Option Trading Strategies » Options Trading Strategies

Options Trading Mastery: Construction & Value of a Vertical Spread

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:58:51 +0000

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 60 call. This trade would be called the IBM June 55 – 60 call spread. Similarly, a purchase of the IBM July 45 put and sale of the IBM July 60 put would be called the IBM July 45 – 60 put spread.
The key to the constructing these vertical spreads is choosing options in the same stock and month, but different strikes and in a 1 to 1 ratio. That is, you must purchase one option for every one you sell or sell one option for every one you buy.
Value and the Vertical Spread
A vertical spread’s maximum value is the difference between the two strikes. For example, the maximum value of the June 55 60-call spread mentioned previously is $5.00. [60 - 55] = $5.
Spread- Difference in Strikes – Spread Maximum Value
August 35 – 40 call 5 $5.00
April 70 – 85 put 15 $15.00
Nov. 20 – 22.5 call 2.5 $2.50
Dec. 40 – 50 put 10 $10.00
Jan 60 – 80 call 20 $20.00
Using the June 55 – 60-call spread example, we will set the date to June expiration on Friday. On that day, all the June options will expire and the options will be worth parity, as all of the extrinsic value will have eroded away.
Where does the spread get its value? From its two components – the call (put) you buy or the call (put) you sell. Look at the spread’s value with a couple of different closing stock prices. If the stock closes at $55, then both the 55 strike and the 60 strike will be out of the money and worthless. The value of the spread will be zero since both options are worth $0. If the stock closes at $57.50, the June 55 calls will be worth $2.50. The June 60 calls will be out of the money and thus worthless, therefore the spread will be worth $2.50 (June 55 call $ 2.50 – June 60 call $0).
If the stock closes at $60.00, then the June 55 calls will be worth $5.00. Meanwhile, the June 60 calls will be worth $0. This means that the spread will be worth $5.00 (June 55 call $ 5.00 – June 60 call $0). This is the maximum value of the spread. Note that the maximum value is identical to the difference between the strikes.

How To Trade Options Is A Frequently Asked Question With A Simple Answer

admin — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:10:24 +0000

Option trading has become one of the most famous tools in marketing and is especially applicable for foreign exchange market. Since currencies are being bought and sold quite frequently on a platform of the broker agency, the prices are to be thoroughly studied. The knowledge about the changes in the currency value gives a fair idea when the strike price would be reached.

One of the best options trading strategies is to only guess the direction in which the change is moving. And, along with that, people need to know when to make the call or put. During the rising trend, the call option is made while the decrease requires the put option. The only thing that is required now is for the strike price to be reached when the expiry of the trading time is reached. If the value during the expiry time has crossed the strike price, then the options trading is profitable.

Since these are the only concerns that are important, learning how to trade options is quite an easy process. When people start investing in the forex trading, they find it quite simple provided so of the basic things have been well understood. Operating in the platform of the agencies have been made easy with adequate information and analysis to understand about the price trends.

The customers are made aware of such trends by regular updates of information and provision of useful option trading strategies which are quite easily understandable. There are not many things that are needed to be understood in the options trading as this involves only a fixing of the strike price.

This makes how to trade options well within the reach of the common man nowadays and hence the popularity of the forex trading among people. And within the forex trading, the binary options trading is the most favored. And due to this format of trading a lot of people are making their profits and are lured into the sphere of options trading. In the coming years, with more liberalization of the forex trading, the binary options, is going to be the most used trading option which already is showing signs of becoming a global phenomenon.

Simple Options Trading Strategies

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:26:26 +0000

Talking about learning how to trade options, you may want to stick to long option trading strategies since as the buyer the risk will be the premium money you pay up front to own the option.

Based on your particular trading strategy, you can buy a call on a futures market that you think is moving or may move higher. Or you may buy a put on a market you think is moving or will move lower. Learning about options, you can look at a market and know that you will probably have to pay more for an option that is at or in-the-money. Out-of-the-money options trading strategies will be priced based on how likely it is that they will be in-the-money at or before expiration of the option contract.

If the futures market moves in the direction of your option’s strike price or moves through it, you can exercise your right on that contract and offset the resulting position with a futures market transaction and possibly collect a profit.

If the market does not reach or trade through your option’s price, it will expire worthless and you have, in effect, forfeited the premium.

You can also sell an option prior to expiration for more or less premium than you paid. Exiting, writing or selling options can also be an important part of the planning of your options trading strategies.

Option spreading techniques are worth learning how to identify and trade. Bull spreads and bear spreads are well known options trading strategies. The idea behind these strategies is that the sale of a further from the money option will offset some of the initial cost of your option. It will put a ceiling on your profit potential but it does take some money off the table when you are trying for a particular directional move in the futures market.

Options Trading Mastery: Construction & Value of a Vertical Spread

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:30:01 +0000

Options Trading Mastery: Construction & Value of a Vertical Spread

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:10:45 +0000

The Stock Replacement Covered Call Strategy

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:59:28 +0000

Back in 2003, (October and November ‘03), the giant biotech Amgen (AMGN) came under some intense pressure, trading down about $12.00 before it found what appeared to be a decent level of support, and began to consolidate. At this level, anyone interested in going long Amgen at a discounted price would be advised to do so. Implied volatility was high coming off this precipitous drop, which caused premiums in the options to increase considerably.
This scenario can be a very attractive for covered call sellers or buy-writers. On Tuesday, December 2, 2003, Amgen was trading at $58.90, the December 60 call was trading at $1.30, and there were only two weeks left until expiration.
Let’s assume that you wanted to take advantage of this opportunity but you would be unable to participate in it due to capital requirements. The stock was trading at $58.90 and you did not have sufficient funds to support buying the stock at that price. After all, the purchase of just 1000 shares would cost $58,900.00.
This is the time to consider using a strategy called stock replacement. In many instances, an insufficient amount of funds in the investors account can mean the loss of a golden opportunity when dealing with high dollar priced stocks.
So, an alternative to purchasing the stock outright is to find a way to replace the actual stock with something else which is not as expensive. In this case, a deep in-the-money call would do just that.
When a call is deep in-the-money, meaning that the strike price of the call is much lower than the stock price, the delta of the call approaches 100. This means that there is close to a 100% chance that this option will finish in-the-money.
Because of this, the option will trade just like the stock; penny for penny, dollar for dollar (in a theoretical 100 delta scenario.) If you recall, the term delta was mentioned when describing the option in question. Delta is the first derivative of the stock and it has a three pronged definition. The first is percentage change.
The delta is given as a percentage change, meaning how much in percentage terms the option price will change with a movement in the stock. A 50 delta option will move 50% the amount the stock does. If the stock moves $1.00, than the option moves $.50. A 30 delta option moves $.30 on a $1.00 movement in the stock, and so on.
Delta can also be defined as percent chance. This is used to describe the percentage chance that the option will end up in-the-money. A 90 delta option has a 90% chance of finishing in-the-money.
Finally, delta can also be defined as hedge ratio which is the amount of deltas needed to properly hedge a position. These concepts will be discussed in more detail in future Options University courses, but for now it is sufficient to just understand these basic concepts.
It was important to explain the meaning of delta to understand that the deep in-the-money call would perform and act just like the stock. One way to determine if the call you will select is in-the-money enough for your purpose is the delta. A delta in the mid or high 90’s is an ideal candidate.
The selection of the proper in-the-money call to use is a critical element in the success of this strategy. In order to obtain an accurate delta of all options under consideration for stock replacement use, you can go to any number of web sites or consult your broker. If all else fails, there is a little trick of the trade that can be used to aid in selecting a call that is deep enough in-the-money to suit the stock replacement criteria.
To do this, check the quote of the corresponding put (i.e. the December 47.5 put if you are looking at the December 47.5 call for stock replacement). If there is no bid quoted for the put, then the call is deep enough in the money to consider it for a stock surrogate. There are several reasons for this being an effective strategy, which we wont cover here, but for the purposes of this discussion, it is enough to know that this method does work.
So, with the stock at $58.90, the December 47.5 calls met the criteria for stock replacement. This call had a mid to high 90’s delta and its corresponding put had no bid. The December 47.5 call was trading at $11.45 or $.05 over parity. By purchasing this option, you would be equivalently buying the stock at $58.95 (the strike price plus the option price).
Let’s say that you bought the December 47.5 call for $11.45. If a total of 10 calls were purchased (an equivalent of 1000 shares), you would lay out a total of $11,450 to fulfill your stock requirement on this buy-write. If you had purchased the stock outright, you would have spent $58,900. The difference between the capital needed to purchase the stock outright ($58,900) and the capital needed to buy the in-the-money call ($11,450) is the key to this trade.
Now that you have your stock (via the calls you bought above), it is time to sell covered calls against this position, which would be the December 60 calls for $1.30. If the stock stays at its present level, you would then capture the $1.30 premium that you sold the December 60 calls for because they finished out-of-the-money at expiration.
The $1,300 profit in this scenario represents an 11.35% return in only two weeks. This well out-performs the return garnished on a $58,900 investment which would only be a 2.21% return in the two weeks, if you purchased the actual stock.
As we know, the maximum profit of $2.35 will be attained if the stock reaches $60.00 or above. This return comes from the $1.30 you received in the premium for the sale of the now worthless December 60 call plus a $1.05 profit from the December 47.5 call you purchased. With the stock now at $60.00, the December 47.5 call is worth parity, which is $12.50.
You purchased the call for $11.45 thus you received a $1.05 capital gain in the option. This profit of $2350.00 represents a 20.5% return in two weeks verses a 3.98% return in two weeks, if you had purchased the actual stock.
As you can see, you are getting the same overall dollar return on much less money – which creates a much higher percentage rate of return. This is one of the positive leverage effects that the proper usage of options can provide. When you initiate this trade, you are buying and selling two different options simultaneously which is known as a spread. A spread is a trade which involves the buying of one option against the sale of a different option simultaneously and will be covered briefly in the next section.
By buying the December 47.5 calls for $11.45 and then selling the December 60 calls at $1.30, you are buying the December 47.5 December 60 call spread for $10.15. This type of spread is known as a vertical spread.

Delta Neutral Options Trading Strategies – Profiting From Time Decay And Volatility

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 08:38:04 +0000

Delta is the amount by which the price of an option moves for every dollar move in the underlying security. For example, an at-the-money call option which has a delta of 0.50, the option price will increase by $0.50 for every $1 move in the underlying security. If you were to purchase 2 at-the-money call options, your delta would be 1, and your position would move inline with the underlying. Deep in-the-money calls will have a delta close to 1, and deep out-of-the-money the option, calls will have a delta close to 0.

My Favorite Delta Neutral Strategy

Basically this strategy means selling multiple out-of-the-money puts (positive delta) and selling the underlying stock (negative delta) in order to obtain a delta neutral position. This trade can be risky, so you need to ensure you comprehend the trade before attempting it. These are some of the factors I look for when determining whether to use this trading strategy:

* Generally I pick a stock I’m slightly bullish on. The reason being that as underlying stock increases in price, my delta will increase. This is due to the delta on the short stock position remaining at -1 while the delta on my puts will increase. So the best scenario for me is that the stock rises slightly.

* This is also a trade that will benefit from decreasing volatility, so I pick a stock that has high volatility that I think will decrease in volatility over the course of the trade. The other benefit of high volatility stocks is that you receive more income for your out-of-the-money puts. Although, as with everything be aware that the greater the reward, the higher the risk!

* I pick a stock that I know a lot about. Picking a stock that you know little about just because it fits with your option strategy is a recipe for disaster.

* I plan in advance how I will manage the trade and whether I will dynamically hedge the delta. As the underlying security moves, so will my delta so that I am no longer in a delta neutral position. Before I make the beginning trade I will know what I plan to do in this scenario. If I am bullish on the underlying and my delta becomes positive (i.e. I now have a long exposure), I may leave the trade as is because I am happy with a slightly long bias. Otherwise I might short more stock to get my delta back to zero. I would also plan how often I was willing to do this, as commissions will start to add up and eat into my profits.

* This is a fairly risky strategy, so I generally do not use too much of my capital.

For more details on this and other options trading strategies, please visit Options Trading IQ.

Options Trading Strategies – The Bull Call Spread Method

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 11:38:56 +0000

Too many traders stay away from options trading strategies because they just don’t understand them . If you would like to become a better trader and make the most out of you investment dollar by limiting you risk, learning some of the options trading strategies can help you do just that. In this article we will take a look at the “bull call spread method” of trading options.

An option is nothing more than a contract between a broker and a trader, giving the trader the right or option to buy or sell equities at an agreed upon price and a specified length of time for a fee , anywhere from 21 days to over a year. For instance: You may pay a $100 premium for the call option on GE at 35 ½ for 6 months and 10 days. (This is the most popular length of time because any profits made from that length are considered long-term capital gains and taxed at 25%) Let’s say GE’s stock goes up and starts trading at 45 ½ before your option expires. You then exercise your option and realize a gain of $900. A gain of $10 a share, 100 shares =$1000-$100 premium = $900 net gain.

The bull call spread method favors a bull market, or an upward trend. This method will require you to buy a lower strike (price) call and writing a higher strike call at the same time. The lower strike call has a better chance of being worth more because of the bullish trend in the market. You will write a higher short call to protect yourself from unfavorable swings in the market.

Example:

Long 1 September corn 350 call for 152

Short 1 September corn 400 call for 56

Days till expiration 33

Net premium 152-56=96 cents (9.5cents)

10(1 cent) in corn =$50

Net premium in $ value is 9.5 cents *$50/tick=$475

This method can be highly effective in maximizing profits and limiting risk . Hopefully you can realize the power of this sort of strategy and the unlimited potential of options trading.

Although trading options is a powerful tool to have on your side, please take the time to fully understand any new trading strategy before using your hard earned money in the real market. Ask a trusted advisor if you have any question and be sure you know both the potential and the risks involved with any investment or trading strategy.

Visit Mr. Closson’s website to learn more about options trading strategies and while you are there, sign up for his news letter where you’ll get the latest in Forex trading system reviews as well as helpful strategies designed to help you get the most out of every trade. http://www.reviewforextradingsystems.com

Stock Option Trading – Fundamental Flaw in Fundamental Analysis and Stock Picking

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:07:55 +0000

Clinging on to Fundamental Analysis and stock picking software, only keeps you stuck in trading equities. Trading this way, compounds concentration risk in one asset class and fails to adequately diversify risks across Equities, Bonds, Currencies and Commodities. There’s much more to stock option trading, than stock itself.I cite Benjamin F. King’s study, quoted repeatedly since 1966, because it remains valid and has yet to be disproved to the point of dismissing its logic.Market and Industry Factors, Journal of Business, January 1966: “ Of a stock’s move …

There must be a more compelling reason for you to trade stock other than just for the movement, if only 20% is unique to the underlying equity in question. Consider this, in context of the Fundamental Analysis or stock picking software that you bought on a per $1 basis. For each $1 dollar you spend, you “outsourced” the analysis at a cost of 80 cents, only to receive back 20 cents worth of work. Shouldn’t the 80:20 rule of “outsourcing” be the other way round? The problem is that you are still stuck with 80% of the work, to analyze price movement! Plus, the more you use FA techniques/stock picking software, the more trading capital is stuck in equities alone.Now, you can say “special” research papers help you pick stocks. Let’s have a look at some of the more common fundamental metrics in these research subscriptions:1. Dividend Yield: the problem is in the variability of yields as firms are in different stages of their business development. A Mature company that dominates in a well established sub-segment/sector is able to afford a different dividend yield; versus, a Young company in a growth-oriented field; versus, a Small firm in a growing area that may not be able to afford a dividend payout. Bear in mind there is nothing special about firms that pay a dividend.A company that gives away a portion of it’s retained earnings – which is what a dividend is – effectively gives away part of its valuation, which means it is not worth as much as a company that does need to give investors candy to commit capital to it. So, a dividend paying stock has to be far superior to a non-dividend paying stock for reasons other than the dividend. If it is not, there’s no point looking for dividend paying products to trade, there are plenty of non-dividend paying Indexes to trade.2. Price/Book Ratio: the problem is this metric varies across industries and from company to company, as the asset base and capital structures of companies change over time. It lacks cross sector applicability and accounting complexity arises from a firm’s capital structure as it changes due to acquisitions/divestments/CAPEX for new product lines; or, product line cut-backs, as recently seen in the restructuring of major US car companies.3. Price/Cash Flow Ratio (the cousin of the P/E): accounting laws on depreciation vary across Asia, Europe and US. As accounting rules are driven by tax codes, which change considerably across regions despite adoption of global accounting standards, there is a lack of uniformity in homogenizing a fundamental ratio that will fit as a common benchmark across geographies. These metrics fail to help you compare say a Dell parented in the US to an Acer parented in Taiwan; but, is listed as an ADR in the US, even though both are competitors in the same sector as computer manufacturers. Furthermore, the current dislocated cost of capital in credit markets, impairs the ability of corporations to optimize the operating cost of their balance sheets. In essence, corporations are left with the working capital cash flows remaining on their balance sheets, as testament to their financial strength. Do not waste your money on Fundamental Analysis software or research paper subscriptions.As there is a fundamental flaw in fundamental analysis and stock picking, how do you select trades? Trade the options of a broad-based Equity Index to replace single stock exposure. To replace Fundamental Analysis, use the Relative Strength measure based on Point & Figure methods.What is Relative Strength? It is nothing more than taking one price as the Numerator, divided by another price as the Denominator, then multiplied by 100. RS = (Price 1 / Price 2) x 100. Typically, RS calculations use daily closing prices. Though simple in its mathematical construction, RS is ingeniously powerful when it is applied not only within a sector; but, across sectors and between asset classes.Let’s start of within a sector. For example, if you choose 2 semiconductor stocks trading at different prices, how do you know if one stock is outperforming the other in the same sector, when the 2 stocks have price changes at different rates; plus, the sector’s price itself is also changing?SOX = Semiconductor Sector Index, trades up from 452.24 to 467.81.Numerator1: Price1 = BRCM 33.15 RS1 = 7.33 Price2 = 33.80 RS2 = 7.23Numerator2: Price1 = TSM 9.91 RS1 = 2.19 Price2 = 13.43 RS2 = 2.87Common Denominator: SOX Price 1 = 452.24 Price 2 = 467.81BRCM’s RS1 = (33.15/452.24) x 100 = 7.33. BRCM’s RS2 = (33.80/467.81) x 100 = 7.23. TSM’s RS1 = (9.91/452.24) x 100 = 2.19. TSM’s RS2 = (13.43/467.81) x 100 = 2.87.BRCM’s price rises from 33.15 to 33.80 and TSM’s price also rises from 9.91 to 13.43. Simply because BRCM is a larger stock, does that mean it benefits from the SOX trading up? No, the RS reading (RS1 compared to RS2) shows BRCM’s RS reading dropped (7.33 down to 7.23) against TSM’s RS reading, which increased (2.19 to 2.87). RS confirms TSM as the outperformer rising in price strength versus BRCM’s weakened price. RS is constructed on pure price rules. Using an Index as the denominator, acts as a much more durable benchmark and is structurally more reliable, compared to any “magical” TA indicator; or, combination of income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements touted in stock picking programmes.You can replace BRCM or TSM with Indexes or ETFs. Using Indexes with Relative Strength enables a common denominator to compare Equities against Bonds, Commodities and Currencies, to crossover into asset classes other than stocks to trade. It’s not that Relative Strength is infallible. But compared to the fundamental metrics cited above, Relative Strength fails the least. Break the mould on what you learnt about stock option trading.Is there an example of an optionable and consistently profitable portfolio that trades using Relative Strength across multiple asset classes? Yes. Follow the link below, entitled “Consistent Results” to see a retail online option trading portfolio that excludes the use of single stocks and Fundamental Analysis, using broad based equity Indices, Commodity ETFs and Currency ETFs. There is no need to trade FX directly. Just trade the options of Currency ETFs.

Options Trading Lesson: The Butterfly

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:28:41 +0000

I am sure many of you have heard of a sophisticated sounding strategy called the Butterfly. For some reason, it seems to be the darling strategy of many of those ‘teach-you in five hours’ type option companies. They publicize the ‘mystical magical Butterfly’ and the ’sophisticated Condor’ as if they were going to unlock the options version of Pandora’s box. I guess they feel that, by introducing you to the catchy named strategies, they will grab your attention and thereby give them a chance to promote themselves. From a marketing standpoint, that is not a bad idea.
However, the Butterfly is a ’sophisticated’ only for those that do not know options! If you have done your homework and have learned the option basics properly, then the Butterfly is a simple strategy that is just a combination of an already familiar, basic strategy. Let’s take a closer look and uncover the secrets of the mysterious Butterfly!
Butterfly Construction
The first thing you must understand about the Butterfly is that it is constructed by using either all calls or all puts. The Butterfly is never a combination of the two. (We will talk about an exception called the Iron Butterfly later.)
Whether you choose to use calls or puts, butterflies are always constructed in a ‘1-2-1′ arrangement. For the long Butterfly, you would buy one low strike, sell two medium strikes and buy one high strike with the strike prices equally spaced. The center strike typically matches the current price of the stock.
For example, if the stock is 55 and you decide to create a long Butterfly by using calls, you could buy a 50 call, sell two 55 calls, and buy one 60 call. If you decided to use puts, you could buy a 50 put, sell two 55 puts, and buy one 60 put. The long Butterfly is always long the outer strikes and short the center strike.
You would construct the short Butterfly in the opposite way. The short Butterfly will always be short the outer strikes and long the center strike. For example, to create a short Butterfly, you could sell a 50 call, buy two 55 calls, and sell one 60 call. The short Butterfly trader is simply taking the opposite side of the trade with the long Butterfly trader.
This is not a complicated construction. The trick is to understand that while there are three strikes to a Butterfly, there are four options involved. I know the construction will be hard to associate with long or short in the beginning, so here is a little trick or two to help you remember how to differentiate a long Butterfly from a short Butterfly.
When I think of whether a Butterfly is long or short, I always look at that first strike. If that first strike is long, then it is a long Butterfly. It is as simple as that. Some people find it easier to just focus on the center strike where you have the two-option position. If you are short the center strike, then you are long the Butterfly.
The opposite would be true for short butterflies. These are just a couple of ways that you can determine whether a Butterfly is long or short until you become so familiar that you automatically know which Butterfly is which. Until you get to that point, you will want to use little tricks to remember which one is which. Use whichever is most comfortable but I suggest you focus on only one ‘trick’ and use only it until you become so familiar with butterflies you don’t need it any longer to recognize which one you have. Make your choice and stick with it!
The following chart shows the long and short Butterfly construction:
Notice that the strike prices are equally spaced. This is a necessary aspect of all butterflies. However, while the strikes must be equally spaced, they do not need to be spaced by five dollars as in this example.
We could have spaced them by ten dollars and created a different long Butterfly by purchasing the 45 call, selling two 55 calls, and buying one 65 call. You just have to understand that the strikes must be set up in an equidistant manner and they must be either all calls or all puts in the proper 1-2-1 ratio.
From a terminology standpoint, we call this the 50/55/60 Butterfly or, more simply, the 55 Butterfly taking the lead from the Butterfly’s middle strike.
We add to that term whatever month you are dealing with. If we are referring to the June expiration cycle, it would be called the June 55 Butterfly. If we were in April, it would be called the April 55 Butterfly.