When purchasing a time spread, the investor should pay attention to not only the movement of the stock price, but also the movement of volatility. It plays a very large roll in the price of a time spread, which is an excellent way to take advantage of anticipated volatility movements in a hedged fashion.
Option Volatility
Since [...]
Time spreads can be a profitable investment strategy if you understand the concept of time decay. A time spread is designed to take advantage of the fact that an options decay curve is non-linear, that is, an option’s value does not decay evenly over time. As an option gets closer to expiration, its rate of [...]
The seller of a time spread buys the nearer month option and sells the outer-month option in a one-to-one ratio. To profit from the sale of the time spread, the seller must look for two things.
The first is a decrease in implied volatility. As volatility decreases, the out-month option (which the seller is short) loses [...]
We are going to put together an imaginary spread scenario and set it in real life events. Consider that, in October, you begin to hear about IJK stock. It looks interesting, so you use a variety of sources to learn about it. (News, charts, outside analysts, Internet research, etc.) From your investigations, you decide that [...]
Let’s put together what we’ve been talking about, develop an imaginary spread scenario and set it in real life events.
In October, let’s say that you begin to hear about IJK stock. It looks interesting, so you then use a variety of sources to learn about IJK: news, charts, outside analysts, internet research etc. From your [...]
Construction of a vertical spread occurs with the purchase and sale of a call (put) in the same stock and in the same month. The only difference between the two options is the strike price. For example, an investor would construct a vertical spread by purchasing the IBM June 55-call while selling the June IBM [...]
There are two main types of vertical spreads. There is the vertical call spread and the vertical put spread. Each spread allows you to do two things. First, you can buy it, making you long the vertical spread. Second, you can sell it making you short the vertical spread. Both can be employed to take [...]
Construction of a vertical spread occurs with the purchase and sale of a call (put) in the same stock and in the same month. The only difference between the two options is the strike price. For example, an investor would construct a vertical spread by purchasing the IBM June 55-call while selling the June IBM [...]
It is important to remember that the time spread will leave you with several potential positions that can be altered by other options or stock in numerous ways.
There are a number of decisions you must make to clarify your understanding and goals. Being open to a number decisions can be a very good thing [...]
The Strangle is another option strategy that features the use of options in unison with each other. The Strangle is philosophically identical to its ‘cousin’ the Straddle. However, whereas the Straddle has a single strike as its focal point, the Strangle has its focal point spread out over two strikes.
The effect of this as compared [...]