Recent content by brad52

I disagree as well. You cap your losses and only a fool holds for the full loss all the way to expiration. Conversely in the 80% or so of the time the market is trending your way or going sideways you profit. I submit your winners will over time lead to more $$$ made than lost. The key is...

Don't sell naked options, ever. In a week or less you can double or triple your money. In fact you can make 10x your money on a trade and in a quickness. You can and will lose as well. Therefore hedge all bets so that you know your maximum loss in advance. You may think that well I will...

Stocks are trending up or down maybe at most 30% of the time and the rest of the time they languish. Options allow a trader to profit in all market conditions if he selects the right strategy. Even for stock investors the use of options can protect the underlying. The absolute key to...

I limit losses to 1 % of capital. I give a trade room and by this I mean 50% of amount at risk and Im out. No deviation. I want to make 100% on a trade or more and expect 60% losers. You can hold LEAPS till expiration but I wouldn't. Helpful?

Combo orders are definately preferable as a long term practice. I am sometimes willing to pay the spread if its a volatile stock and the spread is changing too frequently for a limit order.

JWCapital: I agree thats one way of doing it where you buy a straddle but you need a bigger move to offset the losing side. I typically try to predict direction with a spread or a call or put purchase. On a call or put purchase I am willing to lose 50% on a trade (1% of...

I too am watching the IV on google as it heads south from the 29-30 down to 24 and am looking for that 20-21 number as one signal that its time to buy. I believe reversion to the mean principles, especially over a long period of time are a powerful confirmation tool. Are they...

I was looking at FAS and FAZ today. One thing I noticed while watching the option chain was that while FAS was down less than a dollar both the calls and puts were trading at a loss!!! The put should have been showing some kind of minimal gain to offset the loss suffered by the...

Here is how I played Google. I own 100 shares in my account. I had a nice run up this year and when it fell like a rock I bought a 600 long term put. I also sold a feb. 600 call to help finance the put. At the time it looked like support was at 580 and it cut right through that to 540 and...

thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum and in real life I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of. I think I have found an edge and would like some opinions on a new strategy Im thinking about. 09' could not have been better but I have taken it hard in the shorts recently and have given back...