I tried buying strangles and stradles a few times, up to a few small bets ($40-50) at a time. There's a substantial difference on whether the earnings announcem

I tried buying strangles and stradles a few times, up to a few small bets ($40-50) at a time. There's a substantial difference on whether the earnings announcements are after hours in the evening or in the morning, for example. I think I would have made money with a trailing stop but Thinkorswim did not have trailing stops at the time. The problem, of course, is the volatility drop-off right after earnings announcements. You also need to evaluate what the company is doing and see if there's a good chance the stock will move. I found http://www.theflyonthewall.com http://www.theflyonthewall.com to be excellent for research. The volatility drop-offs doesn't happen right away after the earnings announcements, at least that's what I noticed. There's still a bit of time (minutes?) where traders are slugging it out. It's virtually impossible to monitor several positions for volatility drop-offs on Thinkorswim, though. ZenFire is available on the Mac but ZenFire equities and options are only available through a couple of brokerages where a large account is required. Contrast with futures (and options on futures) that I can get over ZenFire through my Mirus/Dorman account for a $500 deposit.