Stock Option Strategy

Is there a online trading site which informs you what various charts mean for various stocks/options?

Editor — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:34:04 +0000

I am no expert in stocks and I don’t really want to dedicate a significant amount of my life to being an expert but there are things i am interested in investing in. I know there is this huge field of technical analysis and reading charts and that there are tons of charts one can learn how to read but I don’t want to master that either. I just want an online brokerage to have some page that will say there is considerable or low risk for this holding according to this chart and this chart says something else just to give me a little clue as to what it all means. I don’t want a huge in depth chart analysis cause I probably won’t understand it but if it can be dumbed down and automatically presented to me then I want it. I mean we have equations and such to calculate this stuff anyway so why not just plug them into the computer and calculate for the top 10,000 stocks of the brokerage or something. Add requests for others to be auto and briefly analyzed for a fee.

Can you exercise call option without putting up more money?

Editor — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:32:30 +0000

Looking at strategy of exercising in-the-money call option and immediately selling the stock without putting up any more money than money spent to buy the call option. Is it possible? Or, if it is a heavily traded stock, is it easy to find a buyer of in-the-money call option so close to expiration date?

Virtual stock trading?

Editor — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:34:25 +0000

Hey i would just like to know what brokers, or which online brokers, have virtual trading as a option when you sign up/open an account with them. The reason is that i don’t want to get straight into trading and losing all my money id like to get some practice first.

Options advice – help please?

Editor — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:34:13 +0000

I have call options of a stock expiring Dec 18th 2010 at a strike price of 80, and the current price is 75. I have not sold these call options because Dec 18th is far, even though I have a 28% loss already.

There is possibility that the stock price may recede to 60-65 range (and then probably go up towards 80), so how do I protect myself?Should I buy puts that expire Dec 18th 2010 at a strike price of 65? Not really sure as I am a newbie here.

Please advice on the best strategy.

Can you trade comodities such as Gold, Silver, Oil, etc using an online brokerage and a Roth IRA?

Editor — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:36:55 +0000

My online brokerage is TradeKing.

Up until now I’ve only traded stocks and options, but I’m interested in broading my horizons to new types of investments. I’m just wondering if I need a new account, or if I can do this with my current brokerage.

Are there any IRA accounts that allow selling naked options?

Editor — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 11:38:36 +0000

I have been having a good deal of success with my “personal” stock account by incorporating a low risk naked put selling strategy.

It has worked well and I would like to employ the same with my IRA account, however Ameritrade does not allow it.

Are there any IRA account companies that allow naked Put selling in IRA accounts? I have a balance of just over $200,000 if that changes anything.

What is the best way to trade stocks online in Canada?

Editor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:33:03 +0000

I’m looking for a platform where I can perform my own trades at a reasonable fee. What are my options, and where can I get the best deal for a small number of trades?

Investments/Trading Stocks/E-Trade.. Can anyone explain just the BASICS in all of the terms and “strategies”?

Editor — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:37:23 +0000

I am very eager to start an account on E-Trade or similar, and basically use the money I have now, invest it, and create more funds in this way.

Before starting I would like to know what I am doing, and know what things like stocks, futures, options, bonds, and brokerage mean. If anyone could just give a brief explanation on these sorts of terms I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
I know you can buy a certain stock at a price, and then preferably sell it at a higher price. But how does it work with how often you can buy/sell? I know that there are some kinds of limitations and requirements to stop the manipulation of markets and so on. Thanks.

I need to ramp up my options trading education in a hurry. Any good resources online?

Editor — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:34:33 +0000

Looks like I’m about to get laid off. I’ve dabbled with stock market investing and have a little money to play with. I figure I can become the next Warren Buffet if I play my cards right.
Yeah, I’ve made a little money with trading – but I always wonder if it was just luck.

What has been your experience trading stocks and options with Zecco.com?

Editor — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:38:33 +0000

I am a beginner investor and I would like some feedback from anyone having experience with Zecco.com trades. Were trades executed quickly, at or better than published bid-ask price spread? Are limit orders included in the 10 free trades per month? Have you found another online broker that you like better, and why? Thanks for the input.

options: in or out of the money?

Editor — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:32:41 +0000

a question for any options-knowledgeable people out there…

let’s say i’m convinced a stock is going down, and i want to use this to my advantage. however:
- i cannot short the stock
- i am NOT concerned about leveraging my investment (i.e. i can easily afford 1/3 to 1/2 the stock price)

is the best strategy to pick put options that are far in-the-money ( which have deltas close to 1 ) to just follow the stock down?

are there other repercussions of picking these more expensive options, like tax conserations?

What are some of the best investment websites to use for online investing?

Editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:37:26 +0000

I’m new to online stock investments and I have looked into Scott trade but wanted to know what other people are using too. Who charges the lowest trade options and things of that sort…

Day trading SPY options: How can I do this better? (Long question)?

Editor — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:33:54 +0000

(Note: I have real money experience with options going back to 2000, first covered calls in my IRA and then long calls in my cash account though no day trading experience with real money. I have the 25K to park in an account to satisfy the pattern day trader rules and another 10K to make the actual contract purchases.)

I have a job that allows me to keep an eye on the real time stock market. Starting in January I started playing with the Virtual Trading engine at OptionXpress, daytrading options on SPY. My strategy is rather modest; I buy 5-10 ITM contracts, either put or call depending on market direction, and sell when I see the trend reverse. I chose 10 contracts because I believe that with an order size that small, if I submit a sell order at the bid it should fill immediately unless the market is moving very fast allowing me to lock in a profit if the trend reverses. I open one position at a time, I never leave my desk with an open position and I am 100% cash at market close every day. I use SPY because being a basket of 500 stocks it is buffered from sudden drastic moves in price giving me time to get out of a position with minimal loss if the price goes the wrong way on me. My immediate goal is $100 after commissions per round trip, a target that requires only a $0.15 move in option price. I don’t always guess right on direction, 4 out of 5 is typical, and I am netting between $400 and $500 a day on 6-7 round trips. My $5000 initial play money stake has grown to about $15,000 since 1/19 when I started doing this seriously. I won’t get rich doing this but over the course of a year that is an extra person’s worth of income for my family. If it lets me do nothing more than pay off my house and fund future college for my 3 kids it is worth it.

Now that I have proven to myself that this seems to be a reasonable strategy I am trying to understand what I can do better and am now in the area of “I don’t know what I don’t know.” I know about Level 2 quotes but if these are something that can help me I am not clear how to use them. I know that there are all sorts of indicators that technical traders use but I don’t know if these scale down to the day trading level. I know about the existence of the Greeks, and while I understand roughly what the numbers and equations mean, I don’t know if these will help me on positions lasting 15 minutes or less.

My main interest in posting this question is to find out if there are tools I can use to help me make better choices about getting in or out of a position or tell me more about what the market is doing. This strategy seems to be working okay and if I can translate this to real money I will consider myself successful. I don’t want to be greedy but I certainly would like to know if I can do what I am already doing more effectively.

I spent time on 888options and optionetics.com but it seems much of the content out there deals with strategies like spreads, butterflies and condors, things that simply don’t apply to what I am doing. I know there are options day traders, even some specializing in SPY, who read these questions, and I’d be appreciative if I even had a list of books or even just some things to go research and learn about that you have found helpful in your experience.

Thanks for reading this far and any help y’all provide.
I definitely understand the problem with fills; in fact, I asked a question about that here the other day. I had noticed that I could put in a sell at a price like 3.10 and a minute later see a bid/ask spread of 3.15/3.20 with my sell order still open. My only thought was “What the ****?!” I was told by another answerer that in reality, on an order that small an ask below the bid would never stay open on something as liquid as SPY.
Regarding filling at the mid, on SPY I could live with this. The options on SPY move enough intraday that even if every buy order filled at the ask and and sold at the bid I’d still make money because I am looking for moves of .15 on options that can move .30 or more in a short time. I’ve gotten good enough at picking the trend direction that I will buy options that are 3 or 4 points ITM. This gets me my .15 or more move with only a small move in the price of SPY.

Getting started on online stock options?

Editor — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:32:57 +0000

I’m thinking about getting an account on tradeking.com I really have no idea what to do. I’ve heard good things about it, but most things for me are too good to be true, and never work out. I don’t want to mess up. From what I hear, you do EVERYTHING online, correct? You set up your bank account to connect with your trade account. Could someone give me a simple and I mean SIMPLE step-by-step process of buying options? How does it really work? All I got is a vista lap top. Will that work with this? Thanks!

Trading stocks,futures, and options for a living?

Editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:42:31 +0000

Well I am in high school and love to trade. I am not a good student so i know im not going to be a doctor,lawyer and that stuff. I am a junior and have been investing/trading futures stocks and options for over 3 years now with great results. I don’t think its luck because i do use a strategy and a good one i kind of created from all the other pundits strategies and just experience. I am a discretionary trader. So i decided that i want to do this at home being self employed for a living. My questions are how many other people make a career doing this? Are they successful (millionaires)? My guidance and I talked about it and she even agreed a lot of trader drop out of HS or college and make millions! I have read a ton of books and i KNOW my strategy works in bull and bear markets last year year before that i made money and even this read after taking a 20% draw down i came back with my high for the year! I can control my emotions which is important in this business from what i hear. I have instinct i can just Sense when a stocks going to move and even if im wrong i cut my losses! I use stop limit orders, trailing stops and limit orders to execute my trades. So is this a smart decision? to pursue a dream life of trading??? Me i just want a nice mansion in NJ nice cars cloths etc. and a lot of traveling around the world.
ok i read security analysis and the intelligent investors and i must say graham is too old school those methods just dont work anymore dude… trading makes money daytrading makes even more quick cash. bottom line i know how to invest but investing is pointless unless you have over 50 million to invest it willl take you forever to get 50 Mil investing like graham and buffet just isnt in my interest..
thanks but you know its interesting because i did this personalilty test in career ed in high school and the thing i got got me really happy yet weird approx. only 1% of the american population scored it its perfectionist.. it also said most likly to become a millionaire and a good career would be analyst or trader sooo yeah the fact that ive been wanting to do this for many years and just last year i took this test and got that motivated me and this year is by far my best year! i come from a very poor country and stuff soo that i have this chance i have to take it ya know? and im used to living with little money which always helps ! i am also well aware that some traders lose maybe 80% in just weeks or months but they make it back its the traders who stick with it who make the big bucks in the long run… however even during this crash i only lost 20% despite being fully invested because i use trailing stops or stop loss orders… to help prevent from losing profits … i can make it
ya know the funny thing everyday that i skip school to trade stocks i make a lot of money! a lot more than i would being in school hahaha sure im missing earth science and language arts and math but im making more money than some students do their entire year working part time hahahaha
and i usually read 2 or 3 books a month.. on investing or trading im learning both things because i know once you reach a certain level you cant just trade all the time you have to invest..

Stocks, and trading online?

Editor — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 05:34:40 +0000

For online trading how does it work? Do you have to have a certain amount of money to open an account? What should I do if I just want to buy certain stocks to hold onto for a long while? Is that the best option?

I-Phone question. If I have an i-phone with the internet connection can I login to my online brokerage…?

Editor — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:39:22 +0000

And make stock and options trades online using my i-phone?

Is there a name for this option strategy?

Editor — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:32:44 +0000

There’s all kinds of options strategies and different names for them. I have been buying calls on a stock at a strike of $17.50 and selling puts at strike of$15.00. Is there a name for buying calls and selling puts on the same stock?

What is the best online trading broker?

Editor — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:36:26 +0000

I am looking to invest $2000 in stocks and options and preferrably mututal funds. This is the first time I am investing, which online trading broker would be friendly to a new investor and have reasonable fees?

Would would you suggest for active traders and for long-term growth investors?

Thanks in advance!

What does a B/A size of “300X1000″ on a call option mean? I have never actually purchased an options contract

Editor — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:33:37 +0000

- I want to purchase some call options, and I know what an option is (once it hits the strike price, it is in the money, and I can buy the stock and then cash it in), but I am having trouble understanding the terminology when I am trying to purchase stock options at my online trading account. (ie “B/A size”). If anyone has experience buying these, please drop me some advice!

(I don’t want to get stuck with a contract that says I have to purchase 30000 shares or something to exercise the option)

Online stock purchase question; option contract?

Editor — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:33:15 +0000

I am thinking of buying some stock online through TradeKing. This will be my first time buying stock, except through 401k. Anyway, on their webpage, it says $4.95 per trade, which I understand, but then it says “$.65 per option contract”. What does that mean? All I want to do is put some money on a stock that is really low right now, let it go up, (and it WILL go up!) then take my money out in about 6 months. I will not be constantly buying and selling, I am only interested in one stock. Are there any other hidden fees I should watch out for?

What’s the best home study course for option trading?

Editor — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:40:15 +0000

Good morning everyone. Okay, I’ve been trading stocks for about 3 years now and have become interested in option trading. I’ve noticed a lot of good online home study courses but just don’t know which one would do me justice. Has anybody had any success with one of these programs for a beginner option trader ?

question about charts and stock splits?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:21:36 +0000

Its my understanding that when a stock splits the value of the holding remains the same but the number of stocks changes, kind of like offering someone 4 quarters for a dollar.
It would seem logical to me to look at a chart and at the moment the stock split (lets say 2:1) that the value of the stock on the chart would have one sharp drop to half the previous value.
Why does it seem that the value of stocks being split does not drop in proportion to their split on the stock charts which are graphing value and time?

Just to give an example of what I mean

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:ATVI

Help me please.what if the phone you want is temporarily out of stock ?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:27:21 +0000

ok im getting a new cell from the parents and its freaking out of stock ? and its a t-moble company i want the samsung behold rose badly. use to be my touch but to expensive. But yeah i went on the tmobles site and it said temporarily out of stock and its been like that for ever’s.! daamn it i can never win grrr.

What is a good site on which I can sell my “stock” photographs?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:27:20 +0000

Please don’t say ebay …. Everyone always says ebay. You could ask “How’s the weather today?” and people would answer ebay.

Anyway…. I’m just starting out in photography, and I was wondering if anyone knows some names of good, reliable stock photography agencies or web sites. I want to look into how I would go about selling my photos, but it seems that a lot of the magazines I read don’t cover that. Thanks.

RE: Preorders on Amazon and free super saver shipping.?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:26:42 +0000

I ordered 3 things on Amazon today. 2 are in stock and 1 is a preorder on a book. Despite the fact that there are 2 “items in stock and ready to be shipped”, it appears they will hold the entire order until the preordered book ultimately becomes available?!?

Is that right? Or will they carve out the 2 items and send them now?

If the intention is to hold them (until MAY) can I unorder the preorder to have them ship the other two items?

Please advise.

I am unable to find the “Refresh Rate” option in myyahoo discrbed in details below.?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:34:12 +0000

Why is the content on my page out of date?

If you’ve left your browser open to My Yahoo! and haven’t touched it, the news and stock quotes may not be the latest available. Here are some ways you can update this information:

* Set My Yahoo! to automatically refresh your page:
1. Click “Add/Delete Pages” in the personalization bar near the top of your My Yahoo! page.
2. Look for the “Refresh Rate” option in the Page Settings section on the left side of the page.
3. Set the automatic rate to whatever you would like.
4. Next time you leave your browser open to My Yahoo!, you’ll see that it updates the page automatically.

What is the best online trading account?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:34:10 +0000

I am planning to open a new online trading account to trade the stocks. I am wondering what are my options and which option is the best in terms of costs for each transaction or less overhead costs and no hidden fees?

Is it better to invest in stocks or call options?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:33:12 +0000

It seems that with call options you have unlimited upside, but limited downside. Meaning that if you lose, you only lose the premium you paid for the option, not the amount by which the actual stock price might actually deteriorate. So is it better to invest in options instead of buying the stock? It seems that you earn more money with it, but are also subjected to less risk.

What’s the best investing strategy for someone with under $1000?

Editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:33:11 +0000

I recently started buying stocks. After like 2 months I made one dollar…lol. I was wondering what the best strategy is for someone with like under $1000 in an account? I should mentioned trades cost me $7 b/c I know that plays a factor in deciding how to do stuff. Also, I would prefer strategies where I’m trading pretty frequently rather than just buying something and holding onto it for a year. Any help would be appreciated.