I don't predict

One thing you will never see me predict is which way the market will move.  No, I take that back.  During an extreme, I may predict a reversion to the mean (of volatility.)  But during times like these, my guess is as good as a coin toss.

My strategy, therefore, is to figure out where certain securities won't go, and lay a little booby trap in those recesses of the options chains so that when settlement day comes, I will see some zeros on the bid and I can keep my pile of borrowed goods.  After all, when you borrow an expensive book from the library, and the library shuts its doors before the due date and tells all borrowers they can just keep whatever they checked out - well, that's one method by which valuable "books" can be accumulated.

Will the market fall a little, with "ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF" (SVXY) also falling with it?  Not sure, but I have no short puts (promises to buy the security at a specified price, if that price is reached in trading on the security) so if the market falls, I'll be fine with that.  I do, however, have short calls (promises to sell the security to others at a certain specified price, if that price is reached in trading on the security), and since those prices I signed my name to are higher than the current price, I'd prefer that the market not rise very much.  But if it does - no biggie; I have the shares to sell, and will make a small profit if I'm forced to make good on my contracts.  Not to mention the premium I received for having entered into those contracts in the first place.  That's my bread and butter; that's the money I hope to make.

To complicate matters, I have some short calls that expire June 26th, and some more at a slightly higher strike (promised sales price) that expire July 2nd.  That second lot is not "covered," meaning, I do not own enough shares to make good on those.  If the price rises higher than the strike, I could be forced to buy at whatever the price of the day is and sell at my promised price, which would cause me to book a loss on the transaction (and that loss may or may not exceed the premium I received for the contract, which is how most people compute whether the covered call was profitable or not.)  My general practice is to buy the shares before it rises higher than the strike so that again, if I'm forced to sell, it would be no problem and cause no loss to my account.

I'd rather make money on writing calls and writing puts, and having no shares of fluctuating value to worry about.  I try to constantly leg in and out of various dates and strikes.  I also like to work with "ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF" (UVXY), but only under certain market conditions (the VIX being stretched ridiculously in one direction or the other) and sometimes other securities.  I'm not in love with that brand; I just find the best premium with those.

And that, in a nutshell, is what I do!