Posts Tagged ‘how to trade options’

Options Trading Strategies – Treat Implied Volatility of Calls Separate From the IV of Puts

The Implied Volatility (IV) of Calls needs separate treatment from the IV of Puts. Also, for specific options trading strategies treat the IV of both Puts and Calls as a combined bundle.Each option at each strike implies its own individual percentage value of the underlying product’s future volatility. This makes it unique from any other [...]

Stock Option Trading – Fundamental Flaw in Fundamental Analysis and Stock Picking

Clinging on to Fundamental Analysis and stock picking software, only keeps you stuck in trading equities. Trading this way, compounds concentration risk in one asset class and fails to adequately diversify risks across Equities, Bonds, Currencies and Commodities.  There’s much more to stock option trading, than stock itself.I cite Benjamin F. King’s study, quoted repeatedly [...]

Binary Options Trading – Turn Tiny Trades into Big Profits

The amazing new field of binary options trading is helping small capital investors turn a couple of tiny little $200 trades into $300/day trading profits.  The risks are high, but new strategies are evolving daily to mitigate some of those risks.
Binary options trading is an exciting emerging field in the world of investing. As [...]

Online Options Trading – Portfolio Measures and Trade Performance Metrics

The Reward of Profit and the Risk of Losses for retail option trading needs to be managed at 2 related levels of performance: Portfolio and Trade Specific.At the Portfolio level for online options trading, there are 3 types of Targets that must be set, even before you trade.Maximum Return Target: complete achievement of the “ideal” [...]

Options Trading Strategies – Book Review – Guy Cohen, The Bible of Options Strategies

Most trading literature on option strategies tend to lean towards mathematical formulas to define the construction of a spread.  Guy Cohen has chosen to use pictorial logic, even with the Greeks unique to a particular strategy, to piece together the legs of a spread with diagrams.Diagrams that connect with each other are a much more [...]

How to Trade – Book Review – Kenneth L. Grant, Trading Risk

Managing the performance of your trading account must go beyond the discipline of money management. While money management remains critical, it is a subset of the total picture of managing your trading account’s profit and loss.That total picture is what Kenneth L. Grant aptly paints in his book, Trading Risk.  Total performance management of trading [...]

Options Trading Strategies – Wrong Use of Historical Volatility and Implied Volatility Crossovers

Not all volatilities are constructed equal.  It is critical to differentiate between Historical Volatility and Implied Volatility, so retail traders learn how to trade options focused on what is material to theoretically price option spreads forward.Historical Volatility (HV) measures past price movements of the underlying asset recording the asset’s actual or realized volatility.  The more [...]

How to Trade Options – Book Review – Lawrence G. McMillan, McMillan on Options

Larry McMillan is an iconic Hercules of the options world.  Few option titans have the depth and range of grounded insights to devote 630+ pages to a publication.  Do not be overwhelmed by what initially appears as a titanic chronicle.McMillan commits extensive effort to clarify the proper use of misused trading terms.  He rectifies inaccurate [...]

The Differences Between Insurance Policy and Option Contract

Options are attractive to the private trader due to their special advantages. By buying options, you are given the opportunity to participating in the market with limited known risk. Besides, the capital that you need to invest is just a small fraction of the price of the underlying shares. Option buyer need to pay a premium when buying [...]

How to Trade Options – Diversified Trading Stock Options but Still Suffering Concentration Risk

Applying a more complete definition of diversification can help retail option traders diversify their portfolio profitably, beyond equities.A buddy started online options trading from home, in the last 6 months. He was trading a mix of Verticals, Calendars and Iron Condors using highly liquid Indexes but was failing to get consistent profits.  Naturally, I asked, [...]