HSI Index Option Review

I want to trade another market/product in addition to K200 Index Option to diversify.  With that, I start to explore Hong Kong Hang Seng Index Option.

Basic Option Spec: (http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/prod/drprod/hkifo/options.htm)

• Exercise Style : European
• HSI Option is HKD 50 per index point
• Minimum Spread : 200 point, ie HKD 10,000 (~USD  1,288.94)
• Trading Hours is 9:15m - 12:00noon & 1:00pm - 4.15pm

Cost of Trading
1. Market Data HKD 40.00 HKD (~USD 5.16)
- Hang Seng Indices HKD 15.00
- HKFE Deriv HKD 25.00
- Korean Stk Exch Deriv Free

IB market data is generally cheap.  While USD 5.16 market data per month is not expensive, it is relative more expensive than other exchanges.  For example, Korea is free, Singapore is SGD 1.00 (~USD0.78) and US Bundle (USD 10.00)  & US Options (USD 1.50) are waived when monthly commission generated reached USD 30.00 & USD 20.00 respectively.

2. Commission
- HKD 30.00 (~USD3.86) per contract
- 0.2% of option value, min KRW 1,000 (~USD 0.93) per order

For a 10% premium collected from Credit Spread,
- HSI commission will take 6% away from the 10% premium received, ie for every $100 premium received, $6 will be deducted for commission.
- K200 commission will only take about 0.76% (depending on contract value) from the premium, ie for every $100 premium received, only about $0.76 is deducted for commission.

3. Margin
- for a HSI Option 200pt Spread (min spread), the Initial & Maintenance margin is about USD 1,201 & USD 961 respectively
- for a K200 Option 2.5pt Spread (min spread), the Initial & Maintenance margin is about USD 637 & USD 510 respectively

For HSI Option, selling a 200pt Spread to receive say 20 pt (10% min premium) is about HKD 1,000 (~USD 128.81), I will need to tied up USD 1,201/961 initial/maintenance margin.  Return On Margin (ROM) is 10.72%/13.40%.

For K200 Option, selling a 2.5pt Spread to receive say 0.25 pit (10% min premium) is about KRW 125,000 (~USD 115.75), I will need to tie up USD 637/510 initial/maintenance margin.  Return On Margin (ROM) is 18.17%/22.69%.

4. Option price spread and volume
K200 Option spread is generally about 2 ticks wide.  Selling at midpoint has been generally successful.  The Bid and Ask volume is also good.

However, HSI Option spread is about 4 ticks wide.  Selling at midpoint has been not successful.  The Bid and Ask volume is also comparatively lower.

Risk/Reward
1. Spread Risk
- min spread is 200 points, which equate to HKD 10,000.00 (~USD 1,288.94)
- K200 min spead is 2.5 points, which equate to KRW 1,250,000 (~USD 1,165.39)
- this is about the same

2.  Support & Resistance
- as my selection of Strike is primary base on Support & Resistance, the validity of Support & Resistance is important
- HSI gaps up & down very often.  This make the Support & Resistance not so reliable.  Very unpredictable.  This inherently results in higher risk.
- In addition, the up & down swing could be 300-500, even 700 points in one day!

Conclusion
HSI Option is not easy to trade as there are too many gaps up & down.  And the up & down swing is huge.  This make selection of Strike extremely difficult.  It is thus more risky.  The short strike could be hit easily.  In addition, for the same USD 100 premium received, I will need almost twice the margin as compared to K200.  Not to mentioned, the commission and market data fee is higher.
Therefore, HSI Option is not a suitable market/product for me to trade (at least for now).  I will need to expore some more market/product, such as Japan or Europe Options.

K200 Jan 09 Expiration

These are my trades for K200 09Jan14 contract.

The below chart is K200 Index Daily Chart as at 02-Dec.  Since the K200 was still climbing up with a higher high higher low, my view was still bullish.  However, I was not comfortable with the last swing low at 258.  I wanted a safer Strike lower.  Thus I picked the last resistance at 250.

I sold 5 contracts of K200 Vertical Spread 09Jan14 250.0/247.5 Put, receiving KRW 650,000.00 (before commission)

The below daily chart is as at 17-Dec.  When K200 hit pass the last swing low of 258, I wasn't too sure about my bullish view.  It is showing a lower high lower low now.

I wanted to perform adjustment to my position, however I am not too sure what to adjust.  Should I cut loss now but it still has 8 points before hitting my Short Strike at 250?  Should I roll?  This topic of adjustment is an important knowledge I need to acquire in the near future.  Anyhow, I did something.

The below Weekly chart is as at 13-Dec.  We can see that K200 is within the trading range of 230-272.50 for the last two years (2012-2013).  There is no Strike price for me to sell 230/227.5 Put Spread.  I decided to sell 272.5/270.0 Call Spread instead.  I wasn't aware that my position became Iron Condor when I sold the Call Spread.  Anyhow, this Iron Condor was in line with my Weekly trading range view.

This is the trade report for 272.5/275.0 Call Spread, which bring in KRW 275,000.00 (before commission).

The below daily chart is as at 27-Dec.  When I saw that K200 failed to break the resistance near 264, I am more convinced with my new bearish view.  I decided to sell another Call Spread.  And I don't think it even can go up beyond the last swing high at 270.

Thus, I took a trade of  Call Spread 270.0/272.5, with a credit of KRW 675,000.00 (before commission).  I wasn't aware that this 2.5pt Call Spread of 270.0/272.5 had combine with the previous 2.5pt Call Spread of 272.5/275.0 into a 5pt Call Spread of 270.0/275.0.  At the same time, it had make a realized profit of KRW 122,850.00 (USD 116.37) after commission.

The below daily chart as at 03-Jan 9.22am confirmed my bearish view.  K200 continued the big drop on 02-Jan and hit pass the last swing low of 255.5.  However, we were just 5 working days (including 03-Jan) away, I didn't think K200 will drop below 250 and 245.  Taking advantage of the high volatility in Put Options, I sold another 5 contracts of 250.0/247.5 Put Spread and 10 contracts of 245.0/242.5 Put Spread.

The additional 5 contracts of 250.0/247.5 Put Spread brought in additional KRW 550,000.00 (before commission) and the 10 contracts of 245.0/242.5 Put Spread brought in KRW 400,000.00 (before commission), totaled KRW 950,000.00 (before commission).

This is at Expiration on 9-Jan.  K200 closed at 253.63.

All contracts expired worthless.  I got to keep the full KRW 2,406,450.00 (USD 2,263.82) premium (after commission/fee) as profit.  With the realized profit, KRW 122,850.00 (USD 116.37), on 30-Dec, that will be KRW 2,529,300.00 (USD 2,380.19) for January.