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Why would it matter what the reason was for removing money? It would seem to me that the return is the return (sounds like an Al Pacino line :) ) regardless of what the use for it was. No?

You could use all credit spreads or all debit spreads or both in an iron condor but it wouldn't make sense since you'd incur more slippage and coomissions and possibly assigment if/when near parity. The margin is the same on equivalent vertical spreads. For the bullish call spread, the...

Buy sheep, sell deer!

Assuming fair pricing, same strike/expiry bearish spreads provide the same return. Doesn't matter whether they're for a credit or a debit. For example, buying the 95c/100c vert is the same as selling the 100p/95p. In either case you make the same if over 100 at expiry. FWIW, there's a...

MTE - Thanks for the reply. Even I can do that math :) newwurldmn - Would the time weighted and money weighted calculations be in the vicinity of the quick way that MTE suggested? itsame - I follow but 125% would be the gain on the current shares. Methinks the gain for the year would be...

Ignoring ex-div situations, it's unlikely that a short option will be assigned early if there's time premium remaining. That's because it makes more sense to sell the option to salvage that premium. It does happen but not often.

Sometimes the cow gives you premium milk Sometimes the cow just gives you droppings

Suppose I start the year with X dollars in my account. Over the course of two years I pull out profits 3-4 times, ending with Y the first year and Z the second year. How do I calculate my annual ROE for each year? TIA

Hypothetical example --> Compare the reults of buying at 76 and selling a Feb 76 covered call for 1 pt versus selling the Feb 76 naked put for 1 pt. Assume no carry cost or dividends. At all prices, the P&L is the same.

Sounds good on paper but the market doesn't always play nice. Take a look at last August when IWN gapped down 2 points overnight five times. Once it was over 5 pts and if that happens, there's a good chance you become a bag holder (dead money).

Sorry, what is the D for in 25D? Maybe I'm not following something. Yep, OTM options are skewed but how does that relate to doing synthetics? If I'm bullish, I'm going to play with the puts not the calls. And if spreads are involved, I suspect that the skewing is fairly irrelevant...

The synthetic with the better fill is the better choice. If neither is prevails, the one that might have more contracts expire worthless would be the choice since that involves less exit slippage and commissions. Why do you think calls are cheaper than puts?

Do I need to explain that TheGoonier and I were doing market humor not market predictions?

I'm a novice with most of the Greeks. When I've gamma scalped, it's been really simple... usually UL versus a long option leg, sometimes adding something short that's OTM in order to reduce some of the time decay. What I have noticed is that at times, IB's data is erratic and therefore...

Theta is non-linear so multiplying today's value by the number of days remaining is inaccurate. Also, today's theta represents all other market values remaining the same. If they are, you won't see that daily amount of $ change in the UL (theta). If not, it may be more or less. The gamma...

That's the price you pay for having an opinion :)

Margin for debit verticals is the premium paid. For credit verticals it's the difference in strikes less premium received. IOW, it's the max loss of the spread. However, brokers have the right to impose higher margin requirements which it appears Ameritrade was/is doing (difference in...

Sometimes the long puts are already in place since the initial position was a vertical. It finishes just ITM so the collar occurs by adding the short calls. All hedging reduces profit. If you can get the direction of the UL correct most of the time, practice disciplined money management and...

I sure wish that I had read this earlier. I've been sitting here all day watching the monitor, waiting for prices to change. What day of the week is tomorrow ?? :D

I don't know if it's helpful to you since it's not stop loss info... I set and reset price alerts throughout the day on the options and the UL. Sometimes, due to muliple option positions, I do the same on the P&L in a DDE connected spreadsheet. These price points may be for closing an...