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I am surprised at this kind of thinking coming from a former market-maker. From you I would expect answers like "sometimes", "maybe", and "compared to what?". Naked short premium does not equal bankruptcy, and long premium does not equal profit. Options portfolios cannot be viewed in simple...

I think this will be very illustrative. Assuming the SPX is at 1385, what is the $risk of holding one short 1385 combo versus owning a $equivalent amount of SPY at -1/2/3 sigma? Which position would you prefer to own and why? -segv

To be clear B, you are closing and reopening the component position ATM correct? -segv

He is already in real estate. The question is whether he wants to liquidate and try his hand at trading, or keep or increase his real estate risk. My point is that I think it is very unwise to risk a nest egg in an attempt to trade. -segv

That is correct. See this page for details: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/interest.php?ib_entity=llc#credit The idea is that you would risk interest and trading earnings only. You would not put your initial balance of $40,000, nor your monthly contributions to the...

You could put the entire balance into an IB trading account, where the amount above the first $10,000 will earn interest at the current rate minus half a percentage point. Then you could take 15% of your income and invest it in the account on a monthly basis. Rather than risking a single penny...

And somehow I thought Etrade could not get any worse than the "mouse sperm" commercial. -segv

The crack pipe sure is hot today, isn't it?

Some debit spreads are long theta.

Which one of you bears wants to sell me 1000 ES calls? -segv

QuantDeveloper is, in my opinion, a superior product. Its major weak point is the lack of API and framework documentation. This deficit creates a steep learning curve, but the object model and API are intuitive enough to permit trial-by-fire learning for the experienced developer. Not...

An atom bomb is an EMP bomb. Rest assured that military equipment is hardened against EMP. Civilian equipment on the other hand... -segv

Holy GM call ratio credit spread..... -segv

Why not use the stop-loss order as entry and exit criteria? -segv

I agree with arb, IB is hard to beat. -segv

Your question is a fundamental one that has been debated extensively in academic literature. It is the "make or take" question. You have already identified two major factors in the decision process, the time to execution and the probability of execution. The probability of limit order...

Of course there is a difference. The difference is the guarantee of having the order execute, and the cost of the guarantee is the bid-ask spread. As to "what happens if they don't both get filled", you tell me. What happens when one order gets filled but not the other in your strategy? You...

Paul, In regards to these two issues, your strategy is extremely susceptible to many perils associated with high-frequency trading. Some possibilities: 1. It is possible that you have a sampling error. When you detect a signal at time t+0 it has ceased to exist by the time your order...

Good, just checking. In regard to your account closure problem, does your retail brokerage also happen to make markets in the securities in question? -segv

Paul, I would be interested to know why you consider a statistical arbitrage strategy to be "near zero risk". Would you elaborate? -segv