Global Swing Trades using Options

Iron Butterflies

Closing orders filled on one of the open positions shared, and I opened another yesterday. Whilst profits on these are not huge, I haven't had a loss on this structure for the last 20 trades, which flatters Sharpe Ratio. Structure: Iron Fly Open Date 09-Oct-26 Security

Risk-free arbitrage with Iron Condors converted to Butterflies

Expiry dates were not carried across correctly in the prior post so I'll repost the trades updates for transactions this week. Structure: Iron Condor Fly Conversion Arbitrage Open Date 28-Sep-26 Security XSP Expiry Date 19-Oct-26 Initial Strikes 746/750/783/787 Open Credit 1.

132 Call Butterflies

Every time I start a journal, markets move against me within the next week, and the c.2% fall in S&P500 towards the end of the week, hit my soft limits so I closed some of these with a mixture of profits on those where some time had

Iron Butterflies

These are straightforward, in an environment where a falling IV environment where underlying is expected to remain rangebound for a period of around one-third of the duration of the trade. I'm not looking for big returns from these individually, but the cumulative effect of trades closing in

Risk-free arbitrage with Iron Condors converted to Butterflies

These are fairly complex, with up to six strikes, and several transactions during the lifetime of the trade. The objective is to produce a risk-free position; in this case call and put butterflies with a net credit received or negative Value at Risk. I start with a short Iron

Bull Call Spreads - Open Positions

Per previous trades shared here, I buy vertical spreads in anticipation of price begin above the At-the-Money and volatility falling during the life of the trade. NQ is the Nasdaq 100 Future Contract. TQQQ is a 300% Leveraged ETF on Nasdaq 100. Note this is a leveraged position

132 Call Butterflies - Open positions

In anticipation of a move upwards in price toward an expected target, I buy an Out of the Money (OtM) 132 Call Fly. Liquidity is viable for these multileg structures when the underlying is a future on a major index like the S&P500. I have target closing prices

I'm back! With a reboot and trading more profitably!

I have been away from this website but busy developing a series of strategies / structures for differing environments and regimes.   I need to change the title as trades have widened beyond Swing trades, to profit from changing volatility environments along with movements in price. I use a range of structures

Trade#18: Bull Call Spread in S&P500 closed at a loss

During the volatility yesterday this fell below my stop, so I closed the position at a small loss of 12.3% loss over 7 days. As the ES Futures Option Contract has contract size of 50, each contract produced USD2000 loss.

Trade#18: Bull Call Spread in S&P500

Opened a Bull Call Spread in S&P500 Future yesterday to capture an upward move following a minor breakout.

Trade#17: Bull Call Spread in Nasdaq closed with a loss

Frustrated that this moved from a comfortably profitable position to a loss following weekend news of raised tariffs again. As the NQ Futures Option Contract has contract size of 20, each contract produced USD2660 loss.

Trade #17: Bull Call Spread in Nasdaq

Not a breakout but a swing trade just before Christmas to capture a move upwards in Nasdaq early in 2026. I expect to adjust this one during January if conditions permit.

Trade#16: Bull Call Spread to capture S&P move upwards closed with a loss

This quickly reversed to hit my stop limit on Tuesday with a loss of 8.3% loss over 7 days. As the ES Futures Option Contract has contract size of 50, each contract produced USD850 loss.

Trade #15: Bear Put Spread in oil closed with a small profit

Not a great trade and I was lucky to close with a profit. Closing orders filled yesterday with 1.8% profit over 9 days. As the oil Futures Option Contract has contract size of 1000, each contract produced USD50 profit. nb I just noticed this wasn't published 04

Trade #16: Bull Call Spread to capture S&P move upwards

I opened a position in ES yesterday after a slight breakout to the upside and drop in implied volatility in a period of consolidation.

Trade #14: Bear Put Spread in S&P500 closed in loss

A sharp turnaround has passed my Stop Loss on this one, so I've closed early with 65.2% loss. An expensive couple of days! As the ES Futures Option Contract has contract size of 50, each contract produced USD3,638 loss.

Trade #15: Bear Put Spread in Oil

I opened a directionally short position in the NYMEX oil future yesterday after a breakout to the downside following a period of consolidation.

Trade #14: Bear Put Spread in S&P500

I opened a directionally short position in the S&P500 future earlier today to benefit from a weakening in price after a period of consolidation. I got a reasonable fill but will be watching this in case price rises.

Trade #13: Bull Call Spread in S&P500 Closed at a small loss

nb This relates to the trade opened 27 October, wrongly labelled #10. S&P500 has softened in the last few days and my Stop Loss has moved up to meet it so I closed this early at a loss of 7.2%. As the ES Futures Option Contract has

Trade #10: Bull Call Spread in S&P500

I opened a position in the S&P500 Future this morning to benefit from further strengthening in price after a breakout following a volatile week. My analysis of Friday's close also gave a bullish signal on Nasdaq but the index moved up faster over the weekend and

A quick update in the absence of trades

The major markets have been grinding upwards with frequent All-Time-Highs, which is great for our investments but hasn’t produced the kind of price action for me to take shorter-term trades.  I missed a couple of - profitable, with the benefit of hindsight - set-ups whilst on vacation

Trade # 12: Bull Call Spread in Treasury Bonds filled in profit

Whilst I was on vacation, closing orders filled with 33.1% profit over 8 days. As the ZB Futures Option Contract has contract size of 1000, each contract produced USD687.50 profit.

Trade # 12: Bull Call Spread to capture downward move on Treasury Bond Yield

...and move upwards in price, and drop in volatility after move on Friday.

Trade #11: Bull Call Spread in Nasdaq closed in loss

I didn't get a confirmation of strength in this position and the sell-off overnight has passed my Stop Loss on this one, so I've closed early with 24.5% loss over 5 days. As the NQ Futures Option Contract has contract size of 20, each

Opened a Bull Call Spread on Nasdaq

Markets are feeling toppy but the analysis suggests there is potential upside in this trade, opened earlier today. Conversely, given low volatility, its a great time to hedge any long positions.