Why Earnings Inside an XLE Iron Condor Hurt

By Juri von Randow · 25 October 2026 · Free Lesson · 3 min

Exxon and Chevron report on October 30, right inside my XLE iron condor, and the trade is down about 15 percent.

Why the trade sits red

XLE has about 30 days left and sits relatively negative. First of all, war. Second, ExxonMobil and Chevron are 40 percent of the entire ETF, and on October 30 they both have earnings, right inside my iron condor. We are down two divided by 17, about 15 percent, and that is okay. It might go up a little more first, and hopefully it turns down from there.

What I checked before entry

I checked ExxonMobil and I checked Chevron before I entered, of course. On earnings day they barely move. Even in a wild phase they paused at the report. Both names move like the same asset, so that is why I went into XLE.

Volatility still bites

The implied volatility probably creeps up towards their earnings anyway, and that hurts our iron condor a little bit. That is why we see so little green here. We could hold this one until day 16 also.

Before the report

Nothing is decided yet. If we sit outside the break-even going into the report, I might just exit, because earnings are still a binary event, and if they shoot up from there, that could be a little bit dangerous. I am not sure yet. We see right before the report.

What the clip covers

• ExxonMobil and Chevron, they are 40% of the entire ETF, and on the 30th, they both have earnings
• I checked ExxonMobil and I checked Chevron, of course, before I entered. they don't seem to move that much during earnings
• the implied volatility probably creeps up towards their earnings anyway, which basically hurts our iron condor a little bit
• now we are down two divided by 17, 15%, something like that. and that's okay
• we have 30 days left, in this case, we could hold it until day 16 also
• If we are outside the break-even and then all of a sudden they shoot up, that could be a little bit dangerous

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XLE · Iron Condors