Tag: options trading
Which Is Better: Covered Calls Or Cash-Secured Puts?
Covered Calls and Cash-Secured puts seem to be the most popular choices among traders in finance and stocks. And for a good reason. The two trades in the same market, just on different terms. That’s right. And it all started with the same idea… Both kinds of trading are pretty much the same, except for […]
Validation Of Using Easy Covered Call Strategies
I often refer to covered calls as the third leg of a balanced, income-focused investment approach. (Three legs because it takes at least that many to make any chair or table stable and functional—the others are cash flow with high-yield stocks like in the Dividend Hunter and stocks consistently growing dividends like those in my […]
Revealed: How Stock Splits Help Options Traders
Stock splits re-entered the trading lexicon and grabbed the headlines when “Apple (AAPL),” and then “Tesla (TSLA),” announced they would be conducting a 4-for-1 and 5-for-1 stock split, respectively. Following the announcements, shares of each are up 18% for AAPL, and TSLA has zoomed up 40% in just six days. You couldn’t ask for two better […]
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 […]
Is Crude Oil Due For A Big Move?
In options trading, a straddle is literally a sit-on-the-fence strategy. By purchasing a put and a call at the same strike (price of underlying commodity) for the same time period, an investor isn’t making a conventional directional bet; rather the investor is looking for a big move either up or down. The rub is that […]
5 “Facts” Smart People Get Wrong About Options
Using options contracts to boost returns and income could be the most powerful investing tool that you’re not using. While trading options for the first time might be intimidating, we’ve broken it down to its core pieces and show that options aren’t as dangerous as you might think. 1) Options Trading is complicated Markets can […]
Stock Repair Strategy
You did your homework, picked a great stock, totally undervalued and ready for a nice price rise. However, after you bought the stock, the damn thing goes and drops 20%. So what do you do now? Do you sell it and cut your losses or do you hold on and hope that it recovers? Do […]
Options Trading Strategies To Avoid For 2016
Options Trading Strategies To Avoid For 2016 Hard to believe but 2016 is right around the corner. While the financial markets don’t really care what calendar year it is, we as investors tend to like to group market conditions by the year. For instance, 2015 will most likely be the year of tepid growth and […]
Options Trading Strategies For Earnings Season
Options Trading Strategies For Earnings Season Earnings season is once again upon us, creating opportunities for both large gains and large losses. As a rule of thumb, individual stocks tend to react more significantly during earnings periods than other times of the year. The problem is figuring out which way a stock is going to […]
Unusual Options Activity In iShares US Real Estate ETF
As many of you know, unusual options activity can be a valuable indicator as to what traders are thinking, and more importantly, where these stocks are heading in the short-term. This is something professional options traders pay a lot of attention to, and for good reason… Unusual options activity can “tip off” big moves in a stock, […]
