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People can argue whether it's an edge or not but if you don't learn to do it, it's hard to succeed.

Yep

I disagree. I found an edge in mildly illiquid stocks that has worked quite well for 10 months. Though I can't prove it, I believe that it would end if more people stated chasing them since more liquidity brings more players in at narrower prices. The advantage of the wider pricing is that...

With IC's, you don't want the underlying to approach your short strikes before expiration or exceed them by expiration. Is that more or less likely in a lower (higher) volatility environment? Ideally, you'd like high IV which results in higher premiums but lack of volatility in the...

I don't know what you mean by hedging a collar. The collar is the hedge. Also, a collar is equivalent to a vertical spread. If a collar is equivalent to a vertical and you combine a bearish and a bullish vertical anchored at the same same strike, you end up with a butterfly. All of the above...

Congrats on learning an inexpensive lesson. Well actually, cost free! If you are in this position in the future (having a naked position that you want to close), early on expiration day, place an order to close with a ridiculously low offer (asuming that the underlying isn't moving against...

The Internet Troll manual defines such behavior as PRETEND IGNORE. While the troll pretends to ignore you, he can't avoid responding to your comments - usually speaking in the 2nd or 3rd tense since "I" has very little meaning in the context of desperate need for approval. LOLOLOL

I think we see more dumb answers than dumb questions here :)

In general, they will tend to approach historical levels but that could be next month or next year and sometimes, never. So the only given is that near term, either one could approach the other or both could meet somewhere in the middle. There's no way to know. Option pricing component are...

LOL. The problem with that analogy is that there's no upside to anyone who smokes. As you noted, medical studies and stats support that conclusion. Adjusting option positions has an upside so I'm not convinced that I should smoke my options :) Happy trading!

I don't understand most of your reply but I'm not sure what there is to be surprised about. If adjustments work for me then they have merit. If they don't work for me, then to me, they have no merit. Another example is legging in. Unless the prices are too good to resist, I always leg in...

That's true for anyone with the cash to margin the position. However, the OP indicated that he didn't have the 33 grand to margin the position... perhaps not realizing that margin is 50%. So for him, it may or may not be a margin issue and a possible margin violation. I don't like surprises...

People have to use the strategy that works best for them not you or me. While there may be better strategies than IC's, you can't indict any strategy since they each perform best under different circumstances. The adjustment argument will rage forever. You prefer to claim that an adjusted...

In order for the reader to grasp that it's sarcasm, the writer needs to include a hint like a grin, a wink or possibly, a sarcastic comment. Writing "long strangle. buy the 132 puts and buy the 154 calls" contains no indicaztion of anything other than a trade recc. As for your suggestion...

That's sarcasm? Hmmm... I must be slipping. That's a bit too subtle for me. :)

I traded on technicals for many years. You can have the best set up going... head and shoulders, triple top, pennant break out, cracking support, stochastic/RSI falling, etc. But always remember, news trumps analysis. Watch the news!

The problem that I have with this is that markets move and you can't know how much in advance so your only edge after placing the trade is your money management. Hypothetical example of what happened to you: Suppose XYZ is 200 and your criteria for an IC is 30 pts on each side to either...

Long options have no loan value so when bought so they must be paid for in full (100% of their cost). I'm curious as to what you meant by "TDAmeritrade asks for 100% margin for buying a Long Call or Put option!" Is this some blurb you read at their web site or are you saying that they...

There are several problems with this. The margin on a naked option is approximately 20% (depends how OTM the option is) whereas for the stock, it's 50%. So it's possible to be in a position where your account can support an option position but not the stock position. If that's the case, one...

IB's expiration statement is usually available on Sunday. If you see 100 short GOOG, you need to get on top of it immediately. Because I've been with IB for a long time, I don't remember if I had to request pre market trading approval. That may be one issue you have to contend with if you...