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Forget about margin, which can fluctuate wildly from day to day. Figure out how much you could lose in a worst case scenario, then decide whether you like the trade. Your margin is *not* the maximum amount you can lose.

Maybe you were thinking of COW, which I believe is livestock futures. I suppose it would be easy to mix up MOO and COW :)

And why do I live here: lots of friends here, nice fresh air, no state taxes, good cultural offerings, liberal bent to the politics, like my job, cost of living reasonable, medical insurance obtainable and affordable, nice enough to be outdoors almost every day if you ignore the rain, which most...

Puget Sound Area --growing, and beginning to recover from the downturn --local govt of city of Seattle is inadequate, but the more well-heeled suburbs, where I live, are doing well --demographics are pretty uninteresting here, almost all white and Asian --my friends run the gamut from hog...

There is so much hoopla about Apple. The whole magazine cover, change the whole world, this-time-it's-different, hero-worshipping flavor of it is making me wonder if it's time to think about shorting pretty soon. There are many competitors hot on their heels.

The treatment is really something more like Weight Watchers than Gamblers Anonymous. The overweight person can't avoid all food, so it is necessary for him to change his relationship with food. The forever fat person looks at a slice of chocolate cake and sees pleasure and escapism. The...

Yes, I agree with you. It is mostly word of mouth. So, do you trust your family and friends to lie under oath to protect you? Even those who would not intentionally turn you in might say something unguarded or stupid when pressed. So it isn't just a matter of trust, it's a matter of whether...

Yes, I think having employment that gives one access to information would work for finding the right trades. But as for getting caught, the SEC can subpoena your trading records if anyone complains about you--they don't need any very convincing reasons. I would think it would be possible to...

With all respect, you need to lose some money. Only when you have done that will you know what the right rules for you are.

He has to say/not say what his lawyers have told him to. He cannot say things that will hang himself, his employees or his company later. Every single senator and congressman knows this damn well, since nearly all of them are lawyers. They cannot possibly have seriously expected him to come...

I went to a new trading group the other night. I ended up sitting next to some 90 year old lady who is selling naked puts and calls. She was a firecracker!

Probably most of that will happen. Shareholders are not allowed to whine. Buying any stock means that you agree to bear risk. They should make people sign a statement before buying any stock that says, "I understand that I can lose my money--all of it." People have no concept of the...

If you don't mind trading American options, SPY has the best liquidity. If you want European options, RUT has the best liquidity.

Thank you, your post is thoughtful. But I think I am missing what your main point is. Do you suggest that outright purchases and superior to spreads? Or maybe you are discussing the pros and cons, with no particular conclusion?

Sorry, 2 billion.

$400/hr/attorney * 2500 hr/yr * 10 yr * 200 attorneys = 2 trillion dollars I am short, but nervous. Any attorneys here care to comment on any errors in the estimates for this calculation?

These trades do have an expectation around zero. Unfortunately, that is something even many pros do not understand because they don't understand mathematics. In order to profit from an options trade, you have to guess right about something: either direction or volatility or the timing of a...

I don't deal in the ultras so I can't help you with those. Some of the higher volume commodity and currency etfs/etns right now are: cut, cow, fxe, fxy, uup, gld, slv, fxa, fxb, fxc, fxf, bzf, dba, ung, uso, sgg, dbb

It's okay. I make mistakes like that all the time: hit buy instead of sell, deal in the wrong month, etc. The key thing is that you caught it. So, do you still expect a fall? It sounds like you do. If you do, you could sell the Jun and buy some Jul or Aug or whatever you want. If you...

I know I am late to the party. My answer is not really "yes," but "sorta." BP may not fall substantially from here, and while it might experience a few nauseating short-covering spikes here and there, it certainly is not going to be making any huge gains. In the past I have made it a...