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Need advice. Tried to short DBB this week. Got notice from IB when I tried to do this, saying they had to borrow the shares first. Okay. But next day, my pending order was simply gone from TWS, with no notice provided by IB about outcome of attempt to borrow shares. I thought this...

Hi Sagacity, lindq is right, as you know--you must get an attorney who is experienced in these matters. You can get killed by not knowing what you don't know. The rules don't always make intuitive sense. I don't know about exams, state and federal rules, or any of that, but I am an old...

Yes, as a retired obstetrician, I am definitely interested in pregnant butterflies ;) However, I have not tried to trade them. I worry that the underlying will visit certain points and never return to others, leaving me with gains balancing out my losses. I suppose I should paper trade them...

I am wondering if anyone has read this, and what you thought of it.

It is a fun question. However, I want to add, respectfully, that I think you are misguided to do this. Keep control of your stuff. Things happen to companies. I would not have wanted to be screwing around finding and unloading my stock certificates for Enron or Bear Stearns. There are...

Droid, The truth is that most long straddles don't work. This is not a high probability type of trade; it's a speculative trade. The money in long straddles is made by letting the few winners that you have run like crazy. Since most long straddles lose, the idea is to lose small. Besides...

Also many closed-end funds do this, and some trade at a discount. www.quantumonline.com www.cefa.com Good luck.

A wise person told me some years ago: You can sell too early, or you can sell too late. Those are your only choices.

I am no financial expert, but I do interview people frequently, and I think your blog would be highly relevant. It shows interest in the subject matter at hand. After all, with your entrepreneurial spirit and experience, there are lots of things you could do--you don't necessarily have to work...

I would really like to understand better what the hell has happened. I mean, I get the securitized loans and ridiculous amount of leverage stuff, but I want to really see the big picture. I don't totally understand the rock and roll in the world macroeconomics situation, how Lehman dragged...

All forums everywhere on the Internet are like this. Don't let it ruin things for you. Maybe it's sort of like driving--because people are anonymous, they exhibit outrageous behaviors they would be embarassed to adopt if they had to show their names and faces. Perhaps the best way to deal...

I have mixed feelings about adjustments (versus just bailing) myself, and I'm wondering what others think about whether the type of trade one is in governs the advisability of adjustments. Mark, I know you like to trade condors. I prefer the wide flys. I think of these condors, for...

You are right and I am wrong, I am talking out of the buy side and the sell side of my mouth at the same time. Sorry for the misinformation. Just get out of the damn things when you have a reasonable profit.

Heech, I don't think formal education implies conformity, either, only that it encourages conformity. You are absolutely correct that many well educated high achievers are able to think outside the box and achieve greatness. I'm merely suggesting that an open mind is an important asset, and...

Interesting post. I share your sentiment. I don't know the answer to your question, but here are a couple of thoughts. (Lest anyone accuse me of sour grapes, I confess up front to having an excessive number of letters after my name.) At this moment in time, highly educated people run the...

This is correct, and I appreciate the post, because some ETers are too hard on those who get educated at courses. People have many different ways of learning. I like to read, but dislike classrooms, webinars, etc., because I don't enjoy listening to someone else yap at me. With a book I can...

In options oracle, to manually change the IV, open the graph, then click the "I" button at the top. This allows you to toggle the buttons just to the left and change the IV.

One other consideration: if the puts become worthless enough, sometimes you cannot close them--no one will buy them from you. Then if there is a sudden reversal, you could get a surprise. So it's best to get out of them when they have performed reasonably well and you're ready to move on. I...

Will some nice person who follows these things carefully (I sure don't) please let me know what the expectations are for next week? I'm looking at refinancing and don't know whether I should lock or wait till Wednesday. Should I consider the market's expectation to be already priced into...

Thank you very much, everyone, for your thoughtful replies. I now feel that I can shop armed with some knowledge.