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Yes, after having submitted the post, it occurred to me that floor traders pay upfront for the right to trade directly through the exchange and therefore wouldn't pay commissions, just clearing fees. However, I wonder how the cost of a seat on the exchange compares to paying commissions. Like...

Hi everyone! You hear it all the time on this forum: such and such strategy is absolutely out of the question, unless you're a market maker or trading on the floor. Then, it's perfectly fine because, after all, they don't pay nearly as much in commissions. Or, you might hear how market...

Hi folks, What is the following strategy called, if anything? XYZ underlier, $100/share: - 2 calls @ 110 + 1 call @ 100 + 1 put @ 100 - 2 puts @ 90 If the minuses and pluses are reversed they call it a wrangler, but I've never spotted a specific name for this sort of double...

Let me be the first to congratulate the original poster on his success in trading! He's made 7.48%, while the vast numbers of those with retirement funds invested in index-tracking instruments have made only .90%. The difference may not be huge, but money's money. He calls himself a noob, and...

Hi traders, Would there be any use in buying a straddle on say FAS, whose ATM puts and calls have an IV of about 76 and shorting a straddle on FAZ (of the same expiration), whose ATM options have an IV of 87? These bull and bear funds have different IVs, but their performance is supposed to...

I'm not using IBR yet, as I am still deferring repayment, but I was under the impression from others on it that it's working as stated on the various websites about it. Are you saying it's not yet a real option for student loan debtors? Is it just an idea? I believe some of my cronies from...

I've been looking at that market scan, specifically the low IV relative to HV, to spot long straddle candidates. I've been putting the tickers on a separate page and watching their IV for pops on subsequent trading days. When we get one, that would be time to buy the straddle. I haven't done...

I don't think it's any better overseas, illegal or otherwise. If you have a lead, though, please divulge. There have been cases of student loans being discharged. The judge wanted to see that the student had been making regular payments for about 10 years, and when times got tough he...

Yes, I've considered doing that with Option Oracle, which allows for scanning in real time for trades in up to 4 strategies per scan, but only among a pre-set list of tickers. Happily, the software is free. I guess I could make up a list of all liquid options and tight markets. Aren't there...

Hello friends, Can anyone name a site or software that performs real-time screens for option trades? I have discovered www.avasaram.com, which offers screens for trades like calendar spreads, collars, covered calls, butterflies, condors, etc., and the screens come out three times per trading...

If you wouldn't mind, Atticus, specifically what strategy was this fellow using? 3,300% in a couple of years is no small achievement. I'm trying to imagine how he might have profited from short gamma and vega. Was it butterflies? Just a guess. Thank you, Steven

Volatility is not only a function of price. Vol. can change by several percent while the price of the underlier hardly budges, and that happens quite often. Indeed, one non-mean reverting blowup can wipe out years of profits, as you point out (and as I said myself in regards to 9/2008). That...

Say folks, what is your preferred strategy for buying volatility where IV is already at the high end of its range? I know some guys favor backspreads, while others just go with long straddles to capitalize off an expected big move (assuming IV is predictive), inflated premiums notwithstanding...

Good research. You list to some compelling examples of your point. However, bid-ask spreads aren't always prohibitively high, particularly when the underliers are highly liquid. Check out the bid-ask spread on the SPDRs, for example, or say, Citigroup (although there may be other reasons to...

There are a number of scanning services, such as Optionistics and Avasaram, that offer lists of the current best butterfly opportunities, and various other strategies, but not backspreads and frontspreads (that I've been able to find, at least). I was wondering if the good candidates for long...

Hi friends, Can anyone here kindly recommend any sites or books presenting example equations on how to neutralize the Greeks in options spreads? Alternatively, maybe someone could post an example equation or two of their own. It's easy enough to set up a delta-gamma neutral vertical spread...

It would be a question of taking stats to see if this approach would work. Are you saying that if TNA and TZA move, say, 1%, they'll probably keep going another 0.5% or so, or some set of figures like that? That's something that could be back and forward tested. Merely placing stops does...

Hi, Jeff Augen, in his books on trading option volatility short-term, recommends differentiating between the intraday and overnight HV. He states that the stocks exhibiting considerably greater intraday HV than overnight HV make good candidates for leveraging increases in volatility through...

May I ask why you don't advocate stops in a scalping strategy? I have always thought that in a strategy with low profit potential per trade, it would be imperative to cut losses quite short, otherwise it might take many good trades to offset just one loss. What do you say to that argument...

When I was in college, I took the maximum amount of student loan money I was offered, which gave me, coincidentally, $5000 per year in excess cash for living expenses. I did that at least three times, and always lost the money in trading, and fast at that. The more leverage I used, the sooner...