if the fall is as steep as we have seen in oct 20-23, then we need to be vey much agile.
You are right. But it depends if you want to design whole system for that event which falls in 6sigma range or define a system with 3sigma range. If we ask the question, what is the statistical probabilty of oct 22-23rd happening again, then it will give us the answer. I will prefer to use +ive expectancy over a period of time, rather then 1 single event to decide my risk mgmt.
And ofcourse of top of that, we have position size which ensures the sufficiently big enough position size, that my years earning is not at the risk on one single trade.
some brokers dont allow stop-loss orders on options.
That should be important point in selecting the broker. ICICIDirect has the facility of putting SL orders / after mkt hour orders on options.. Their brokerage is high.. but it is tradeoff. Who stops us iin using ICICI a/ct for short straddle strategy and use anyother trading acct for other strategies.
Bottomline, if we realise the problem, and use our creativity, the there are solutions possible. Being a trader, we know that we have to take risk, but we know it well how to manage it.
Happy trading.