Condor Options

…I’ll get to the “and” later.

First, a respectable comeback from last month’s loss gets us off to a good start for the second quarter. For April we booked a Model Portfolio return just over 3%—at the low end of our target monthly return range, but even achieving that range after a period that ended with three volatile weeks is quite fine, thank you. It looks especially good compared to the 1.8% drop in the S&P; although, VTY had an exceptionally good month (though it pales in comparison to the Condor Options iron-condor strategy), because there was ample opportunity to sell volatility in the first couple weeks of April.

As we’ve adopted a fully integrated, portfolio-level risk-management approach, with hedge-position allocation scaled to the desired effect, individual positions returns are pretty much irrelevant…so I won’t bore you with those. (Of course, anyone who would like the data can send me an e-mail and I’ll be more than happy to provide it.) And, what’s more important even than the April bottom line is the long-term record, which for Calendar Options since inception is back up to an annualized return of 16.4%. Take out commissions, and we’re still doing better than high-yield bonds, on a risk-adjusted basis.

Now for the “and”…As George Costanza once learned, I believe it’s best to go out on a high note. It’s been four years since I published the first Calendar Options trade, and I’m proud of how, through ups and downs, the strategy has evolved into a strong approach for earning monthly income by selling options premium (not to mention an ideal complement to the Condor Options iron-condor and ETF Trend Options strategies). But something I learned, about myself, by the time I finished college, is that my interest in any one subject has a maximum duration of about four years. (It’s no coincidence that high school spans four years, a bachelor’s degree takes four years, a PhD takes another four years.)

So now I’ve decided to move on to the next thing (though I don’t yet know exactly what it is). I will continue to trade options for income (mostly for others, in managed accounts)—heck, with options, the possibilities for new strategies are endless. And I plan to keep posting to my own (free) blog at www.thevolatilitytrader.com. I have no plans for another paid newsletter, but eventually, who knows? If you want to keep tabs on what I’m up to, you can subscribe to VolatilityTrader on Facebook and/or @volatilitytrade on Twitter.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found a way to keep the Calendar Options newsletter going after my departure. I know many of you have time remaining on your subscriptions, and you can direct your membership questions to condoroptions@investingchannel.com.

Many thanks to everyone who has subscribe over the years, and especially to those who’ve followed Calendar Options for a long (in a few cases, long, long) time (you know who you are). I hope the options-trading education I’ve strived to give all these years has been worth all your patience, endurance and faith.

All the best,

Frank C.