Stock options trading can be dangerous business–very dangerous. Of course, folk get entangled with it because it can also be very , very rewarding. With options, you leverage underlying assets for a certain time period. You don’t have to buy the assets, just pay a premium up front in order to have control over them [...]
Professional traders use the term lean to refer to one’s perception about the directional strength of the stock. When you own a stock and intend to hold it for a period of time, you are aware that you will probably be holding it while it goes up and while it goes down.
This means that at [...]
When vertical spreads are mentioned, they quite often come with monikers such as ‘bull’ and ‘bear’. This lends most to think of vertical spreads as directional plays which is true. However, vertical spreads can be used to take advantage of two other potential trading opportunities – time decay and volatility movement.
If you are looking for [...]
Professional traders use the term “lean” to refer to one’s perception about the directional strength of the stock. When you own a stock and intend to hold it for a period of time, you are aware that you will probably be holding it while it goes up and while it goes down.
This means that at [...]
Time decay, also known as theta, is defined as the rate by which an options value erodes into expiration. The value of the option over parity to the stock is called extrinsic value.
Since an option is a depreciating asset, meaning it has a limited life, the extrinsic value in the option will wither away daily [...]
The stock market is down, yet options activity is up. That means that many are finding themselves taking control of their assets and getting into the Wall Street game of leverage. Leverage can provide great opportunities for many looking to increase their returns and hedge against market risk. Unfortunately, with the wave of options activity, [...]
The Strangle is another option strategy that features the use of options in unison with each other. The Strangle is philosophically identical to its ‘cousin’ the Straddle. However, whereas the Straddle has a single strike as its focal point, the Strangle has its focal point spread out over two strikes.
The effect of this as compared [...]