Recent content by optiontimeline

Let's follow this strategy for April : - Buy 3 x SPY 117 Put - Sell 2 x SPY 118 Put It costs virtually nothing. Protected from 118 and above, loses between 115-118, and start gaining below 115. http://optiontimeline.com/Stg/En/Stg.html?stgID=2902 Good luck!

Of course it will. The greeks change constantly as the underlying asset or other greeks change. In the example I gave both call & put happened to have the same theta.

One common option trading strategy is called Delta Neutral. Without getting too deep into the Greeks – the Delta measures the rate of change of option price with respect to changes in the underlying asset's price. ATM call option has an approximate delta of 0.5, where ATM put has about...

ETF options - simulator, strategies & historical prices. http://OptionTimeline.com

Thanks man. Currently we collect data on some dozens of the major ETF's, and we plan to add some more shortly. If you know of other important ETF's which are missing please let me know.

Try the option strategy simulator at http://optiontimeline.com Including B&S calculator and greeks. You can also follow and dynamically manage your strategy over time. Good luck!

More about Option Symbology from the OCC (The Options Clearing Corporations): http://www.optionsclearing.com/initiatives/symbology/overview.jsp http://www.optionsclearing.com/components/docs/initiatives/symbology/faq/faq.pdf

Sorry, I don't have a script. When I built my database (of http://optiontimeline.com) I had the same problem, but from the beginning I didn't like the existing symbols. So I basically built the option keys as I explained above in my software, and used them instead of the existing symbols.

It is more readable though. look at BQQCB - can you guess what it belongs to? You would say it's a QQQQ option, but no... it's DIA Call 106 Q1 2010. Take some months ahead and you'll see they are running out of letters. There is hardly a correlation between the asset and the option symbols.

You don't need a utility for that. The rules are straightforward - - 6 chars for the symbol - 6 chars for expiration date (YYMMDD) - 1 char for Put or Call (P/C) - 5 chars for the strike - 3 chars for the strike decimal For example: SPY Jan 2010 Call 112, which is now SPYAH will...

Please try http://OptionTimeline.com Free option simulator and strategy management. With graphs, B&S calculator, and other goodies.

Please refer to http://optiontimeline.com where you can paper-trade options and build strategies. Don't get into options before you fully understand the risk!

I wouldn't just buy a put option, because the risk is high and you may just lose the money. I would go for a bear spread - buy a put option in strike X and sell a put option in a lower strike. Advantages: you neutralize the time factor, and the risk is limited.