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I normally use TDA/TOS and love the trading platform. However you can't buy/sell bonds on it, or pull up quotes..unless you're trading futures. Any good brokers that will let you access the corporate, treasury, and municipal bond market. And one that has a platform as nice as TDA/TOS? In...

What are the typical margin requirements for a collar? For example if I want a short collar on the SPY: (sell 1000 shares), buy 10 calls and sell 10 puts, how much would I need in my account? Enough to short 1000 SPY shares or enough to cover the max loss of the position--which is...

FSU, rmorse, and KPS thanks. I think I get it, but I'm going to have to roll it over in my brain and think about it, tinker with some examples etc. I appreciate the responses.

Hmmm, the put? Can you walk me through why that's the case? :confused:

If I'm short an in the money call, and the extrinsic value of the call is greater than the dividend, then I am safe from being exercised. Is that correct?

Just wanted to get some opinions from traders who have experience with both--which do you think is better?

When I tried to access the ISE spread book for AKAM when the market was open, I didn't see any orders in there.

On spread orders, it forces you to use "smart routing". So you don't have a choice.

True but AKAM has a very liquid options market. And I wasn't trading a 1 lot. It was a 5 lot. :p

interesting....so you're saying even if it's a sythentic market, it's not normal for MM to refuse to fill at the synthetic natural. I have to say I've traded options on AKAM before and always gotten good fills, usually at the midpoint or only slightly worse

wow, didn't expect responses so quickly. Maverick, your explanation makes perfect sense to me. Thank you. I wish the guy I talked to had explained it so elegantly. I was trying to buy a straddle on AKAM. The thing is with AKAM the spreads are penny-wide, so I expected I wouldn't have...

When you place an order to buy a simple spread, say a straddle or a strangle at the natural, how quickly should that order get filled? Should I ever have to pay more than the natural for a position like that? I ask because I put in an order for a straddle at the natural and left it there...

Got out at 10 and some change, I left a little on the table, as its trading at $11-12 now, but it's hard to time things perfectly. What an incredible day for AAPL!

Thanks for your feedback rmorse and trefoil I'm still in but will likely take your advice and close before today or end of day tomorrow...although I'm so tempted by earnings, which I think will be a blowout. The plan was to close right before earnings. What about delta hedging the...

Back when AAPL was trading in the 340s and had already made a big run, I entered this trade: Short: August AAPL 320 calls Long (double the number): of August AAPL 345 calls The trade was put on for an initial credit of around $3. I could sell it now for a debit of $4 or so. The...

My strategy is selling way way way out of the money puts and calls on silver futures. :D

Anyone know when or if March options will be listed on PCLN? How do I figure out whether a certain month will be forthcoming or not? Thank you.

Cant you just get that info from your online trading interface?

If you're just an average retail investor, avoid the SPX like the plague. It's a criminal enterprise. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=212755

Thanks for the responses so far. Is the SPY cash settled? If so, I probably will just use the SPY. MTE you mentioned that the quoted prices are wide but it's possible to get better prices. How do I know for sure if I enter a position that I'll be able to get out a decent price? This...