Why isn't everybody selling options?

Quote from dmo:

Free Thinker, rather than argue theoreticals, let's look at facts.

Are you truly unaware that zillions of people have gone bust selling puts? Are you saying that can't happen?

If you have the discipline to limit your option selling to puts on assets that, if exercised, you would be happy to own as an investment, that's great. But you don't really think that's what everyone does, do you?

all i am saying is that selling puts is a proxy for being long. it is a similar stradegy to dividend investing where you hold long equity for the purpose of an income stream. leverage is what kills not the stradegy itself. i agree discipline is key.
 
Quote from Martinghoul:

Theoretically maybe... In practice, if you have ever been properly short gamma during a blowup, you'd know that it's emphatically NOT the same risk (unless, of course, you're Warren Buffet and effectively have an unlimited amount of change jingling in your pockets; or you don't mark-to-mkt for other reasons, like insurance co's).

I was short buckets of vol and front skew last Thursday/Friday... it was NASTY!! and I must say it felt decidedly worse than being short the underlying...:eek:
 
Quote from blcdoc:

I was short buckets of vol and front skew last Thursday/Friday... it was NASTY!! and I must say it felt decidedly worse than being short the underlying...:eek:

LONG the underlying. I dreamt of being short!!
 
Quote from Martinghoul:

Theoretically maybe... In practice, if you have ever been properly short gamma during a blowup, you'd know that it's emphatically NOT the same risk (unless, of course, you're Warren Buffet and effectively have an unlimited amount of change jingling in your pockets; or you don't mark-to-mkt for other reasons, like insurance co's).

does fall 2008 count?
 
Quote from increasenow:

questions:
1-how much total margin would you need in your acount to make this trade?
2-what would be the total profit from this trade?

Please, group, do not answer this question. He's functionally illiterate and the answers are obviously in my response.
 
When selling options you are making a little money most of the times. However, you lose huge amounts once in a while. You could also buy options and bleed every month until you score big and pay for all the previous months losses. Overall, like anything else on the markets short options is just a tool. The secret to success is to know when to use which tool and constantly dynamically adjust your strategy following market conditions. One of the simplest methods is to run the trend following indicator on the corresponding to the chosen security volatility index. If the volatility is on the rise you play long options if it is on the down trend (volatility it self) then you switch to the short options. Technically the best option strategies employ both long and short options and their underlying securities.
 
Quote from Free Thinker:
does fall 2008 count?
Guess so... If, to you, being short puts and being long the underlying looks and feels like the same risk, pls accept my sincere congratulations. Such intestinal fortitude as you possess is something I can only dream of, which is why I am NEVER short gamma.
 
Whether long or short, you still need to be right on price, volatility, or both (i.e., backspreads, lookback exotics). Choosing to go long/short is a wager on convexity/probability.
 
Quote from Martinghoul:

Guess so... If, to you, being short puts and being long the underlying looks and feels like the same risk, pls accept my sincere congratulations. Such intestinal fortitude as you possess is something I can only dream of, which is why I am NEVER short gamma.

Never? You've never traded a butterfly or condor? ;)
 
Quote from atticus:
Whether long or short, you still need to be right on price, volatility, or both (i.e., backspreads, lookback exotics). Choosing to go long/short is a wager on convexity/probability.
Absolutely true dat... Still, I personally have a strong, enduring and all-consuming preference: I would always be a buyer of cheap gamma rather than a seller of expensive gamma. Possibly because I appreciate the value of the implicit unquantifiable liquidity option.
Never? You've never traded a butterfly or condor? ;)
No condors, as that's, in most cases, a broker-fest, in my world. I buy flies occasionally, but treat them as lottery tix, i.e. I say goodbye to the premium as soon as it leaves my pocket. I have done some 1x2s and ladders, though, but that must have been during momentary lapses of reason :).
 
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