6 comments

  1. avatar ozone says:

    When you place a stop on the bps or bcs are you placing it on the leg you sold only or are you placing it on the total of the credit between the two legs? If so, how is that trade set up to apply to both legs? Thanks for any response to my questions.

    • avatar Tim_S says:

      @ozone – you can do it either way. If you believe the stock is going to continue to work against your spread, you can close out the losing side of the trade, and let the other side continue to go (as long as it continues to work in your favor). If you’re not comfortable doing that, you can simply close out the entire trade.

      As far as how that applies, the answer to that will likely depend on the trading software you are using.
      For me – when I put on a spread trade, I open both sides of the position by placing a limit order (maximum debit I am willing to pay if I am buying the spread, or minimum credit I am willing to get paid if I am selling the spread).
      To close the trade, I would set up an order for the inverse of what I did to open it – for example, if I sold a bull put spread, I would place a buy stop order to buy back the spread and close out the trade if the price of the spread exceeded $X.XX

      I know this might be a little confusing … so if you have specific questions about your own software, or your own trade, let me know and I’ll be happy to help out if I can.

      – Tim

    • avatar Tim_S says:

      No – yesterday’s intraday charts were showing a spike up to $606 during the day – and it was within a one minute period. Overnight that spike was removed from my charting software, and I show $571.95 as the intraday high. Nevertheless, if you remove that spike from the intraday trading range, you get the same information – the stock was resting/pulling back yesterday. If you are in this, set your stops. If you are not in yet, wait for confirmation of a higher low before jumping on board.

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