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I'm pretty sure 'teenie' is derived from the smallest bid/ask increment that was in place before stock market decimalization, i.e. one-sixteenth of a dollar or 6.25 cents. In current options jargon, it sounds like a teenie is defined as a far OTM option, but how far? A Delta of 20 (.20) or...

That's one hypothetical. Throw Section 1256 contracts and their special loss carry-back provisions into the mix (and assume the trader's strategy goes cold again) and he might get a tax refund from his year with the big wins. And he will keep guys like your father very busy. :)

Profits or losses from both are capital gains or losses but as recently as 2012, it seems to be an open question if options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) are considered Section 1256 contracts and thus eligible for 60/40 LT/ST capital gains and mark-to-market yr-end tax treatment. That seems...

George, Here is some background info on the U.S. durum wheat market. www.uswheat.org/reports/cropQuality/doc/52E1017EE65DE5B285257A9F00477049/ I'm pretty sure the MGEX tried a durum wheat futures contract along with a white wheat contract a long time ago, but both died out due to a lack...

You could try this for free for 30 days: http://www.tradelogsoftware.com/ and see how it handles your 2012 or 2013 transactions (up to 200 records). I haven't used it to prepare my tax forms yet, but after using the demo in September, and seeing how it matched transactions, I was sold...

The quantities and delivery months are the same, but these are three distinct classes of wheat. CBOT/CME = Soft Red Winter wheat (SRW) KCBOT/CME = Hard Red Winter wheat (HRW) MGEX = Hard Red Spring wheat (HRS) They have different growing regions and seasons, different logistics and...

For commodity futures options, here is the ICE annual summary from 2005 to 2012. They also have daily and monthly reports, as does the CME. www.theice.com/marketdata/reports/ReportCenter.shtml#report/9 There are also commodity ETFs, some with options.

I haven't played around with any spread scenarios yet. Still learning about the different RUT-related products and their respective options. Might also look at inverse ETFs, although I understand some of them can be minefields.

IV is around 16%, Delta is around 35. Like a lot of things right now, the IV is pretty low in IWM and TF. This exercise is preparation for when things heat up -- probably about the time Timmay leaves, the guy with the illegible signature takes over, and Congress starts fighting again.

Hi - I've been trying to get up to speed on the mechanics of selling some premium on a slice of a portfolio that's in small caps (long stock and short puts). There are no covered calls in the portfolio because some of the names don't have active options, or it's too much work for limited...

I don't know if "most" is correct because I don't think anyone has counted, but some of the appealing characteristics of futures include: 1. Leverage 2. Potentially lower tax rates on section 1256 contracts. Depends on your filing status (business entity structure). 3. Large contracts...

As an FYI, if you're scraping a site and using their Greeks, and precision is important, make sure you know the expiration date and pricing model they use. If you look at IB's Option Chain or Option Trader, for equity options (individual stocks), they display the 3rd Friday as the expiration...

Wow! Look at the messages immediately above. Unless I'm blind to snark/sarcasm, rarely have I seen three positive messages in a row. It's like the opposite of getting up on the wrong side of the bed, the opposite of someone shi**ing in your Wheaties. What's going on? Did the three posters get...

No, I wasn't going any deeper than the book title. Everyone knew the guy was going to get murdered. Likewise, everyone knows that once a certain size has been reached, it's extremely difficult to continue the former rate of growth (performance). The hedge fund story is not new nor was it...

Es la Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada (see: Fidelity Magellan Fund).

No, I am not suggesting going on margin (borrowing from your broker) for a brief time. I was under the assumption that there was sufficient equity in the account - idle cash or "new" cash from an increase in the underlying - to fund the buyback of some or all of the original short calls...

OK, I think I understand your scenario better, except for one thing - your mention of the need to sell stock to raise cash to buy in the original short calls. Your underlying should have moved up in price and your call position is being marked-to-market, so unless your account is facing a margin...

I don't understand the phrase "reacquire the calls." If you have a covered call position, you are long the underlying and short calls. To exit your short call position, you buy (or acquire) them for the first time, aka a buy to close transaction. Now, if you want to buy them in and sell a...

WARNING: Put Master's link immediately above will take you to a Barry Manilow video. Proceed at your own risk. (His previous video link - the kids from Brasil singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was much better. Like they say, there's no accounting for taste) :D

FirstPoint, Of the three quasi-governmental softs organizations, The ICO (coffee) and ICCO (cocoa) release their supply & demand estimates and some other reports free to the public. The ISO (sugar) doesn't release squat for free and their prices are extremely high on a per-report basis...