Options Trading
Why It’s Not Too Late To Protect Your Portfolio
A few years ago there was an Interactive Broker (IBKR) commercial that used to run with frequency showing a woman arriving late for dinner saying, “Sorry, the market’s a mess, it’s down 2% and everyone’s selling, I needed to get some hedges on.” Can you imagine a 2% decline inducing a rush to hedge? What […]
What Percentage Of Options Expire Worthless?
One of the persistent and pernicious myths regarding options is that 80% of all options expire worthless. The number belies the fact that most options get closed well before expiration and can create some misleading belief that selling premium is the only sure way to make money trading options. We’ve all seen the marketing emails […]
3 Mistakes To Avoid When Trading Options
As Charles Schwab (SCHW) led the charge into zero commission trading — which was quickly followed by everyone from other discount brokers such as E*Trade (ETFC) to full-service funds such as Fidelity – was rightly viewed as a boon for most traders. But one of the unintended consequences might have been that ‘no transactions fees’ […]
The 6 Rookie Mistakes Options Traders Should Avoid
As most normal people are winding down the year and finishing up their holiday shopping, I thought this would be a good time to review some of the common mistakes traders make when using options. As shoppers have become increasingly savvy in finding online bargains and discounts, we see similar behavior spilling into other aspects of […]
Understanding A Covered Call Strategy
The other day, I wrote about how people are piling into funds, then employ option premium-selling strategies, particularly covered calls or buy-writes. I figure it’s a good time to drill down into exactly what these strategies entail and highlight both the pros and cons. The covered call strategy is one of the most popular options strategies especially among investors that […]
3 Steps For Using Options To Protect Your Portfolio
With the stock market having a sizzling run to new all-time highs, investors are rightfully asking how they can protect their gains while still retaining upside exposure. This is where options trading can be extremely helpful. The most straight forward and simplest form of hedging or limiting downside risk is buying put options. While it is essentially true […]
An Easy Covered Call Shows How Powerful This Trade Can Be
Greetings from the Las Vegas MoneyShow! This event is always one of my favorites to speak at every year. It’s a great place to meet with other options traders or traders who are looking to learn how to start using options. This year I’m presenting primarily about overwriting (selling options in conjunction with owning stocks) […]
Using Covered Calls To Increase Your Return In Twitter
I’ve just returned from the Orlando MoneyShow and was very impressed at the amount of investors and traders looking to learn more about options strategies. I had the opportunity to deliver two different presentations to the options-oriented folks. One of the topics I spent quite a lot of time on was covered calls. Of course, […]
How To Protect Yourself Against The Next Market Crash
The New Year is rapidly approaching, but instead of a Santa Claus Rally we’re mostly just seeing further declines in stock prices. The S&P 500 is already down about 6% in December alone – and has dropped nearly 3% for the year. That’s hardly the year most were expecting 2018 to be. Unfortunately for stock […]
Options: 3 Approaches To A Double-Edged Sword
Anyone that buys (or sells) an option contract is by definition employing leverage. I think too many people get enamored by the notion that an option allows one to “control” or confers the rights (or obligation) to 100 shares for a fraction of the price of owning the underlying security. The first thing to remember […]
