Options Trading Strategy
What Does The Options Market Say About Interest Rates?
Why are investors so fixated on interest rates? If you follow the financial markets regularly, you’ll notice how laser-focused the investment community is on what the Federal Reserve is doing, how bond markets react, and what it all means for interest rates. But why are interest rates so important? What does a change of a […]
Butterfly Spreads: A Smart Options Strategy for a Volatile Market
“Do not touch nothing. The truth will be revealed by the facts as they exist.” -Hercule Poirot’s in the Murder on the Orient Express One of the biggest challenges of using options, as an investment tool, is that you must be right on direction and price target, and also accurate in your timing. And, with all […]
Using Options To ‘Own’ Stocks For No Cost
With the Federal Reserve ready to embark on a new round of free money, here’s an options strategy that also has a ‘free’ or no money down way to be long stocks. Of the many options strategies that provide leverage, one of the most interesting is synthetic long stock. This combines a long call and short put opened at the […]
An Essential Options Strategy To Use As The Stock Market Hits New Highs
With the major indices pushing to all-time highs and some of the many names sitting on large double-digit percentage gains, this year alone, it can be difficult to not only hold on but climb aboard even the bluest chip names like Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) at this stage. But, one strategy that helps overcome the psychological hurdle of […]
A Big Bet That Gold Prices Are On The Move This Summer
With all the talk of interest rates, inflation, and recessions, it’s no surprise that gold has become a popular topic in the financial media. Gold tends to gain popularity among investors when there is uncertainty regarding the economy. More specifically, when there is concern the US dollar is going to become less valuable, gold starts […]
Covered Call Writing
Generating Income And Protecting Yourself During A Market Selloff
Investors have finally cracked under the pressure of the trade war with China. Stocks, which were at all-time highs just two weeks ago, are now 6% off those highs as of this writing. Although the S&P 500 is still up 13% year-to-date, Monday’s 3% drop set the alert level to red. Meanwhile, safe-haven investments like […]
Buying A Covered Call On Gold Miners
Gold is back in the good graces of investors as lower interest rates threaten to devalue the US dollar. Precious metals tend to be in demand as the dollar goes down, and 2019 has been no exception to this rule of thumb. But recently, the price of gold has really taken off. For the month […]
Buying Covered Calls On The World’s Biggest Company
Quick, without looking it up on Google, what’s the world’s largest public company? Did you guess Apple (AAPL) or Amazon (AMZN)? At times recently, you may have been correct. However, the crown for the largest company is currently in the hands of Microsoft (MSFT). Not only is MSFT the biggest company, it’s also the only company worth over $1 trillion in […]
Buying A Covered Call On Chipmaker Up 75% YTD
There are primarily two companies known for producing the majority of computer graphics cards (GPUs). Most investors are familiar with NVIDIA (NVDA), which tends to be a high-flying, headline grabbing stock. However, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is also a huge player in the industry – but can often fly under the investment community’s radar. Lately however, it’s AMD […]
How Much Higher Are Interest Rates Going?
If the markets weren’t so focused on the trade war with China, then most of the focus would likely be on interest rates. Of course, the trade war has an impact on interest rates, although it’s not a cut and dry connection. In a nutshell, tariffs could hurt domestic economic numbers, which could certainly factor […]
Options Trading Strategies
3 Internet Stocks Immune To The Trade War
These internet stocks are sidestepping trade war worries and roaring higher The seemingly endless trade war has left countless victims maimed and wounded in its wake. Escalating tariffs and slower global growth is taking a bite out of corporate profits and souring full-year forecasts. But not all companies are getting bogged down by the brouhaha. […]
3 Battered Bank Stocks To Bail On
Plunging rates spell doom for bank stocks Plunging bond yields have sent the stock market into a tizzy. And “inverted yield curve” is the new buzzword littering news sites everywhere. In today’s gallery, we’ll shed light on what all the fuss is about and identify three bank stocks to sell. When investors see turbulent seas […]
3 Stocks To Buy In The Aftermath Of The Rate Cut
Sell puts for cash flow in these three stocks The Federal Open Market Committee cut their target rate for the first time in a decade as expected. Market watchers have also been pricing in an additional one or two cuts by year-end. But comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell during the news conference put into […]
3 Stocks That Look Like Death
These stocks have been poison to portfolios. Sell them The flurry of new highs notched by the S&P 500 is perhaps the clearest evidence of the decade-long golden age stocks we’ve been living in. Since the disastrous days of ’08 and bottom carved in the Spring of ’09, equities have grown 343%. But not all companies have […]
3 Smart Trades For A Troubled Market
Try these options trades for high-odds profits in DIS, AMD and RUT Another trade war headline delivered another nasty market open. With volatility on the rise and overnight swoons in stock futures now the norm, the environment has turned treacherous for directional traders. If you’re seeking the best trades to weather the turmoil, I suggest […]
Options Volatility Watch
Is Volatility Going To Continue To Plummet This Summer?
July is traditionally a very slow month for the financial markets. Not only is it the prime vacation month for families (most kids go back to school in August), but there’s also the July 4th holiday week. Generally speaking, investors and traders are often far away from the markets at this time of year. Even in […]
What’s In Store For Market Volatility? And How Do We Trade It?
Kids may be getting out of school, but it doesn’t seem like most traders are ready to go on vacation. In fact, it appears that many market watchers are glued to their screen. There’s undoubtedly been a lot more volatility over the past couple weeks than what we’ve gotten used to as the summer approaches. […]
Earn 272% If Volatility Spikes By The End Of March
As volatile as 2018 was in stocks, 2019 so far has been anything but. After the first two months of the year, market volatility has been nearly non-existent. It’s much closer to the ultra-low volatility environment of 2017, where the VIX barely cracked 15 the entire year. Of course, we’re starting off from a higher […]
An Easy Way To Go Long Volatility Using The New SPIKES Index
It’s always fascinating to watch how the market reacts to changes in volatility. It seems like the crowd is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s as if market volatility can’t ever trade at an equilibrium – it’s either too high or too low. When volatility is high, you get a fair amount […]
Is There Finally A Cheaper Alternative To The VIX?
When it comes to trading volatility, The VIX has long held the crown as the most viable product on the market. Products based on the VIX, the S&P 500 Implied Volatility Index, have been one of the most notable additions to the trading universe in the 21st century. In fact, the Cboe Global Markets (BATS: CBOE) introduction of tradable […]
Options Trading
The One Rule You Must Follow When Trading Options
When people talk about options trading, the conversation often turns to ultra-risky strategies like buying a call or put options — ahead of an earnings number in the hope of being on the right side. The upside in getting lucky on such an unpredictable event is a big, fat profit. The downside when you’re wrong? […]
Have Option Gamma Trades Taken Control Of The Market?
Back in my day as a market maker on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE), the third Friday of the month was known as ‘gamma day.’ That was prior to 2005 when weekly options were introduced—to show my age, I was on the CBOE from 1991-2002—and ever since ‘gamma day, it has been a weekly occurrence. Actually, […]
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 […]
![Options Trading: Profit And Probability Discussion [Part 3]](http://optionstradingresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/stocksvsbonds-150x150.jpg "Options Trading: Profit And Probability Discussion [Part 3]")
Options Trading: Profit And Probability Discussion [Part 3]
If the 2016 election results and market response taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected and make sure your positions and portfolio can withstand even the most outlier of events. In [the first part] of this series, we looked at how to properly measure risk and return, before even stepping in the batter’s box. […]
![Options Trading: Profit And Probability Discussion [Part 2]](http://optionstradingresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/marketing-research-150x150.gif "Options Trading: Profit And Probability Discussion [Part 2]")
Options Trading: Profit And Probability Discussion [Part 2]
In the [first part of this series], we discussed how returns need to calculate returns on a risk-adjusted basis in both percentage and dollar terms. This applies to within the context of each position but, the overall portfolio. Now, let’s take a look at how setting up the proper risk/reward profile for each individual position […]
Options Trading Basics
2 Essential Options Trading Concepts That You Need To Know
Market volatility has contracted back down to historically low levels with the VIX, which acts as the benchmark measure, sitting just above 52-week low at the pre-teen level of 12. But, with earnings season upon us, tons of IPOs such as Uber hitting market, and pickup in mergers and acquisition activity such as Chevron’s (CVX) $33 billion […]
The Inner Workings Of Time Decay In Options Trading
After a steep decline and rapid rebound, the stock market seems to be settling in. Following such a period of big moves and high volatility, I wouldn’t be surprised if it went nowhere for the next couple weeks, or until the next earnings period. But, as an options trader, one thing’s for certain: Time never stands […]
The Options Strategy That You Need To Know
One of the most popular options strategies is the covered call, or buy-write, in which one owns underlying stock and sells a call. It’s a bullish position which generates income through a premium collection. Many investors and money managers consider it a very conservative approach and employ it in their retirement accounts. But suggest selling a put, and […]
Using Cash-Secured Puts: The AT&T Example
Investors that have the goal of generating income from their portfolio generally have two methods at their disposal to do so. They can simply increase the size of their portfolio and thereby boost the number of dollars that are produced by the portfolio’s average yield. But “have more money” is rarely an option. Alternatively, investors […]
The Dummies Guide To Option Greeks
There you are in a conversation with a professional trader about their strategy and suddenly the “inside baseball” terms start rolling off their tongue – Delta Hedging, Short Gamma, Theta Burn, and Vega Risk. You smile and nod without perhaps knowing exactly what these terms mean, and just like that, what started as a good […]
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