Matt's Positions as of October 31

I've kinda given up on logging each transaction, it is a lot of work. Here's the current positions:

AAPL:
Short 2 NOV08 75/85 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2/1 NOV08 120/125 Backratio Spread
Long 1 NOV08/JAN11 125/100 Diagonal Spread

AEMD:
Long 7000 shares

SPY:
Long 2 NOV08 82/84/123/125 Iron Condor
Long 2 NOV08 86/88/114/115 Iron Condor
Short 2 NOV08 105/107 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 NOV08 106/108 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 NOV08 110/111 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 DEC08 97/99 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 DEC08 106/108 Vertical Call Spread

UA:
Long 1 NOV08/APR09 25 Calendar Spread

This month profit (loss): (5.1%)
Year-to-date profit (loss): (32.7%)


Those numbers don't look very good, but they really don't tell the whole picture. A couple of weeks ago, the this-month loss was at around 13%. This have been turning around the latter half of the month, and we are starting to come back.

To put it another way, I think last month's strategy was sound and paying off. Record highs in the VIX allowed me to leg in, a vertical spread at a time, into some very wide iron condors on SPY, and I have managed to turn my delta around to a better number.

Next month will be telling, so we'll have to watch carefully and see.