Here's a scenario a friend and I were discussing. I wonder if some of the options pros out there could help us figure out the best strategy? (dollar value is hypothetical)
"I have $15,000 of new stock market money to invest into the broad market. My investment advisor strongly advises to put it in the market today (Mon, Jul 30), but I will not have access to the money until Aug 16. I am worried that over the next 2.5 weeks, the market may go up substantially such that I would no longer want to just put it all in, and would instead be forced to dollar-cost-average over the next year. I think that some strategy involving the buying of call options on SPY or the index itself might be able to insure me against any rise in the market between now and Aug 16. Ideally, what I'd want is a strategy that would deliver to me the entire gain that my $15,000 would give me between now and Aug 16, assuming that I invested it in SPY today. If the market remained static or went down, then I guess I'd lose the premium. What specifically should I do?"
"I have $15,000 of new stock market money to invest into the broad market. My investment advisor strongly advises to put it in the market today (Mon, Jul 30), but I will not have access to the money until Aug 16. I am worried that over the next 2.5 weeks, the market may go up substantially such that I would no longer want to just put it all in, and would instead be forced to dollar-cost-average over the next year. I think that some strategy involving the buying of call options on SPY or the index itself might be able to insure me against any rise in the market between now and Aug 16. Ideally, what I'd want is a strategy that would deliver to me the entire gain that my $15,000 would give me between now and Aug 16, assuming that I invested it in SPY today. If the market remained static or went down, then I guess I'd lose the premium. What specifically should I do?"