Quote from Maverick74:
Riskarb, I am not disagreeing with you. I was trying to leave skew out of this altogether. I am trying, and maybe not very successful here, to get new guys to understand options better. I get all these PM's asking me to post more directional stuff which I'm not too fond of but I am very fond of debit and credit spreads as they pertain to direction. I am trying to simplify this as much as possible.
So yeah it gets annoying when people complain that I'm using a quote from a few hours ago or I put in the wrong symbol. I am just trying to get the point across that if you want to play direction, the verticals are the way to go period. Buying calls and puts outright for even the most experienced trader is quite a daunting task never mind the newbie trader.
You guys can argue semantics all day long but the idea behind them is the same. I will say this one more time, these spreads are for directional traders. The edge that the credit spreads have over the debit spreads is simply transactional in that one could save the commission and the cost of the spread on the exit. Now riskarb, I'm sure you agree that if you want to play direction then you would choose vertical spreads over outrights.
Understood, I'll stay outta it, directional is totally antithetical to my personal God... I'm always directionally-agnostic. Anyway, I understand what you're trying to accomplish.
I'll only add my opinion that directional strategies are best left to the spot markets, long gamma is better utilized in volty-bets. Not to say that I haven't sold my share of otm call and put spreads to take some direction.
I see that you're answering requests for directional plays, carry on.
arb.


