Option Block 354: When to Close Out a Spread

Trading Block: VIX and VIX cash. LULU taking it on the chin. It’s time for the Trading Patterns Guessing Game once again!

Odd Block: Calls roll in Danaher Corp (DHR), calls roll in Wisconsin Energy Corp (WEC) - Buy Jul, Sell Jan., closing collar in AGCO Corp (AGCO) - Buy call/sell put, and ratio call spread unwind in Beazer Homes USA, Inc (BZH) - Sell 1, Buy 2.

Xpress Block: Alex discusses the development of migrating the OX tools to Schwab, including the 3 and 4-legged trade ticket, due to Schwab Mobile and Street Smart Edge by September.

Mail Block: Listener questions and comments.

Question from Neal Augustin - Like the discussion on the recent show about getting free gamma going into earnings. It makes sense since the contracts should experience minimum decay. But do you not have to use a contract that expires after earnings, preferably the earnings week, in order to get that bump? If you use the contract that expires prior to earnings, it should decay like normal, correct?

Question from Trader64 - Spread decay question: Mark said in the mail block in response to a listener question about spread pricing, that the at-the-money and in-the-money options would decay at different rates to make the spread widen. Since this takes a substantial amount of time, should I always count on only capturing a portion of the maximum profit in each of my spreads? If so, what percentage is reasonable? Thanks for the show Mr. Options Voice!

Around the Block: More earnings on tap for this week. Citigroup - 7/14. JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs - 7/15. Bank of America - 7/16. Morgan Stanley - 7/17.