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With ES puts there is enough vol that I feel comfortable having 1000+ of the same strike. I have had no problem getting in or out of that many quickly.
I find it works well to have half my positions newly added and the other half having been held for about half the time before exiting them. That way you don't have all your position newly added and then they all might be being hit by a futures price drop. If half your positions have been on for a while they will have more cushion than a newly entered position.
FYI for everybody, when the price of ES options is above 5.00 they trade in 0.25 premium increments. Below 5.00 they trade in 0.05 increments.
I think the biggest advantage is being able to use SPAN margins which allows for more position that can be placed.
I think it has more Open Intrest as well
I prefer to hold many different positions. I usually hold 8 to 15 short option positions (I count different puts of one commoditiy as one position, eg. ESQ P1600, ESU P1500, ESV P1400), currently 13. ES puts are about 25 % of the volume I trade, their percentage obviously is larger than the average.
I try to hold as many puts and calls in the commodities, eg. currently a lot of SN calls and WU puts, or 1 lot of BPU, CDU and ADU puts and 3 lots of ECU calls.
In addition I hold some spread and outright positions, mainly for commodities without options or small option open interest (eg. NKD - ES, MWEZ-MWEN), currently 4.
All together I currently hold 17 positions, and this is about average. In my opinion, holding 30 different positions is ambitious. (As long as you count a spread as one position and different puts of one commodity as one position).
Advantage of this strategy: The moves of the account are smaller. Disadvantages: It is a lot of work to follow many commodities.
I hold a maximum of 10 lots. When I started I entered two lots per week on different days, one usually on Friday. After five weeks I was fully invested. When I buy back a lot at 50 %, I buy the next one. But I never buy more than two per week, and only one per day. The main argument is the same as Ron's: At all times a part of the options already has lost value. And I sell options at different prices of the underlaying. Disadvantage: Reduced profit, as I am not always fully invested.
I do not care to buy different strike - I simply take the one with about the correct delta. If there is a choice I take the one with larger open interest. Regarding the expiry date I follow the 80 - 110 days rule.
"Diversification is essential to prudent investment but the herding behaviour of modern investors means that in the short term almost every asset is correlated with every other, even if the underlying characteristics of the assets are completely different. Quantitative easing has boosted all asset prices and exacerbated this problem."
I agree - the price of many commodities depends on the Dollar. But not all depend on the Dollar to the same degree. Trading spreads (eg. S - 2*C, RB - HO) can help to avoid this problem.
"I hold a maximum of 10 lots. When I started I entered two lots per week on different days, one usually on Friday. After five weeks I was fully invested. When I buy back a lot at 50 %, I buy the next one. But I never buy more than two per week, and only one per day. The main argument is the same as Ron's: At all times a part of the options already has lost value. And I sell options at different prices of the underlaying. Disadvantage: Reduced profit, as I am not always fully invested."
I'll try this, or some variant there of, out for my next trade(s).