Search results

1. Be willing to treat this as a business. That means, if you have a job, spend 2-4 hrs per week day and a great deal of your weekend studying, learning, working on trading. If you are unwilling to spend the time, it will be an expensive hobby, and I appreciate any contributions you make to my...

I placed a calendar at the beginning of the week: IWM Aug/Sep 69 put @ .85 Market moved down, approaching my downside breakeven, so I added another calendar: IWM Aug/Sep 66 put @ .95. This double calendar widened my breakeven points, increased in total potential profit at 68, and put...

>if you are going to trade the VIX options i suggest you familiarize yourselves with the vix futures first. CBOE has a couple of webcasts on the VIX. http://www.cboe.com/LearnCenter/webcast/archive.aspx

Check out this site http://www.woodiescciclub.com/index.html They have several live chat rooms, and lots of resources. And it's all free.

Anyone heard anything recently on penny pricing for options?

>Bought 100 SDS this morning in a paper trade That's why there is no liquidity. Everybody is paper trading it. :)

Note: if you increase the 1260/1275 put calendar to 10, you increase the max profit at expiration to $10,000 at 1275. So it depends on whether you are neutral or somewhat bearish.

Analysis with TOS: on 8/22, be at 1240/1310, max profit at 1280 is $1500. At expiration, break even below 1295, max profit is $8000 at 1225. Assuming current votal, of course.

In my short time using diags, I see one major difference with verticals that I do not want FOTM. I *want* to be within striking distance of the market since my greatest profit is when the market hits my short just as it expires. A 1375 short call is just too far away for me.

>Sure will be nice when ToS expands into future options. They are trying, but, after speaking with them, it seems the exchanges are putting up alot of roadblocks. I am guessing, but the commodities only brokers may not be happy about the possibility that high powered brokers like tos may get...

I think of POT as the "scare" factor. How likely is the maket to touch my stop out price. Most of my losses occurred because I was stopped out of a position, rather than the actual price at expiration.

I guess somebody, perhaps myself, does not know what they are talking about. At this very moment, I am looking at the probability analysis for IWM @ 69.62 on TOS. Shows what appears to me the bell curve with same probability for the same distance up and down from the current price. One...

The probability bell curve does not take S/R into account. IV has nothing to do with it. Let us suppose, for example, that a market has made a large move down, close to major support. It is close to bottom, *in your opinion*. Do you think it is =just= as likely to go down as to go up...

I have advised TOS to allow skewness in their probability analysis. Bell curve is largely useless when the market is near S/R. Have only see one software program which allows skewed probability curve. Probability is especially of interest in calendars.

Bought IWM Aug/Sep 69 put calendar spread @ 85. IV is in mid range, and market is range bound. Used 2xES futures to protect my call vertical. Got out a $175, and market is back down. This is the first time I have used futures to hedge a position. WOW.

>What I don't have a good feel for is when to get in. I understand that IV must be low, but I'm not clear if I need to get in about 4 weeks to expiration or can you still place a good trade even two weeks out. Working on that myself. I am thinking that this is a long position, so get into...

>But I don't see the IC as a good trade to put on all at once. Not on SPX. Ok, so you are a leg-in type of trader. I just don't have the guts to leg into an IC, especially with the SP. I lost so much of my account because I did not know how to make the adjustments. I was simply doing...

My two cents. Diagonals are placed in low IV. While the converse may be true -- placing verticals in high votal markets, the high votal may portend undesireable market movement. I lost 50% of my account using the vertical and IC, jumping out of a position when it approached my short. It...

I understand that span is basically a software application where a broker can customize the parameters. The margins may be the same but one broker may be more conservative than another in configuring span. I know one trader who purchased span and runs it on his positions, with the intent of...

TLT -- looks good. thanks.