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Well, I'll mention it: Options for Rookies. An excellent book for new options traders. Covers risk and how to think about options and does not make pie-in-the-sky promises.

Among micro versions, I think that MNX has decent liquidity.

I am amazed at what gets blamed on the baby boomers. Do not forget that we are all individuals. We do not think with one mind. Some of us have not supported any of this--the welfare state, the military state, the wars, the friendship with Israel, the overspending, the encouragment of...

Yes, this is the gist of it. Deep in the money, vega and theta are not such big concerns. It's all price movement. You'll end up paying something in the neighborhood of 1/3 of the underlying's price for these.

Yes, you can make money at this. I happen to use straddles, not strangles. I have traded butterflies for a long time, so straddles are just more intuitive for me. I recommend this paper and this book. The paper shows how you can make a 12% return with very little work. The book...

I agree the SPX has more slippage than NDX. RUT is the best of all. Yes, the ETFs are quite liquid, but for condors, this may be too commission-intensive.

I'm not a day trader like a lot of people here are. So my rules may be colored by that somewhat. Find three or more very simple, uncorrelated systems. Test them until you are confident that they will work for you under whatever conditions you are planning to trade them in. (Some of your...

I am too old for an iPad. But I do need an iPatch.

Since when is getting a degree so crucial? I have two graduate degrees, but cannot figure out how to fix my toilet. I have to leave that to my pot-smoking tattooed plumber, a guy with a 2-digit IQ who can do something I cannot do. Degrees are only a modern invention, and useless for many...

my7tvette has it right. Yes, you can do this, but you need to stay pretty small. What we saw in 2008 was nothing compared to 1987. The market moved 5-6% on some days in 08, but moved 22% in a couple of hours in 87. It's not the same kind of crash. And the volatility spiked horribly...

You are right, it does not help him if it keeps dropping. It might help him a little if it stabilizes. However, the prices are around zero for the spreads I described. So I don't think he will lose any more money than he is currently going to (assuming EWZ does not rally back to the 70's).

This is a wonderful tool. I use IB, and this as well. http://www.samoasky.com/

My horror story is on stock. Wish I had bought less of it. Managed to scratch my Feb RUT flies for even money. Volatility making me seasick. With the wicked skew, my calendar hedges are not even working. A few short straddles-- doing decently with some adjustments--they are on...

This may help you to lose less money than you are already going to lose. Sell 2 June 75's. Use the money to buy a June 67. You now have a short 75, covered by a long 67. Similarly, sell 2 June 70's. Use the money to buy a June 60. You now have a short 70, covered by a long 60. In...

Your journal is a great idea; it will really help you. Perhaps you are already doing this (perhaps your journal contains this level of detail) but here is what I would suggest. Keep a spreadsheet with your P/L. You might keep multiple spreadsheets for different types of trades. For...

MSO. Bought it the day she was indicted and sold it around the time her trial started. I actually did make a little money. But it was a stupid trade to make. I only made it because she annoys me so much that I wanted to have the pleasure of making some money off her demise. In retrospect, I...

Remember Iridium Communications? 'nuff said

Not to disrespect anyone's post here..... I am not sure why people are so focused on the "why" of it. It has nothing to do with which companies are deserving, nothing to do with the taxpayers. It has everything to do with Obama getting re-elected. He is toast if he doesn't do this. He...

One way to bet on a rising VIX is calendar spreads. If you go out several months, they are quite sensitive to volatility but not so sensitive to changes in the underlying. At times like this (and I mean not just now but really the whole last year) when volatility is sinking and may continue to...

Yes, I treat them like the stock. On a directional trade, if the underlying has reached a point where I would be selling the underlying if I owned it outright, then I exit the option trade. In other words, if I have decided that I was basically wrong about direction, then I bail. As you...