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The only way to do that without a calendar, is to buy a 1 X 2 put spread, where the ATM put you sell 1, and the OTM put you buy twice as many. It needs to be a credit spread. If the stock tanks, the OTM puts become ATM, you'll have +Vega on the down side. If the stock stays the same or goes up...

Buy an ATM calendar. The further out the back month, the higher the net Vega. The closer to expiration the front month, the higher the net Theta.

CME Globex Messaging Policy: http://www.cmegroup.com/globex/resources/cme-globex-messaging-policy.html

Yes, it can make a big difference. You want to route your orders to the exchange that gets the most order flow in that product, if you are adding liquidity. If you're taking liquidity, you want to route to the exchange that won't charge you a "take liquidity" charge. The OCC website will give...

Predicting a change in direction of the market, an individual equity or vol has caused more losses than any another strategy. IMO, go with the trend, when it ends, take a small loss and hop on the other direction.

I agree. But in different asset classes, the fear is in different places. In stocks, it's clearly downside. Most positions are long. In some commodities, the fear is rising prices. People have to eat and corporations need supplies to meet demand. So in commodities like Sugar, the OTM calls are...

You and many traders here use the term "Retail" for non broker dealer accounts. A "Retail" account is an account in an individual's name, that is not a broker dealer, not registered with a broker dealer, and in the persons name. An institutional account is a non broker dealer account in the name...

We are Introducing Brokers to Merrill Lynch Professional and Penson Financial and provide a variety of solutions for Hedge Funds, Trading Groups and Active Traders. We offer our clients the ability to trade Equities, Options, Futures and FX through several broker neutral platforms. We...

Your wait is not uncommon. Some institutional accounts we open require risk and background checks and can take much longer.

Stock tend to go down faster than they go up. Also, because most positions are long biased, a down market creates losses and fear. As a result a down market typically correlates with rising IV. An up market is generally slower and beneficial to most portfolios. So, a rising market tends to lower...

This is all very common. It has to do with the "know your customer" rule and Anti-money laundering procedures. They could be a little more helpful. Bob

No. Being a good trader is about finding a strategy that works, and doing it over and over until it does not work anymore. Also, manage your risk/reward and trade like it's a business, not gambling.

I would say that 9 out of 10 option market makers that don't trade a global dispersion strategy like Timberhill, GS, Barclay's, etc, are net short options most of the time. When vols get "cheap", they get flat Vega or long a small position.

IMO, there are two types of successful option traders. I would define successful as someone that is profitable 10 or months of the year, has smaller losses than gains, and is able to either make a living from trading or create above average returns for the risk applied. That would depend on your...

The most important Greek in a position is the one that has the largest value. It will create your forward P & L.

What value does it give you? Does it generate income? Does it really give you a better picture of risk, that would make you do anything different? I know risk managers that monitor $5 billion multi asset funds including options that don't use it.

Options Market Makers are except from locates. That means they can sell stock short, in hard to borrow securities when others can't. For hedge funds or non broker dealers that are not except, that want to be short these securities for whatever reason, they can and do offer long stock for a fee...

Pin risk, would be one. If you close at strike, you won't know your going to be assigned.

Covered calls are not risk less. It has a similar risk profile to shorting a naked put on the same line. The stock can go to zero and the option provide little protection, and caps your potential gain if the stock rises. You took a simple strategy made it very complicated. The purpose of...