have helped me immensely in my decision making in these trades.

I truly hope the profits I have obtained from my paper trading can transpire into my live trading soon.

Yours Truly,

Tony Chai