Recent content by weewilly

Assuming you have less than 1m in your account, you can see the 30x rule working by opening an order entry panel for 200 Jun 14 SPX 3000/3100/3200 put butterfly @ .05. Fill in the order entry for BUY 200 @ 0.05, then click "advanced" and "check margin". The panel will clearly show the rule...

Yeah it's madness. Really hurt one guy I know who had tail risk insurance in Feb/Mar that exploded in value and ironically as a result prevented him from being able to manage other positions. He is still licking his wounds.

The point is not optimizing the example trade. The problem is that traders normally expect the notional value of offsetting options to be irrelevant. It is the spread that matters. At IB this is not the case. An explosion in option values, in your favor or not, offset or not, they consider...

The answer is C. The only thing you can do with the account is reduce open positions. You cannot open new positions even if they serve to reduce risk. IB has instituted a 30x rule that you will find no documentation on. That rule states that, if the sum of the notional value of your option...

The multiple choice is not about what you should do, it's about what you can do. The account is marked at about $215,000. Cash is $170,000. Options about $45,000.

No, but I know traders who were for VERY surprising and NEW reasons which I am trying to bring to light.

You trade SPX options and open a portfolio margin account at IB with 200k USD. SPX is about 2650 and you want a bearish options position. You buy 100 2655/2650 SPX put debit spreads in the June expiration cycle. You pay $3 for the spread and it can widen to $5 if the market is below 2650 by...

What rational person would accede to such an arrangement? I wouldn't. It becomes a complicated legal question of who or what is in control of the vehicle at any given time. If I am legally liable for the vehicle 100% of the time, then "driverless" or "self-driving" are complete misnomers.

No doubt the music will be Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - O Fortuna. They love to play that doom music on Fast.

I wonder how auto insurance would work with driverless cars. The liability surely shifts from the driver to the automation. What (automation) company could possibly absorb all that potential liability?

I don't care of they were on a musk flight to mars, no one puts my dog in the overhead. I would not allow it.

Horrible tragedy but I have to say, if it were me and the flight attendant insisted that I put my dog in the overhead, I would absolutely refuse and, if necessary, leave the flight over it. Why on earth would they comply with that instruction?

They effectively told him he cannot protect his portfolio by adding gamma where he pleases which is both ridiculous and a serious problem for an options brokerage. I would press them on it or go elsewhere. I would certainly have a second broker somewhere in any event.

So long teenies are now margined at 100k at IB. If you live long enough, you see it all.