Recent content by Roberto Lopez

Personally I LOVE taking the other side of head-andshoulders set ups. I usually place stop order to get LONG and create a new position in these situations. I know most people use stop order to close out a position that is losing, but I do the opposite. Once the index has breached a point where...

Any broker can destroy a market order, and most brokers will execute limit orders about the same since things are now mostly electronic. I personally like thinkorswim since their platform is intuitive and designed for option traders by option traders. But you have to like who you are with. I...

When doing straddles and strangle the most important thing to be aware of is: - What your daily time decay is to hold the position, but - more importantly what the volatility levels are. If you are buying vol. on high levels and the market bounces, you can lose a lot of money unless you get a...

I am lost on this thread. It looks like something important but can someone explain to me what I am suppose to be seeing other than a cup and saucer set up (which is bullish).

Technically you are not entitled to a fill on a spread even if your buy side is the ask and the sell side is the bid. I KNOW this is stupid but I had it happen to me right after the tech bubble burst and the subsequent bounce. I think it was Sept of 2001 where I was buying a call spread in the...

A covered call, no matter how deep in the money the call is, is exactly the same thing as selling a PUT NAKED. See if your broker thinks this is a free trade? If a a call that is that far ITM it means the put is very far OTM. If the call has $3 of time value the put should as well. And for a...

You show me a NO RISK strategy and I will show you where the risk is. PERIOD. Even "risk-free interest rate" has risk should inflation eat away at the interest to a greater extent than you acquire a return. Then subtract taxes and you can be looking at a loss. Sounds like BS, but I would be...

I just want to say think you. Again, this was a great thread and I found a book by someone on this subject. I am going to order it in a bit as it is only $35. Here is the link for anyone interested. http://www.artofwaronwallstreet.com/

I have just been recommended to this wonderful site (elite trader), and even though I have been doing this for years, I am learning here. Thank you. I do want to say one thing about my thread above....I am very good at options and both of these companies are NOT for everyone. Stratagem is...

PS. As for what Mignoette said... I agree. If you can't be right with 100 SPX points room for error, you are not watching your position. BUT.... We have days like Aug 24 of last year where the SPX moved down OVERNIGHT more than $100 points. The broker almsot anyone uses would have liquidated...

Personally I think the markets are always changing, yet repeating themselves. Back in 1998-200 people had a lot so success in day trading because they confused the biggest bull market in history with genius. They would buy a stock on the open and sell it on the close an think they knew what...

Hello: I can only speak from my decades of experience, but her is my stab at it. 1 - I have found that longer term vertical spreads or risk reversals are great at major turning points. Going out 4-6 months (no longer as the options dont move much) seems perfect for ME. I only do this at...

This question has a lot of answers. Depending on the brokerage house it can be a minimum of $2,500 or more. There is a minimum set by the SEC, but brokers are allowed to raise the minimum to protect themselves if they chose. Most do not do this unless the markets are crashing. As for a singly...

Why did it take PROFITLOCKER 15 years to wrap his mind around this game? The SAME thing happened to me. It was NOT until I learned everything I could that I realize what was needed and what could be thrown out. But that is exactly the same thing that happened in my first career as a hospital...

Be careful. I have seen a lot of people get run over on short stocks (unless hedged with a long call). I like this selling a short, and hedging with a call as it is the same as a married put, but for bearish positions. But typically stocks that can be shorted have been know to get squeezed...