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I've heard a lot of teeth-gnashing about the proposed stamp tax. I'm not exactly excited about it, but I'm also not *that* concerned. Stamp taxes are common in other countries. London, Hong Kong, Singapore... all still financial centers where companies are willing to list themselves.

Hi, I'm curious what "typical" annual returns career traders are seeing. I'm really looking for feedback from seasoned folks who've been through a few business cycles. If you've only been trading for 12 months but managed to gain 200% over that time frame... this question isn't for you...

Hi, I'm just curious what kind of trading volume is significant enough that you can start asking for commission discounts, or other services for free? I'm working with IB at the moment, but can change to other brokers if they're much easier to work with. I'm not a high volume trader...

I'm talking about versus the original covered call only position, which is my "real" strategy position. If you look at just the "put" leg... the loss there is pretty expensive insurance! I think the cost of slippage would be more manageable (and at least 'known')... I'm doing some...

My screener says 81% probability that it ends up above $5 share, and 19% probability that it goes below. You do realize that you also need $1 mil in buying power lying around in your account, ready to pay for 200,000 shares of GE at $5? (And if GE does go to $3 at that point... you'll...

I use Option Oracle, mentioned before. I also use the service at Poweropt.com. They charge you a hefty amount for it ~($90 a month?) for real-time service. But it's a very convenient screener. IF you don't care about real-time, it's very inexpensive.

Assuming that the goal is to end up in the covered call again (which is my goal), rather than holding the collar indefinitely... I'm not sure how this works. What if price gaps up significantly overnight...? Your covered call will retain the same value, but now your put (even if OTM) will...

I did a little more research into this. Looks like any such foreign corporate entity (primarily used for investing) would be classified as a passive foreign investment company (PFIC), and all gains/income would be taxed as ordinary income. From Wikipedia...

And an excellent recap it was. Not sure whether the "pseudo" shoe fits when you go out to the Iron Condor, or at least fits well enough for it to be useful... but it's a nice alternative way of thinking of it. But yes, a pseudo-strangle seems like a good description of it. Covered call =...

Hmm, what's the right way of thinking about this? "Delta per dollar cost"? And I guess I just want to maximize delta per dollar cost, get the most bang for the buck... and ignore all of the other greeks? I'll look at the numbers and see what makes sense. Thanks again.

Well, it sounds like the IRS is on to this: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/02/020602.asp "According to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. citizens and residents are now taxed on their worldwide income. As a result, investors who use offshore entities to evade U.S. federal...

Interesting vision/math! So going down that thread of thought... what are the legal restrictions on offshore/foreign entities trading the US markets? How are they taxed, and what securities are they allowed/not allowed to purchase? Say that I established a corporate entity in Hong Kong...

Great feedback. Any specific reason why you'd recommend a strangle versus straddle in this case? I know straddles "cost more" if held to expiration... ... but I'm dumping first thing in the morning, so the fact that I'm paying a premium for ITM options shouldn't be too much of an...

Sure... I'm only holding both covered and naked calls, usually in very volatile stocks. If market moves significantly to the downside overnight, then the covered calls get hit hard. If the market moves significantly to the upside overnight, then the naked calls get hit hard. I don't...

Do you know if ToS (or any other tool) lets me plot the difference between underlying + option price? Ie, if I wanted to see how covered call premium was moving?

Hi, I'm trading a strategy that leaves me pretty exposed on delta to the downside... not a problem during the day, but large overnight moves (say +/-4%) have the potential of really hurting me. And I don't get any of the upside. My question is... what's a good choice for hedging against...

It's possible, but as I said, I believe you have to file and pay UBIT (as I hope you're doing).

Ah ha. I had seen all the discussion/mention of prop trading on this forum, but never really paid attention. I have plenty of capital, a good trading platform, and didn't think they would have anything to offer. Looks like I have to do some more research there. Is the primary draw of...

Hi, I'm interested in learning options for increasing leverage, while trading equities/options. I have a strategy that seems to preform well... I have anywhere from $100k-$1m ready to put to work. Right now, with IB's portfolio margin, I can buy approx 4x my capital. I'm curious...

Two reasons: 1) can't use leverage in my IRA because of UBIT, not ideal. 2) I already max out my contributions... but I still have 10x funds outside of the IRA, compared to amounts in the IRA.