any interesting options ideas now?

H

HiddenAgenda

Hi everyone,

I trade equities, have been doing this quite successfully for some time now (mostly my own systems)

I'm not too familiar with the options world, only some basic strateges. But it would be interesting to know what plays people are looking at.

I think the equities market is a little dull now. So are you guys selling puts now, what are people up to?

I've heard the VIX is at its pre-Lehman historic lows, what does that mean for looking for a good strategy now?

Thanks!
 
Quote from HiddenAgenda:

Hi everyone,

I trade equities, have been doing this quite successfully for some time now (mostly my own systems)

I'm not too familiar with the options world, only some basic strateges. But it would be interesting to know what plays people are looking at.

I think the equities market is a little dull now. So are you guys selling puts now, what are people up to?

I've heard the VIX is at its pre-Lehman historic lows, what does that mean for looking for a good strategy now?

Thanks!
More...

Your questions indicate that you are not ready to trado options.

How can it possible matter to you is anyone is selling put? What would you know about that person's history for been on target with strategy selection?

Howe would that tell you which puts you would want to consider selling?

I'll reply by telling you that I'm buying iron condors plus a few strangles for insurance.

VIX is lower than it has been since Lehman. Correct. But did you know that it is still above it's historical average and that VIX data is available back to Jun 1, 1988?

Truly: You want to consider situations that suit you. What others are doing doesn't help you one little bit.

Best of luck.

Mark
 
Quote from HiddenAgenda:

Hi everyone,

I trade equities, have been doing this quite successfully for some time now (mostly my own systems)

I'm not too familiar with the options world, only some basic strateges. But it would be interesting to know what plays people are looking at.

I think the equities market is a little dull now. So are you guys selling puts now, what are people up to?

I've heard the VIX is at its pre-Lehman historic lows, what does that mean for looking for a good strategy now?

Thanks!
More...

mark is absolutely right. look, no offense, but you really have to use the search button.

what works in the equities world, may not work in the options world.

mark has just told you he may be looking at buying condors, and getting insurance with strangles.

ok, fine . . . how does that help YOU?

do you realize that the VIX is still at very high levels relative to historical averages?

what are you going to do, buy a naked option and keep your fingers crossed? no offense, but some could view it as a moronic attitude, a combination of greed and negligence.

for example, i may be bearish on freeport-mcmoran, you may be bullish on freeport-mcmoran. what are we going to do, start a fight?

you really need to find out more about options. start with mark's blog blog.mdwoptions.com/options_for_rookies/, you really need to learn to manage risk on a larger scale

i want to make one thing clear here: the options world is quite different from the equities world. and you can't extrapolate things just like that.
 
you just can't have this laissez-faire (also known as "f*ck it") attitude you may have in equities. if you put on an iron condor, you better watch it closely
 
Is IV Trader still around? I've been reading lots of his old posts in the archives, good stuff. I wonder what he would think about the current vol environment going into next earnings season.
 
Quote from Ms Varima-Garch:

you just can't have this laissez-faire (also known as "f*ck it") attitude you may have in equities. if you put on an iron condor, you better watch it closely
More...

I don't have a laissez-faire/fuck it attitude towards my equity positions, maybe you do, if you trade at all. In fact, I watch my positions very closely. You sound like you don't have much to say anyway.

Well, thanks so much everyone for answering my question about actual trading ideas. You were very helpful, I have to say.
 
Hello,
I been trading futures for a bit now but starting to do options so im a beginner too. I dont know why some people get so hostile as we all tend to ask questions like yours when we first start out.

I have a fairly decent understanding of reading charts through my futures trading so i see decent spots for option trades. Im able to analyze the option trade my broker suggests and learn from that. Its probably a good idea to get a broker that specializes in options as it can be confusing.

Anyways, as for the idea. We need to identify what the markets are doing, bullish or bearish, trending or ranging.
I always use support and resistance to place the trades pref major ones.

For example, S&P strong resistance at 950. Its in a range between 950 and around 880. So if markets are near 950 and u do not think itll go higher. You can: either buy a put or sell a call (can be risky alone so do spread). Then there are spreads. i.e. sell call 960/buy call 990. Or buy put 950/sell put 900. Do opposite if near 880. i.e. sell put 870/ buy put 840....etc.
There are also other stuff u can do to reduce risk and/or reduce premium.

I hope that give u an idea of what u can do. Those 2 spread examples r pretty much most of the options trades i do but there are alot of other strategies out there that can work for u.

good luck
 
Quote from Kedwards:

Is IV Trader still around? I've been reading lots of his old posts in the archives, good stuff. I wonder what he would think about the current vol environment going into next earnings season.
More...
He's around but he's not available much because he's consumed with the paper work of the patent application for his new invention, The Putz Zapper.
 
Quote from HiddenAgenda:

I don't have a laissez-faire/fuck it attitude towards my equity positions, maybe you do, if you trade at all. In fact, I watch my positions very closely. You sound like you don't have much to say anyway.
More...
Actually, you're dead wrong. He has a lot to say... just not much of anything worthwhile

:)
 
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