The markets were buoyed by the FOMC announcement this afternoon. The Fed reiterated its observations that economic activity has improved, but, perhaps more importantly, said they intend to leave the fed funds rate at very low levels for some extended period of time to stimulate the economy. That boosted the markets. But it didn't last long before profit taking ensued. However, look at the charts. Both RUT and SPX simply closed down at the bottom of the consolidating range of the past few sessions. Therefore, there is no sign of a correction or change in trend direction here as yet.

This sideways and now slightly downward trading has been helpful for my Oct iron condor. The delta of my short $660 calls had dropped back to 14 this morning (closed at 12), so I sold my Nov $640 call for $16.10 ($450 gain). The position now stands at a P/L of -$1,385, delta = -$40 and theta = +$115. Our theta/delta ratio is back to a healthy neighborhood, but our wounded condor only has a maximum profit potential of $745 at this point. He's limping with 22 days to go. But trading the iron condor successfully is all about salvage operations - if you can salvage a small gain or even a small loss in the "bad" months, and take the gains in the "good" months, you can trade this strategy profitably. The key is learning to consistently manage the risk.