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If you put a spread on and the market moves your way it is possible to make a profit in one day, but the chance of overcoming the bid/ask spread on all the legs is not easy. You will never be able to put on a spread and "while the underlying doesn't move too much" be able to overcome the bid/ask.

Option premiums already contain interest and dividends. Covered calls and naked short puts are the same.

Agreed, PM is quite complex. Hey IDS, since you work for IB can you give us any general info on how PM is going? Did a lot of traders sign up for it, are they complaining about complexity, are they basically happy with it?

Since you didn't tell us anything specific about your goals, risk tolerance, or capital I can only give you some general information. Natenberg's "Option volatility & pricing" is a good book. The CBOE, redoption, and optionscentral websites have a lot of info. That said, you will most...

Two more quote from papers on the topic: "The weight of the evidence indicates that implied volatility is not an efficient predictor of intraday volatility but might be an efficient predictor of the volatility of daily futures prices." "Research has consistently found that Black-Scholes...

You would think so but according to one paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: "Research has consistently found that implied volatility is a conditionally biased predictor of realized volatility across asset markets. No solution considered—including a model of priced volatility...

Moreagr, SET is the settlement value for SPX options calculated on expiration morning. TraderMojo, I would love for you to give me the dates that the SET has gapped more than 15 when the VIX has been in its current range. How long have you been trading options professionally, because a +15...

I am sure I am not up to your mathematical background, but I will give you some thoughts. They are only opinions so feel free to ignore them. PHD mathematicians have access to tremendous funds and computing power at the major firms and none of them have ever consistently been able to predict...

Well, investing in stocks via options, as you seem to be doing, is far different than trading options for a living. Since selling covered calls or selling naked puts are the same thing and many people do those strategies, I would say that there is nothing inherently wrong with them, or almost...

Um, not sure how to say this but, "wow". I have only been watching this thread for a little while now, but is it my imagination or is Apex82 unbelievable good?

There is nothing wrong with writing a journal about your trading in an attempt to become a better trader. On the other hand, it is rather presumptuous for a new trader, who does not know that much about options (based on my reading of your site), to suggest trades to others. There are a lot of...

The CBOE, redoption, and optionscentral websites have a lot of info. As always, my advice is for you not to trade options because you are not equipped or prepared to do so. Two choices if you must trade options: learn everything about them over the next couple years before putting any...

Misinformation flying around like crazy. $100k is neither arbitrary nor made up by IB. Per NYSE Regulation "We expect all other accounts to maintain no less than $150,000 of equity unless the firm has a real-time intraday monitoring system that captures all trades, activity, and price...

Yes, you need an option theoretical calculator to show you how an option value changes in relation to time, stock & vol movement, etc. http://www.optionscentral.com/ Under Tools & Literature has a calculator and position simulator; most people like to graph out their positions.

Please tell me you are not going to trade with real money anytime soon. No offense but based on your questions you have a way to go. You are trying to equate a delta move of the underlying directly to the maximum profit of a specific strategy. Basically your question is a non sequitur; you...

Studying for and passing the series 7 is not very helpful trading but it is useful general knowledge and then you can look at prop firms (nothing against Don but there are a few good ones from which to choose). Are you located near a prop-firm's office, are you willing to spend all day everyday...

Jason586, First of all, do NOT start with options. Every couple days some new trader posts something about trading a certain "strategy" without knowing anything about options. You have to dedicate much more time to trading options successfully than just trading a stock or future. IF you...

Well since you can't seem to see that I am trying to keep you from throwing money away, I will say that if you just want tight bid/ask then try the QQQQ or NDX. SPY is liquid and relatively tight bid/ask also, but when you multiply it by 10 to compare to the SPX you will soon see there are no...

You're kidding right? If you don't understand, in detail, how theoretical price is calculated then you should not trade options. Not now, not ever. You will just loss all your money eventually.

Glad to see you guys posting this. I have been seen as harsh when I try to keep newbies away from options, but they figure they learn a certain option strategy and then that's it. They do the math and figure hey I can make 10%/month just doing this simple strategy and in a couple years of...