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Exactly. Those who can speak intelligently from that side of the coin all do so with nearly one voice. To institutionalize this behavior and legally support it does nothing more than cause those negatively affected to look down upon those who have benefitted at their expense. Yet another step...

I think you mean 10/19/87.

Smart of you to at least not to trade things you don't understand. Nice article.

http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/trader/symboldirectory/symbol.stm Use this to search for a specific one or just search for something generic to bring up the entire list.

I bought it at $4 initially, and averaged down to about $1.70 with about 8000 shares. Sold all 8k with that $1.70 basis one morning in premarket when it was gapping from 34 cents and opened at 26 cents. I thought I did pretty well to get out at .29 considering it opened at .26 and dropped to...

I sold SONS stock recently for 29 cents. It's near $5 now. Best wishes to the guy who bought that from me. I was thinking as I got executed at 29 cents that the poor bastard who was buying this was surely pissing his money away. He is undoubtedly laughing at me much harder today. Somebody...

Another useful feature is the "check margin" function. Enter the order in TWS and click "Accept" - NOT TRANSMIT. Once the order appears in the window, right click on it, then select "check margin" and your effective new margin will be displayed as if the order were executed. This is...

In my area (Mid-Atlantic), the WSOP is on Weds eves at 9pm for 2hrs on the Travel Channel. It follows the World Poker Tour and I believe the WSOP is one of the shows. In any case, it's high level no-limit Texas Hold'em for 2 hrs every week. .... You can view games at most any online...

I agree with the others. At least the broker is up front about it, sorta. I'd take the account elsewhere...to IB or another broker that is more transparent. The savings will more than pay for the inconvenience.

You are correct if someone sells an option ATM. However the odds shift greatly the further OTM you go and the less time to expiry. Of course the premiums are smaller. That goes to show, we can all make money in this market in a way that we are most comfortable with.

I frequently visit (and sometimes contribute to) Wilmott. There are some very sharp minds over there. For many, NFL stands for "Not For Long".

First, aside from weekends and 4:15 to 4:45 EDT, the ES does not close. Second, even if you did wait til the open, the ES from close to the next morning's open has never ventured more than about 30 pts at the open (equal to about 200 pts on the Dow). This includes 87 and 9/11 and many other...

The hedge is not dollar for dollar and it is not put on for very long. In my case, it buys some time and adds some security. If the underlying moves in close and I hedge, I will take off the hedge and roll up shortly after moving solidly ITM. The extra profit from the hedge allows me to go...

That was a different guy who blew up. There have been a few bank trader types who have lost serious jake in currency markets and hidden it for a while before making one too many wrong bets and losing a mountain of money. The guy I was referring to is Victor Neiderhoffer. Much has been...

I hedge with the ES against the SPX. It's hard to hedge specific equities sufficiently without drastically reducing your rate of return IMO. I would hold an underlying and use the opts to hedge (selling puts and calls, etc), but not the other way around.

Smart people can do dumb things. Just because something works for a few years does not mean it will continue to work, markets change, the people trading them change to an extent. Online access has completely changed the way the markets behave. I don't pretend to be any smarter than anyone...

I only sell naked on the SPX. In 87 and on 9/11, the opens were not more than 20 - 25 points off the close. I can get E-Minis overnight to hedge if necessary, so no need to wait for the open. I agree with you that writing naked individual equities is very risky. I would only write naked...

I think Steve has it right. If you take all he is saying at face value, it is not "easy", nor does anyone who has done this for any amount time successfully spend the entire time naked. All he is saying is that you need to avoid the greed trap, be mature and understand what you are trading...

Price, yes. Margin no. The closer the stock gets to $5000, the LOWER your margin requirement and the lower your chances of early exercise. The margin requirements reflect that change. Sure the IV affects the price of the option, but when your stock goes from $100 to even $150, the...

In your example from earlier, where the put was SOLD at a $100 strike and the stock rises sharply to $5000, the put is worthless. My max margin is $10,000 (100 shares *$100) per contract, period. At a price of above $100, the margin is a percentage of the total exposure - depending on the...