Stock trading is one of the last true meritocracies. All that matters for your investment success are your own decisions. Stock trading is a precision-based activity and one tiny mistake in judgment could send you plummeting right to the bottom and result in a huge loss.
Likewise, the opposite could happen. You may make a great [...]
Written on 15th February 2008 (see below for further updates)
I thought I’d provide an example of a Bull Call Spread (BCS) using the Commonwealth Bank as an example. There is a lot of volatility in the market at the moment. If you have studied my course then you will know that high volatility [...]
I started trading options in the late 90’s. After selling my first option and collecting an immediate credit I and became an option seller for life. I became a student of option selling strategies and started selling covered calls on stocks I brought and owned. I was doing OK collecting premiums month after month until [...]
Just as elite athletes go through a specific warm-up routine for their body and their mind before competing at a meet, we too as option traders need to follow a specific routine/process before we enter a trade and compete in the markets.
Here is the step-by-step routine that I follow each market day when looking [...]
Backspreads, also known as reverse ratio spreads, are an option strategy utilized when you believe there will be much volatility in the stock but are not 100% sure whether it will go up or down. If the stock moves a lot in the predicted direction, you will earn a tidy profit. If the stock moves [...]
The Butterfly is an option position that is composed of 2 vertical spreads that have a common strike price. In other words, butterfly trading involves an opening position where options (either calls or puts) are bought (or sold) at 3 different strike prices. The way in which these options are created makes the butterfly a [...]
For option sellers it is disconcerting to hear people say that selling naked options is extremely risky because it carries the threat of âunlimited losesâ. Nothing is farther from the truth! Itâs a myth! Itâs about time we correct this misconception and put this fear to rest.
While theoretically the selling of naked options carries [...]
The recent stock market crisis (2008) took the stock market down by more than 30% in less than a year. This has a lot of traders thinking that big money can be made simply by buying put options on stocks that will move down with the market, especially high beta ones. Nothing can be further [...]
Everyone has their own option strategies in option trading, but when you’re just getting started, it can be very confusing. You’ll observe several choices spreads around the web, blogs proclaiming they have the wonderful options program and options trading sites in abundance, providing to teach you trading systems. Now, what is the best option strategy [...]
Is options trading risky? This is one of the most popular questions that options trading beginners ask. In fact, my clients ask me this same question all the time. I would then ask them “What do you mean by risky?”. The usual answer would be “Can I lose a lot of money in options trading?”.
At [...]