The market's indecision we observed yesterday continued with sideways, choppy trading. Some late session buying pushed the RUT and SPX into positive territory during the last hour of trading, but barely positive. RUT closed at $571 and the SPX closed at $1045. The broader market appears to lack clear direction; a large number of companies are reporting earnings this evening; that may push the market one way or the other for tomorrow's open.

I still have the Jan $510 puts hedging my Dec iron condor. The Dec $510 puts have edged their delta back down to 19. This position is right at the tipping point. If RUT moves up from here, I will start to lose money on the hedge and will need to close it. However, a downward move in RUT will only result in very nominal losses due to the protection of the hedge position. The overall position stands at a P/L of +$70, delta = -$57 and theta = +$50. The beauty of a long hedge in the following month is that it provides strong delta protection but with minimal negative impact on our position theta.This gives you the patience to calmly watch the market and give it a chance to turn back upward or trade sideways from here; then you have salvaged a position that might have been closed otherwise. In the meantime, we simply trade our system in response to the market's moves - there is no need to predict the market's moves.