Well, of course, shortly after I start trading a strategy that needs volatility to work, the volatility of the market goes to crap. RIG finally made a move to a ceiling of 60, and as soon as I was able to get $1.00 for the call, I took it. Of course, the stock kept rallying and the call almost got to $2.00, but I was happy salvaging a majority of the trade, considering I had held it much longer than planned, and was going to expire in a week.
NFLX also went kind of flat for awhile, and, again, when it finally made a move, I quickly snatched profit on the option that the direction made the money on (the call). I didn't quite recover everything for that, but it was close. You need to become flexible when it comes to not losing money. I think that may be my problem. Lately, the stocks have laid there for the first week, and after that, I go into the mode of 'not losing money' instead of 'making money.' The Making Money mode, I have decided, is in the first week of the trade. If it doesn't work, then the mode changes. The timing has been off for the last couple weeks.
I tried something that is a bit bold this week, and it may turn out to be a not-so-smart move. I bought a put and a call for VXX, which is basically a stock that moves off the volatility of the market. The stock itself is very volatile, though, and right now very cheap. It is trading at all-time lows right now, although its charts don't go back more than 2 years, so, evidently it is a fairly young equity. The boldness of this comes in considering the options expire this Friday. I decided to do it, though, because it was a chance to buy the options at the money for very little, which is really all I have. Probably not a good reason to enter a trade, but, again, my experiences, good or bad, can be your lessons. Pretty cheap lessons (for you!)
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