IRON CONDOR

The iron condor is a strategy that can be a good introduction for beginning options traders to option selling. It can be a relatively safe way to sell options because you can’t lose on both sides of the trade. Here, you pick a likely trading range for an underlying asset and sell out-of-the-money option spreads around that range, “If you collect a total premium of $2 for selling two $5-wide spreads – both an out-of-the-money call spread and an out-of-the-money put spread, your total risk is only $3 because the commodity can’t go through both spreads at expiration. You have spread the risk across a wider range of possible prices. If your trading range thesis changes or volatility explodes and threatens to put one of the spreads in-the-money, you can exit one or both spreads at any time. Collecting $2 against $3 of risk offers you a potential return on risk of 67%”.
The market outlook for the iron condor is neutral. “You’re trying to be strategic with your use of leverage. You’re trying to be systematic and probability minded, looking at what the best odds in the long run [are] if you did this consistently,”.
An iron condor can be entered from the short side or the long side, explains Charlie

“A trader who enters a short iron condor is looking to profit from a range bound underlying asset. As long as the underlying asset stays within the inside strikes by expiration, the trade will be profitable. If it moves outside of the inside strikes by expiration, the trader will take a loss, which could be as high as the difference between the sold call/put and the purchased call/put”. A trader who enters a long iron condor is looking for the exact opposite, or, a large move in one direction or the other by expiration.

Dos and don’ts 
As with any type of trading, with beginning options strategies, having a trading plan and having an exit strategy are crucial. “Everybody has a plan for when to get into a particular stock or index, but few think it through to the point of when to take profits or cut losses”.

Traders should stay disciplined by writing down their plan, which should include when and where to take profits or losses if things go your way or go against you. “You want to start with a thesis about where the underlying commodity or financial instrument could go in a certain time frame. Next, you have to visualize the potential scenarios that might unfold and how you will feel about your trade thesis at each turn. Options traders can eliminate stress and doubt by having a clear trading plan for every single position before they enter the order”.
Two of the biggest mistakes rookie options traders make are not using a strategy at all, (just buying puts and calls), and having overconfidence with early profits, Burgoyne says. “The first couple of times into the market, [they’ll be] right, make a lot of money, think that all of a sudden they’re gurus, not take their education any further, and in subsequent investments [they’ll] lose the money they’ve made and a hell of a lot more.”
And if you do your research and gear your strategies toward your opinion of the market and your trading goals, you should be on your way to trading success.