Iron Condors wiped out my Savings

Hi option traders and welcome to this article on the risks of trading Iron Condors. Although the Iron Condor can be a great income option trading strategy, it can also be very risky if one does not trade it correctly. All over the internet people preach trading condors close to expiration. Many option traders attempt to bring their Iron Condor into expiration day hoping to make 100% of the original credit. These option traders fail to see the incredible risks that they are taking on, and unfortunately one day they will meet this catastrophe face-to-face.

In the You Tube video that is embedded into this article you will see an Iron Condor placed on the symbol SPY. This is a perfect example of how not to trade Condors.

Specifically, this video is on trading an Iron Condor on the SPY with less than one month to go for expiration. The problem with this strategy is that the underlying symbol does not have very much time or wiggle room. Often times the option trader will bring his trade into the last week of expiration, and the underlying will be right next to the short strike which is extremely dangerous. This is a typical Iron Condor that is taught in 99% of the courses on the Internet. This is the Iron Condor that can ruin your life.

As this option spread gets closer to expiration it becomes more volatile and more risky. Even though the trade might be yielding a profit, the option trader can lose all of the profit and more in one single day. This is because of the option Greeks. The Gamma is extremely high which causes the Delta position to change in an uncontrollable manner. Please watch the video at the six-minute mark to understand better what I am talking about.

So to conclude, I hope you have learned something about the Condor from this article. Trading them into expiration might appear to be easy money, but if you do it long enough, you’ll find that it’s a very stressful way in deed to trade options. It’s one of the riskiest trades you could ever do. Now, if you are interested in learning how to do this trade correctly, then by all means give San Jose Options a visit. They have developed one of the safest ways known to trade this option strategy.

Learn the Secrets to Trading the Iron Condor at San Jose Options Trading and Mentoring. You are welcome to reprint this article - but get your own unique content version here.