E Taking Profits On Our Short Russell 2000 Put Spread

I am going to use the Brussels terrorist attack to take a quickie profit on our position in the Russell 2000 iShares ETF (IWM) April, 2016 $112-$117 in-the-money vertical bear put spread.

Profits have been few and far between lately, and a 7.26% profit in 11 trading days is not bad. At $4.77 we are capturing 58.92% of the maximum potential profit in this trade.

I also want to flatten out ahead of the three day Easter weekend, which is almost always followed by a rally. Month end book closing could also give stocks a boost.

If you have the -1X ProShares Short Russell 2000 ETF (RWM) (click here for the link to take small profits here too).

To see how to enter this trade in your online platform, please look at the order ticket below, which I pulled off of optionshouse.

The best execution can be had by placing your bid for the entire spread in the middle market and waiting for the market to come to you. The difference between the bid and the offer on these deep in-the-money spread trades can be enormous.

Don’t execute the legs individually or you will end up losing much of your profit. Spread pricing can be very volatile on expiration months farther out.

Here are the specific trades you need to execute this position:

Sell 22 April, 2016 (IWM) $117 puts at………….….……$9.20

Buy to cover short 22 April, 2016 (IWM) $112 puts at.…..$4.43
Net Proceeds:………………………………………………………$4.77

Profit: $4.77 – $4.44 = $0.33

(22 X 100 X $0.33) = $726 or 7.26% profit in 11 trading days.