Spreadbetting/buying options on AMZN, GOOG, etc in smaller numbers in UK

B

bermondsey

I have looked around at various spreadbetting sites including IG, CMC, Plus500, Financial Spreads etc to see if it's possible to bet on a lower number of options (ideally 1x, if not, at least as low as 10x) than in a typical contract (100x), and didn't find any. It may be possible that IG allows this, but that is only by calling them, and the last time I tried that, I was on the phone for at least half an hour, which isn't very handy.

The problem with the aforementioned shares is that they are priced in the range of 1000-3000, which doesn't make trading their options on places like IB affordable.

Am I out of luck, or is there something I'm missing that others aren't?
 
Do you have to trade those exact stocks or could you instead pick sector ETFs, Nasdaq, etc.
I presume your problem is margin due to price of those stocks and the fact that UK spread bet b usually has a minimum of £1 per...
 
If implied volatility is high and the calls therefore expensive, sell the puts. If you are assigned then sell the calls. Search the wheel options strategy.

if you are really bullish then sell ITM puts.
 
If your account balance is low then you cannot take delivery of 100 Amazon then trade stocks that are lower priced or trade qqq options.
 
Yes, I wal
SanMiguel said:
Do you have to trade those exact stocks or could you instead pick sector ETFs, Nasdaq, etc.
I presume your problem is margin due to price of those stocks and the fact that UK spread bet b usually has a minimum of £1 per...
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Yes, exact stocks. I had my eye of AMZN, but it could be any stock with that kind of price. I already trade sector based ETF options so no problems there.

UK spreadbetters (from my experience of IG) are good in that they allow you to take a long position equivalent to the purchase of 1 option (rather than 100x on IB). This is available for most indices but has more options for the top US and UK ones. The problem is, I haven't found any for stocks. In the specific case of AMZN, if I were to go long on a far OOM CALL with strike 4500 expiring June '22, that would cost me in the order of, 165x100=$16500 on Interactive Brokers, on the other hand if that was available on IG, I could bet with as little as 165 pounds.
 
ZBZB said:
If your account balance is low then you cannot take delivery of 100 Amazon then trade stocks that are lower priced or trade qqq options.
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Well exactly what I thought. I don't want to take delivery of 100x3000$ priced AMZN stocks, and I am already playing with QQQ, but QQQ at the end of the day is not AMZN. I could wait for a stock split, but I don't know for how long...
 
Atikon said:
be careful with those knockout options from IG, spreads are crazy (100% of credit received) on those
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I don't know much about knockouts, but have heard that they are dangerous, and that there are a lot of EU regulations trying to prevent people from doing anything with them. I'll take a look anyway.
 
bermondsey said:
Well exactly what I thought. I don't want to take delivery of 100x3000$ priced AMZN stocks, and I am already playing with QQQ, but QQQ at the end of the day is not AMZN. I could wait for a stock split, but I don't know for how long...
More...

Borrow $100,000 and apply for portfolio margin at IB, operate the wheel.
 
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