Weekly Expiry Pro

Weekly options have higher gamma, meaning they're more sensitive to price moves. However, they also have lower absolute premium and faster time decay. 'Riskier' depends on how you trade them - proper position sizing makes them manageable. They're not suitable for complete beginners.

For FTSE weekly iron condors with £10/point, a single contract might have max loss of £200-300. With 2% risk per trade, you'd need £10,000-15,000 minimum. US index weeklies can be traded with less due to smaller multipliers. SPY mini options ($100 multiplier) need even less.

Generally close positions before Friday expiration. For credit spreads, close at 50% profit. For positions that will expire OTM, closing Thursday avoids Friday's gamma spike and pin risk. Never hold American-style options (SPY, stocks) into expiration if ITM - you'll be assigned.

European-style (FTSE, SPX): Cash-settled automatically. American-style (SPY, stocks): You may be assigned - long calls = buy stock; long puts = sell stock; short options = opposite. Close positions before expiration to avoid assignment complications.

Yes, through international brokers like Interactive Brokers. US market hours are 14:30-21:00 GMT, which works well for UK traders who can trade during the afternoon/evening. US weeklies often have better liquidity than UK equivalents.

Iron condors are best for neutral outlook - you profit from price staying in a range. Credit spreads (bull put or bear call) are better when you have directional bias. In a clear uptrend, a bull put spread may be safer than a condor with a threatened call side.

Monday or Tuesday typically. This provides 5-7 days of time decay with manageable gamma. Wednesday works for higher conviction trades. Avoid entering Thursday for Friday - too little time, too much gamma. Some traders prefer Tuesday after seeing Monday's action.

When VIX > 25: Use wider strikes (10-15 delta instead of 20), reduce position size, and be more selective. Consider waiting for VIX to settle. Higher VIX means more premium but also larger expected moves - adjust both strike distance and position size.

Roll if: you still believe in your thesis, market hasn't invalidated your view, and you can roll for a credit. Take the loss if: thesis is clearly wrong, support/resistance has broken, or you'd be throwing good money after bad. Don't roll just to avoid booking a loss.

Depends on account size and risk tolerance. A reasonable limit is 3-5 positions at once, with maximum 2 in the same underlying. Track total portfolio risk - sum of all max losses shouldn't exceed 10-15% of account. Quality over quantity.

Compare IV across weekly expirations. If event-week IV is significantly higher than following week, consider selling event-week premium (or calendar spreads). Use IV rank/percentile to identify when weekly IV is rich or cheap relative to history.

Target near-neutral delta at portfolio level (within ±0.20 per $100K notional). Individual positions can have directional bias, but aggregate exposure should be manageable. Monitor and rebalance as positions evolve throughout the week.

Model scenarios: 3-5% overnight gap, VIX spike to 35-50, correlation of all positions going wrong together. Calculate portfolio P&L under each scenario. Ensure survival in worst cases. Historical stress tests (March 2020, Feb 2018) provide realistic benchmarks.

Collect EOD option data for 2-3 years minimum. Simulate entries/exits according to rules. Account for bid-ask spread (assume worse-than-mid fills). Test out-of-sample. Avoid overfitting by keeping rules simple. Walk-forward optimization validates robustness.

Weeklies can hedge monthly positions (short weekly against long monthly for theta capture). They can also provide tactical overlay (add weekly spreads based on short-term views while maintaining core monthly positions). Manage total portfolio Greeks across all timeframes.