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I have a question about margin with IB. The site says the margin for vertical option spreads is the distance between the strikes so if I buy XYZ 50/55 call spread, margin is $500 per single option contract. If I leg onto that spread by selling the 55 first (which at that time is a naked option...

Hi lindq. I have a ? about that system. Exit rules say if stock not sold after 5 days mean if stock has not closed up since you bouht it correct? If that is the case what if the stock stays down for a while. An example would be something like TYc or EK which has stayed down for extended...

Add about 2 dozen Echo trazders, 3 dozen Schoney's, 2 dozen Assents, 10 dozen First NY......

Don, you make it sound like the speciliasts will step in when a 3 sigma event happens like sept 11th. Yes, they will buy 1000 shares every $1 down. thousands of screens around the world will beat out the Labranches and SLk's when it comes to maintaining order.

bob, why do you say that? volume is picking up a little bit ( a little little bit), plus a lot of them got gone, the ones remaining seems to have stopped the crazy price wars and are diversifying into eminis,forex,etc.

Awhile ago, I heard that Andover was going to add options trading functionality to the hammer. At that time the tech guy said they were testing the connections to the options exchanges and expect it to be functional within days. That was 1.5 years ago if I recall. Has it been done yet? Do...

Just spoke with a broker and he said that their experience as mkt makers enables them to offer risk based margin on equity options much like the floor guys have. He said main advantage is they would offset short options against stock or long options so $ won't be tied up as compared to other...

Best I know of would be scanners by ivolatility.com or optionclub.com. Maybe not flies per se but highest iv/sv, premium jumps,etc. From there you can pick out fly candidates.

Are retail brokers not allowed by law to offer risk based haircuts or is it because most risk dept of broker dealers don't know a put from a call?

If you are the sell order at 50 and the natrual buyer wants to pay 50 thru a mkt order but the specialist steps in and sells it to buyer at 49.99, you get screwed, the buyer pays a penny less and the specilist violates negative obligation rule. .. i think

Hi . Could you elaborate a little on advanced gamma scalping? In equities, SP? Most of the traders I've read or heard from seems to consider gamma scalping a way to finance the decay of their long options until that big move turns the same options into homeruns. your post seem to suggest that...

Add to this the fact that they have been ignoring the negative obligation rule (pennying the paper in front of institutional orders). It must really be tough these days.

HI lindq. I have a? about CCU pullback. In retrospect it might look like a pullback, but without the right edge of the last 2 days is'nt the price action of CCU like catching a falling knife for the long swing trade? Broke low in Aug w/ conviction. Not trying to second guess about CCU just...

That is why they are OTM with a directional bias

Using your assumption, ( which is a huge assumption) you'd want to be long OTM calendars to take advantage of long vega during mkt tops and short calendars ATM on the bottoms to capture vol implosions.

Velez? Try Mark Fisher. worth more than probably all the choices here combined !

Can someone here please tell me if any of the ECN's accept native stop orders for NASDAQ stocks? I am used to putting stops in NYSE because it is handled ...or mishandled by one guy. How can I put stops for NAZ stocks? Thanks

I've done my option trades in access. Usual fields to capture would be buy price,sell price, strategy used, pnl. By doing so, you can later on generate reports that breaks by strategy sorted by pnl, by stock,etc. Funny thing is I was just checking out my access report for option trades this PM...

Any portfolio mgr worth his salt would not unwind huge positions during witching hour. huge slippage. The past witching days going back 1-2 years have been non-events save for a few anecdotal spikes which makes for good water cooler conversation ... just gives CNBC talking heads something to...

Hi Icarus. When you ask how much capital was used to make $450, are you trying to discern risk/reward? i.e. if you are putting on $100000 worth of stock risk to make $450 then maybe other methods might be better for new traders due to risk involved? Just curious