When I first began trading the Iron Condor , my game plan was to leave the trade on all the way to the bitter end.

After I placed the trade, I would just leave it be until expiration day where the options would expire worthless and disappear into option heaven.

Back then I believed this was the best way to play the trade, because not only would I not have to pay my broker to take the trades off - I would also be able to keep the entire amount.

But I've changed my game plan since then.

After a lot of sleepless nights, too many close calls, a couple painful ulcers and one near hernia, I've changed the way I run my Iron Condor business.

Now - as soon as I place the trade, I set a contingent order with my broker to buy back the call spread - as well as the put spread - once I've made the majority of the profit in each spread.

Here's an example: Let's say I sold an iron condor on the index XYZ for a total of one dollar - or around fifty cents each side.

Then I would set up a contingent order to buy back the put spread of my iron condor for.05 or.10 (or at the very most.20).

Now perhaps some of you out there might be scratching your head wondering why I'd do something like this. I know when I first started trading these - if someone told me this was their game plan, I'd be scratching my head. Seems like a futile and even sort of dumb thing to do.

Personally I don't think so.

Sure I might make less than if I tried to milk them all the way through to the very end.

But not necessarily.

And even so, it's not THAT much less.

What's more important to me, is that by buying back those credit spreads, I've LOCKED IN the BULK of the profit.

AND - I've reduced my risk.

AND - I've created the potential to make even MORE money on the trade than was originally possible when I first initiated the trade - WITHOUT increasing my original risk.

Let me explain:

I've found that many times during a trade, the premiums in options can drain quite rapidly. In fact, its possible for a spread to drain the majority of its premium in a matter of days.

Say I put an Iron Condor on XYZ - 40 days from expiration - for a credit of $1.00 - or.50 each side.

The day after I place the trade, our stock - XYZ - suddenly turns south - and proceeds to move down over the next 3 or 4 days.

4 days after I put the trade on, I see that I can buy back my CALL side of the Iron Condor for.10.

At this point, I have two choices. I can do nothing and just let my positions continue to play - or - I can buy back that call credit spread for .10 and entirely remove the upper half of the trade. If I decide to do nothing - I have chosen to retain my upper side risk in the trade just to try and eventually capture that tiny remaining .10 potential profit.

On the other hand, if I buy it back for.10, I lock in the bulk of the profit for the CALL side - making that ROI in just 4 days.

Then, if XYZ bounces back up - which it will often do after a drop - I no longer have any risk on the upside.

And - for the icing on the cake - if it DOES head back up we have the opportunity to 'resell' those identical credit spreads - the same ones we just bought back for ten cents - for potentially the same amount of credit we originally sold them for - or perhaps even more. Doing this it's possible to wind up with an even greater ROI then we were hoping for when we first initialized the iron condor trade.

But of course I don't have to resell any spreads. Let's just say I repurchase them at ten cents to take off the whole iron condor trade. What have I done? I've diminished my risk - I've freed up my trading capital - I've increased my 'return on investment' over number of days in the trade - and I've exited the market much sooner than I would have had I stayed in the trade all the way to expiry. And to me, all of these things are GOOD things.

This allows me to totally get away from trading for a few days - or weeks (or however long until the next expiration cycle starts) - and enjoy the other things in my life without having to always be wondering what's happening to my trade - or the market - or worrying about the next big crash.

Getting this 'trading break' away from the iron condor - this freedom to go out and do things without always feeling the need to check quotes on my phone - not having to worry about always being 'on game' and strategizing in my head about what adjustments I might have to make - just being able to sleep in mornings for as long as I please without stressing out about whether the market is going to make an opening gap...

These things are priceless.

Or at the very least they are WITHOUT A DOUBT worth every penny of the ridiculously small .20 cents or so of potential profit left on the table in exchange for getting out of my monthly iron condor trade early - at what is STILL an incredible monthly return.