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I like to write covered call with leaps against quality, high dividend stock. In the past, I used MO (Altria). Suppose I owned the stock in January, 2006. I would write a Jan 2007 call about two handles OTM. I look at the premium as an "extra" dividend. If the shares go above the strike, I...

I did an experiment yesterday. I entered a limit bid to purchase a short IC and placed the limit between the bid and ask (fair value). I left it working for a few hours, and it was never executed. It kept moving it so it was at fair value..no bites. In the past, if I hit the ask, it would...

I have to agree about the moaning and groaning. I have had accounts with IB since 2004. The biggest problem I've ever encountered was loss of market data intraday--sometimes it was IB, sometimes it was GLOBEX. Other issues: using the right JAVA version, which was straightened out with a...

The best ETF I could find that trades Investment-Grade Corp bonds is LQD. The current yield is about 5.00%. This is certainly higher than what IB pays. Also, the margin is 1/3 the value of the ETF, so minimal money is tied up. I noticed yesterday that Rick Santelli of CNBC put up a chart of...

Some of the opinions are pretty good, but as usual, we have to note that history does repeat itself. Of course, as my history teacher said: "You had to have been there (the Great Depression)." If anyone remembers post WWI Germany, one can see the similarities today. The biggest difference is...

When I was in high school, one of our essay exams was a document-based essay. A question was posed, and based on the given documents and common knowledge, we had to answer the question. The question was: Whose fiscal policies would be more successful for rescue, recovery and reform during the...

We talk about theory a great deal here, but we never seem to discuss mechanics of entering our spreads/combos. When I started out trading naked puts in 2004 ( i know how lucky I was until August 2007 hit), I would enter all of my intended short put trades on the Friday of expiration week for...

Just read an interesting article about IC's and short straddles. To make a long story short, short straddles (iron butterflies) are most successful when VIX is between 18 and 25. The author's study ran from 1993 to the present. He also mentioned that IC's should be legged into during higher...

The investment-grade etf have gone up a little over 10% in the past two weeks, plus, at the time of my entry, the dividend was about 7%. Since the rise, it is about 5.5%. The preferred etf has gone up about 7.5% and paid, at the time of my purchase, about 11%. I even bought a worldwide...

Try using the generic combo feature. Simply right click on an empty line on the TWS and fill in the blanks. If inter-commodity spreads don't work here, then they probably won't work on any of the features. I would send a ticket and ask about intercommodity spreads.

Recently, I've been trading stocks with orders of less than 100 sh. I have wondered what mechanics/logistics are involved with odd-lot trading. Do the mechanics differ from broker to broker? I noticed that the trades are sent to Island. Is that the only platform accepting odd-lots? Just...

Go with the card. Very convenient and easy to use. Can use it on any computer. Had the electronic device--it was a pain.

If the underlying finishes the January cycle at ATM of the January option, you will make more than your initial credit. If the underlying moves swiftly downward, you can lose more than the initial credit. Swift, downward movement will cause the FEB call to lose value faster than the January...

I can speak for the ES and its options. Market makers take at look at the near-strike options with the most open interest and try to center the underlying at those options. Market makers will keep the premiums if the underlying is centered with these near-strikes. For quarterlies, the ES...

I currently have my account with IB, and I have been pleased for years. One aspect that I use is the Paper Trading Account (PTA). I do not think it is utilized enough. Over the years, as I developed new trading strategies, I would first test them. Not only am I looking at results, I am...

Thank you for the detailed explanation; it was extremely helpful. I have only be trading futures options since 2004. I began trading naked puts, and of course did well. Once August 2007 hit, of course, I got clobbered. Then, once 2008 hit, I tried a few other techniques--and I probably just...

Pretty good. I typically use a ratio for aquick calculation. When the IV is at 80, then the expected move could be 5% in either direction. So, 80:5=40:X. X is 2.5..so look for a 2.5% move in either direction.

I have been comparing and contrasting verticals vs diagonals, and I don't really see a major advantage of diagonals over verticals. For example, I was looking at the (ES is the underlying)JAN P675/P500. At the time of the look, the credit was for 5.15. The Greeks for the P765: IV=67.12...

Use an ETF to get into investment-rade corporate bonds--obviously more liquidity.