Wednesday, September 19, 2012

High Probability Trading With Credit Spreads


In our trading we like to have certainty, because unfortunately we do not have a crystal ball to tell us where the stock market or stock is going.  So we have to use some other tools that we can use to put the trade in our favor.  Now notice I did not say every trade will be a winner we just want to put the percentages for us and not against.  Commonly selling an Out of the Money (OTM) Credit Spreads is how we can accomplish getting into a position where the trade will go in our favor.

Finding A High Probability Trade
The first thing that you need to do is you is look at a chart and at price action because you need to define the trend, is it bullish or bearish, and what kind of strategy you can use. If the stock is moving down its more likely you would use a Bear Call Spread on the other hand you can use a Bull Put Spread when a stock is beginning to trend up or has found some support. 

A common tactic for setting up an (OTM) spread will be based on support or resistance, and where a the top or bottom of a bollinger band is.  By placing the trade in what I call “the high probability zone”  you increase your chances of succeeding in the trade.

In this bearish example Proctor and Gamble was in a short term uptrend in February but was unable to punch higher in March showing that the price was resistant at the $67 price level and notice the bollinger bands also let us know that the price is not as likely to pierce the upper band.  Under these conditions is where a high probability trade would exist.  


A more bullish example is Goldman Sachs in July of 2012 it had been in an extreme downtrend, but began to establish some support on July 1st when it created an equal low, when it bounced up At $90 you can see the area below the Bollinger band and $90 that Goldman had a difficult time breaking which means it had established some support.  So by selling a Bull Put Credit spread below $90 or further out you  would have been putting the trade in your favor.


A number of different trading platforms have ways to analyze the probability of a spread succeeding and it would be very wise that before you make the trade you analyze the option and the risk before pulling the trigger.


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