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Are u sure? The branch manager I talked to last week said no naked, and they were exploring cash-secured puts.

I am quite surprised that the ES (e-minis trading on Globex) is down only nine (1197.00), considering the almost certain devastation that is about to hit New Orleans. I am not comfortable taking about trading, esp in light of the fact that people are going to die (trading in that context means...

Somewhere I read (months ago) that one trader tax professional--Robert Green?--has made the case to the IRS that transactions involving SPY, QQQQ, and other stock index etfs can and should be taxed like their index counterparts and NOT like securities. I cannot find the source of that...

Hopefully one day SPY options, QQQQ options, OEX and SPX options, NDX, ES and SP options (all stock indices) will all be treated the same when it comes to margin. Right now it is a pain in the ass, so I stick to write options/hedging with the same thing. Makes my life easier.

You must mean OCT puts.

At 14? How did you do it? I had placed a limit order (Interactive Brokers) on Sunday evening to sell the Sept 1215 puts at 13.75 limit and never got filled.

Ozzy I do not at all recommend bear call/bull put spreads (far too much risk/short gamma), and I wouldn't know "coach" from Craig T. Nelson, but Phil does seem to be a nice guy who takes the time to respond to people's questions in detail. Maybe that's why some people like him.

Anyone who sells option premium, even in the form of bear call or bull put spreads, needs to be able to hedge, esp if the handles are wide (5 pt? 15 pt?). At least if you sell ES options, you can easily--even after the US stock market is closed--buy or sell e-minis as a hedge.

I actually employ this monthly and have done well. I use near-month e-mini futures options, hedged with the nearest e-mini contracts. It might appear to be an easy money-maker, but it is not, for several reasons: 1. E-mini futures options are margined according to SPAN. SPAN requirements...

For calendars, I prefer to use calls over puts (even though doing it with puts tends to be cheaper), but riskarb is right: you're just doubling up. Either way, you win on a little/no movement, and lose on a lot of movement. Now if the calls that were being sold (1) were at a different strike...

The closing price of dotm options is really irrelevant. The bid-ask spread for those things is very, very wide. The closing price is merely the last transaction price. 1050 puts have so little delta and, at this point, gamma that it would take a big move for them to increase greatly in...

Perhaps this person never lost on a covered call was because he did 1, or 5. But not many!

If one is short near term straddles, the key phrase is MONTH FROM NOW, if the move down from 40 to 36 takes place AFTER the near-term straddle expires. If the move takes place BEFORE the short-term straddle expires, the long-term long straddle will increase in value, but so will the near-term...

There is no need for a straddle here. Do EITHER the call OR the put--doing both is redundant, because on a strong move, both the call or put would go to parity (one would be worthless, the other would be ditm) anyway. The only exception to this would be if you actually want to OWN the LEAPS...

According to my experience, IB's approach to handling assignments is the silent treatment. One morning you'll wake up, and you think you are short puts, but you're not anymore--you're long stock (the converse for short calls). No bulletins; no emails. I don't mind, though. That's business.

Yes, he is the Criswell of the markets.

I hate the term "covered calls." It sounds so benign, like your investment is being tucked in a blanket.

Yes, I agree with you. As I mentioned, selling puts makes more sense for many reasons, including margin.

Not quite. Synthetically, a buy/write call is equiv to writing a put, just like sell/write put is equiv to writing a call. The differences between the strategies, assuming equal premium, are in (1) margin required (selling a put requires much less margin): and (2) transaction costs...

Put it this way: buying a call is the equivalent of buying 100 shares of stock and buying a put to protect those shares (unlimited profit potential, but loss is capped at cost of the call). Selling a call, conversely, is equivalent to selling 100 shares of stock and selling a put. If one...