Stock Option Trading News

The Best Naked Put Strike Price

Selling naked puts, either cash secured or on margin, is a means for investors to: Generate monthly or weekly income on bullish stocks Potentially get into stocks at a discounted price To enter a naked put trade you will will Sell to Open a put option against a specific stock or ETF. An option premium is received up front and the investor now has the obligation to buy shares of that security at the strike price, if the underlying is trading below the strike price at expiration. The investor will generally need to have the capital on hold in their account to fulfill the obligation of the sold put. This is a neutral to bullish strategy. You should only sell puts against stocks they would not mind owning in their trading account. It is generally not a good idea to sell puts that have a very high premium due to…

Stock Option Investment Advice

The Best Covered Call Strike Price

Writing covered calls (CC) is a commonly used strategy for increasing income in a stock portfolio. Just to review, a covered call (CC) strategy consists of buying a stock and writing (selling) a call against the stock. Your stock, acts as collateral for the obligation to deliver the stock if the stock price is above the option strike price at expiration. You receive option premium income because you give the right to an option buyer to buy your stock at the strike price. A basic rule of thumb in writing covered calls (CC) is to choose underlying stocks that you wouldn’t mind holding in case the stock declines. This basic rule would also apply if you were buying a stock for its’ dividend income. In both cases, the highest risk in the position is the decline of the stock, which could create a loss many times larger than the income…

Stock Option Investment Advice

Long Straddle/Strangle Example for Earnings Season in this Market Environment

Straddle/Strangle Example Many of you know, I’ve been trading for over 50 years. Over that time, I’ve come to recognize market conditions that coincide with trading opportunities. Here are some of the conditions that led me to one of my latest trades… and an example trade you might love! The last two weeks of October is when most companies announce third quarter earnings. This particular October, following several years of bullish market conditions, stocks appear to be topping and consolidating. This topping process seems to be accompanied with increased volatility. In this mix of market environments, stocks with earnings disappointments are getting hit particularly hard while other stocks having positive surprises and large upward moves. This seemed to be an opportunity to speculate with an option strategy that might take advantage of these wide swings in stock price due to surprise earnings announcements. The long strangle is an option strategy…

Stock Option Investment Advice

Effectively Track and Manage your Options Investments

As we approach options expiration you need tools to properly track, evaluate and manage your options positions.  All of this can be done using the Portfolio tools on PowerOptions. You can quickly create and enter new or existing positions into the Portfolio tools. Once a position is entered you can set Alerts to be notified when profit targets are hit or when losses may need to be managed. As you track your positions you can link to the Position Analysis tool to see your current liquidation and future expiration values as well as view various roll out opportunities for your positions. As you are viewing potential Roll Out Opportunities you can link to the Trade Simulator tool to see the before and after profit and loss graph of your current position compared to the potential adjustment. This video shows just how easy it is to enter positions into the Portfolio…