Protective Put Secrets » Money

How to Make Consistent Profits Futures Trading

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:37:39 +0000

The issue of direct access is an important one and it becomes more important the more short term your trading is. The market can change from a state of seeming paralysis to one of shocking volatility and activity in a flash. The length of time it takes between you deciding to enter an order and the order actually being in the market is obviously important.
When I first started trading I used a phone broker and was dismayed that my fills would often be so far from the price the market was trading when I first entered the order.
The first time I visited the trading floor, I discovered why. When I called in an order, first my discount broker would check my account equity, then he would call a phone booth on the floor, the phone broker on the floor would then write the order down and pass it on to a booth next to the appropriate pit, at that booth my order would be written down again and then signaled to a broker in the pit to be executed.
As you can imagine this would take quite a long time, even longer of course if the market was very active, as this would mean that the broker in the pit would be too occupied to take new orders. Compare this to my experience of trading as a pit trader. In the pit I was in the heart of the market and could observe every single order as it was executed (there was no delay in my price feed!).
To initiate a trade, whether it was to buy or sell at the market, or join the bid or the offer, all I had to do was open my mouth. You can start to see the huge advantage that trading on the floor gave me over off floor traders; and that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that my round trip costs fell by 96%.
Now the floor no longer exists, not in Europe at least, so why talk about the advantages of pit trading? Well the level playing field is now open to all, but very few take advantage of it. Trading with an electronic trading platform is exactly the same as trading in the pit, except I can sit down, it is much quieter and there are no crude jokes flying around.
I can trade with the click of a mouse; my order shoots to the exchange, enters in the market and appears back on my screen before I have time to blink. I think the advantages of direct access trading are clear and any futures trader still using a phone broker should move to direct access, they will also find their commissions are less (around $8 for private client traders).
The next question that arises is why trade futures? That is an important consideration given that there are a variety of alternatives vying for your trading capital (spread betting, CFDs and options), but in my opinion, futures are the only option (no pun intended) for successful short term trading.
A lot of traders are trading the stock indexes like the FTSE, the DAX, the S&Ps, NASDAQ and the DOW, but rather than use futures they are using spread betting firms. The reasons for using these firms is that they require very small amounts of capital to get started, a trader can trade very small amounts (like $1 a point on FTSE as opposed to $10 for FTSE futures) and these firms make opening an account so easy.
I understand the lure of being able to open an account with very little money and trading small amounts, but I have some serious considerations about using spread betting as a realistic vehicle for professional trading.
The two biggest selling points are no commissions and no capital gains tax. There are many different costs to trading, commissions are one and the spread is another (especially when you have to trade at the market as you do with spread betting, with futures you have the choice of joining the bid or the offer).
Commissions are important for an active trader and as an active trader you can get them very low, but lets assume they are $8 per round turn for futures and lets assume that the spread in FTSE futures is an average of 2 points. If the spread with a spread betting firm for FTSE is 6 points and assume that we are trading $10 a point we can compare the two trading vehicles.
Last week I made an average of 2.42 points per contract traded and I traded 48 times. That is, for each contract I bought and sold I made $24.20 before commissions, assuming my commission rate is $8, I made a profit of $16.20 per contract traded, which is $777.60 net profit if my average size per trade is one contract.
Had I had the same success trading with a spread-betting firm, with a 6-point spread, I would have lost $1718.40! Now I would rather pay tax on a profit that no tax on a loss.
There is one other very important reason for trading the futures market rather than a non-exchange traded market such as those offered by spread betting firms. The futures markets are exchange traded and this means that they are fully transparent, i.e. everything is visible and above the table, I can see every single trade that happens. Imagine the trading pit, as it used to be when traders stood physically in a ring trading with each other.
When a trade is entered, the order goes into the pit and is represented there, free to be taken by any other market participant. We can all see what is happening, we trade with the same information and with the same advantages/disadvantages.
Now assume you are a trader who can only trade with one broker in the pit, you can trade as much as you like, any size you like, but he sets the spread he is willing to offer you and you have to trade at market (i.e. buy at his offer and sell at his bid). This broker doesn’t want to loose money, naturally, so he always makes his spread wider than the real market spread, he also, naturally, puts his interests before yours, so he won’t always be willing to trade when the market is moving fast and he is uncertain.
Remember whenever you make money he loses, so he is very careful to maintain his advantage at all times. Who wouldn’t want to be in this brokers position (he isn’t really a broker, though he claims to be)? When you trade with a real futures broker, all the broker does is facilitate your trade; he gives you the ability to have you orders represented in the pit. A real brokers concern is that they execute your order as efficiently as possible, that is their job, they do not take positions and they do not take the opposite side to you.
They naturally want you to make money because by making money you become a client who will continue to pay them commissions. Trading with a spread betting firm is absurdly costly, spread betting firms are like amusement arcades, they can be fun, but to imagine you are going to make your living from slot machines is illusory.

Stock Trading Disaster (std) Prevention

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:36:25 +0000

I thought such an eye-catching title would be appropriate for an article on risk management. Often times, beginning traders forget the fundamentals of proper trading in their quest for instant riches in the stock market. Those of us who have been trading for some time now are fully aware of the danger in that type of thinking.

I was a cocky beginning trader. Soon after attending a stock trading seminar, I had several big wins. In my own mind, I was the exception to any and all stock market trading principles. I could do no wrong. My short-lived reign as a trading Adonis came to an abrupt end. All my money began raining down into the pockets of real stock market professionals. Fortunately, I wised up before it was too late.

In short, I was a young punk who knew everything about nothing. I often times had to learn things the hard. Learning to trade in the stock market was no exception. So, here are my top three ways to prevent an STD.

#3 Way To Avoid An STD

Perform thorough market research! Taking proper research for granted is a one-way ticket to Brokeville. Trust me, I know. Due diligence is required in order to side step a poor stock decision. Remember, getting into a bad trade is simple…getting out is costly. Give market research the time and attention it deserves.

#2 Way To Avoid an STD

Remove hope from your emotional make up when trading! Wishful thinking is a dangerous mindset to be in when you are a stock trader. Hope and wishful thinking lead to irrational decisions based on emotions rather than factual information. Going down with the ship is far from an act of nobility. You will make mistakes. As a trader, you must be willing to make corrections quickly. In the stock market, making too many errors, too fast will certainly cause you to be prematurely ousted from the markets if you do not adhere to the method #1.

#1 Way To Avoid an STD

Make use of a protective stop loss! After placing your order, ALWAYS set a protective stop. Failure is not to far off in the distance for a trader who handles the duties of risk management in the absence of a stop loss. A stop loss is not perfect but the only insurance policy a trader has against stock trading career ending losses. Stop being a philanthropic trader who continues to give money away to the markets.

Using a protective stop loss continues to be the most effective method of risk management. Fortunately, it is also the easiest of the three to apply. Methods 1 and 2 are developed over time as you gain experience. Simply use my top three ways of preventing an STD and you have cut your chances of getting burned.

A New Barrier To Offshore Asset Protection

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:43:38 +0000

You most certainly have seen the ads and heard the promoters touting the incredible benefits of offshore asset protection: Privacy, anonymity – and the big one – no taxes ever.

But there is a wrinkle in all their chatter. Uncle Sam taxes U. S. citizens on their worldwide income. So in another one of those too good to be true scenarios, setting up offshore won’t get you off the hook for federal income and capital gains taxes.

Of course, this is not enough of a deterrence for some. They will listen to the promoter and not to their U.S. advisors, who the promoters successfully argue don’t “understand” the benefits of offshore strategies. The promoter will tell them once you are set up offshore there are no filing requirements ever again for U.S. taxation purposes.

This is not the case. And the failure to file the proper form has just gotten very expensive.

The form in question is I.R.S Form 5471. All U.S. citizens who have equity in, or a controlling interest in a Controlled Foreign Corporation (”CFC”) must file one. Most offshore asset protection promoters put their U.S. clients into entities that are considered CFCs. As of January 1, 2009, the IRS will now assess an automatic penalty of $10,000 for each CFC filing that is missed. That is $10,000 for each entity in each year that is not filed.

So let’s review an example of what can and now does happen in the offshore world.

Joe listens to an offshore promoter in Nevis about the benefits of offshore asset protection. The promoter never mentions the need to file Form 5471 each year. Joe spends tens of thousands of dollars to set up five CFCs in 2009.

In 2012, the Nevis promoter’s mistress realized the promoter won’t leave his wife. She is spiteful and turns all of the promoter’s files in to the IRS. Very quickly, the IRS is calling on Joe demanding $200,000 in penalties for the five entities for which no Form 5471 was filed for four years. And that’s just the start. Joe will have penalties, interest and taxes due on all the income he made over those years.

If you think it is unlikely the IRS could ever receive information in such a way, think again. If it is not from the promoter’s mistress, it may be from your own spouse or mistress or other aggrieved party. The IRS counts on domestic troubles as one of its best sources of information. But even if your life is trouble-free you can count on the authorities to be monitoring your wiring instructions and banking activities for offshore violations. And with this new $10,000 automatic penalty they have ever more incentive to do so.

You can complain about Big Brother and Big Government if you want (and you should; it’s healthy and to be encouraged). But it is important to know that certain offshore promoters will never tell you about these crucial requirements, to your great financial detriment.

Learn How You Can Make Money Trading the Forex Market

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:52:57 +0000

There are many options you can use to make money in the forex market. This discussion makes sure that you are considering all your options when looking at Forex Trading as a money making opportunity. After all, the main purpose of Forex Trading is to make money.

There are so many forex traders that follow a particular way of forex trading and in the end don’t succeed in the main goal of making money. This is because their ego, pride and determination to succeed at a particular method has the effect of blinding them to other forex trading money making opportunities. Let’s look at these Forex trading money making opportunities in more detail.

Option 1:- The self trader is someone who generally develops a personal money making trading method. This is done by doing a few forex trading courses, reading a few trading books, experimenting with a number of trading techniques, demo trading and live trading until a personal money making trading style is found. This is a long and challenging process and it can take years to get there. It is estimated that only 3 ‘ 5% of serious traders succeed in making money. This is worthwhile as once you have achieved this you have a money making skill for the rest of your life. Unfortunately this route can take considerable time and effort to make real money.

Option 2:- With the growth of part time traders (who mainly have day jobs) an alternative to the above forex trading money making approach has become very popular. Money can be made by buying a forex trading system that has been tested and proven. The system is either delivered as a live course, as a book or Ebook or even purpose built software. The idea is to then merely follow the rules of the system by the letter. Although not entirely for novice traders this approach has the benefit using such a system is that it may have been thoroughly tested and proven and could cut years off the option 1 alternative. Some of the programmed money making forex trading strategies (for example expert advisors) can even be linked to your dealing station automating the whole forex trading money making process completely.

Option 3:Make use of a good Forex alert or signal service and copy their recommendations. Make sure that these services have a good record of consistent money making. Transactions can be found by using electronic trading rooms which trade in a live environment. Alertnatively deals can be received using SMS signals, emails or by gaining access to a password protected members only website. You would then “blindly” copy all the signals or alerts into your broker dealing station and hopefully make lots of money from that.

Option 4:- Delegate the forex trading money making process completely by giving your money to a Forex trading money manager who will trade it for you.

All the money making options above carry considerable risk if not performed in a careful and in a thorough way. Many Forex traders are caught in Option 1. They do not consider other great money making opportunities available to them. If you fall in this catagory consider all the options open to you. The other alternatives could be less stressful and emore profitable.

If you are new to Forex Trading be aware and investigate all the Forex money making opportunities, because there are many if you are prepared to do your homework finding them.

There will be follow-on articles going into the above options in greater detail. These will be featured in this directory. Make sure you do not miss them.

A Simple 5-step Trading Plan

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:52:32 +0000

As a beginning stock market trader, I frequently visited an unpleasant place called Loss Vegas. It was teeming with would be investors and traders with grand aspirations of making a killing in the stock market. Differing life experiences, bank account balances, and strategies separated them but they were all bound by the possibilities of great riches there for the taking. Some were even aware of the chances of success being less than ideal and were not deterred. I could be counted among those who would not be denied.

The numbers don’t lie! 9 out 10 stock traders will fail, miserably! That is the same ratio for starting a business. At least in the case of running a business, there’s a 5-year failure window. I would say that a very small minority of beginning traders makes it past their first year. The reason for such an unbalanced success/fail ratio is simple. 9 out of 10 people entering the market would be better categorized as gamblers and not traders. Yes, I too, was one of those gamblers masquerading as a stock market trader.

Successful traders employ proven, winning trade strategies. Most beginning traders systematically make the same mistake over and over again. Venturing into the market without a sound trading plan is financial suicide. Here is a guide to structuring your own winning trading strategy.

Many principles of running a successful business can be applied to stock trading. Having a trading plan is essential to the success of your new venture. Consider this trading plan to be your road map that guides you to stock trading mastery. Skipping this step will ensure your permanent residency in Loss Vegas.

The trading plan must outline the why or purpose for trading the markets. If your purpose is to simply make money, you are in for a rude awakening. The number one objective of a stock trader is to trade well NOT make money. Focusing on trading well will result in you making money. Making profitable trades is a by-product of trading well. Calculating profits while practicing your trade is counter-productive to your efforts. You certainly wouldn’t want a lawyer tabulating his fees while researching your case, would you? The same focus needs to be applied while you trade. There will be plenty of time for counting your windfall once you have closed out your position.

After committing yourself to learning to trade well, the next step in the process is executing the plan. This includes but is not limited to:

1. Conducting Market Research-stock selection, risk/reward ratios

2. Pinpointing Entry Points

3. Money Management- where to place protective stops

4. Establishing Exit Points

5. Trade Review

I use this exact process when trading stocks and options. Deviating from your trading plan can hinder your progression as a trader in two areas. First, the effectiveness of a trading strategy cannot be accurately measured when a trader is inconsistent in the execution of a trading strategy. And secondly, altering your strategy in the midst of a trade is hazardous to your wealth. A prime example would be moving your protective stop in the opposite direction of your trade. This allows for a wider, much riskier stop loss cushion. Moving protective stops in the opposite direction of the trade is a sure sign of a rookie trader.

Following this simple formula will not eliminate visits to Loss Vegas but will ensure shorter, less frequent stays. Happy trading and here’s to your success!

Option Trading: Thinking “Outside the Box”

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:46:24 +0000

Wouldn’t it be great if we could buy an option with five months left until expiration and sell an option with 2 months left until expiration for the same price? You couldn’t lose. Well we can’t. I love options spreads so much I realized something very important. We can buy a spread that has a lot of time value left at almost the same price as we can sell one with less time value left. The reason really opened my eyes and gave me new insight into options. Here is what I came to realize.
I started comparing how expensive options were in relation to the other strike prices in the same month and to the other months. I wanted to know based on th e price per day which options were more expensive.
The first 1 or 2 option months, as everyon e knows loses time value quickly. The at the money strike prices are very expensive compared to the out of the mon ey strike prices. Since there is not that much time left, how much can they charge for an out of the money option? Not much.
The next several months, the opposite is true. Compared to each other, the strikes that are closer to the money are cheaper in terms of price per day than the options further out of the money. Let me explain it another way using the S&P market.
6 days left at the money option cost 12 points
6 days left out of the money option cost 2 points
70 days left at the money option cost 43 points
70 days left out of the money option cost 29 points
There is more than 10X the time left but the 70 day at the money option (43 points) is only less than 4X the price than the 6 day at the money option (12 points).
The 70 day out of the money option (29 points) is almost 15X the cost of the 6 day out of the money option (2 points) but only has 10X the time value. We will buy the cheaper options and sell the more expensive ones.
Sell 6 day at the money and sell 70 day out of the money. Buy 6 day out of the money and buy 70 day at the money. This will be done for a 4 point debit. We are now buying a spread that has 10X more time value than the one we are selling and are only paying 4 points for it.
When the 6 day options expire we can sell the next month to take in more premium, still keeping the 70 day option spread.
What goes up, must come down! We have all heard this befo re in reference to the laws of Gravity. We have laws in the commodity markets as well. What comes down, must go up! The greatest traders of our time like War ren Buffet know this. He is perhaps the greatest Stock trader ever. He had never traded commodities until a few years ago. He bought silver in the futures market. When the market went even lower he bought more. The “smart money”, commercials will not be scared into selling when a market they have purchased drops even further. They know better than anyone that a commodity has real value and will always be worth something.
There is a famous book, “You Can’t Lose Trading Commodities”. The author buys commodities and then just waits for the market to go higher. He would purchase more as the market fell.
You need a big bankroll for this. Personally I know corn won’t go to $1.00 but what if it did? I want to minimize the risk in case I want to end the trade.
I started trading the Soy Complex this way several years ago. Not with options. Strictly futures. I bought what was similar to a crush spread. I increased the contracts as the market went against me until the spread rebounded a little. Since I increased the contracts I didn’t need the market to come back to where I started. It only had to rebound to the next level.
Black Jack players did this until Casinos caught on and put limits on bets. It is a known fact that futures traders make good gamblers and professional gamblers make good futures traders. I am against gambling but even gambling done with a system is not really gambling.
These card players would bet something like this: $5 lose, $10 lose, $20 lose, $40 lose, $80 win. The losses add up to $75. They would win $80, so the profit is $5. Not a lot, but they would do this all day. Black Jack is just under 50% probability for the player.
The problem is there is a slight chance that you could lose 40 times in a row. Now with Commodities we have a 50% probability and we won’t lose 50 times in a row because the market can’t go b elow zero.
Now before I go an y further, I need to tell you that I am not recommending you double down on your trades. What you can find are mark ets that are near their lows where you can do a small scale trade. Spreads offer even better opportunities. They have a closer range (high to low).
By now you can see we only use this to go long a market since we can never b e sure how much a market can go higher. First we need to find a market that is low already so we won’t have to wait that long and also so there will be less capital needed. I prefer to trade this using options. There are many ways to do this. You could buy an option in a market like soybeans and choose how many cents the market will drop before you buy more. The problem is, an option is a wasting asset. The Theta (time decay) would cause you to lose money.
I use spreads so I am not paying for time decay. I will probably sell more Theta than I buy, so if the market does nothing I will make money just on time decay.

Understanding Options

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:12:07 +0000

Options are one of the oldest trading vehicles man has ever used. Around a 1000 B.C Aristotle Thales predicted by the stars that there would be a bumper olive harvest and bought options on the use of olive presses.
When the harvest did in fact prove to be a great harvest Thales was able to rent the presses at a significant profit.
When you buy an option you have the right but not the obligation to buy (call) or sell (put) a specific underlying asset at a prearranged price on or before a given date.
Similar to futures, options can give the holder protection against adverse price moves.
Call options when bought allow you to buy an asset at a fixed price (strike price) on or before a specific exercise date.
Exercise date: some options can only be exercised on a particular date and they are commonly know as European options. Options that can be exercised on or before the due date are commonly known as American options).
A Put options is the reverse of the call option. When you buy a put option it gives you the right but not the obligation to sell an underlying asset at a predetermined date.
Options are frequently used in real estate deals. A property developer may take the option on a piece of land he wants to develop. He may for example buy (call) the right to purchase a particular piece of land at $100,000 on or before sixty days beginning on the day he takes the option.
For the privilege of fixing the price for the next sixty days he agrees to give the seller $1000. This now gives him time to arrange any permits he may need to construct the building he wants. He also has the knowledge that he can buy that piece of property at any time in the next sixty days at the price he has already agreed upon.
If for some reason he can not get the permits he needs then he simply does not exercise his option to purchase. He will of course forfeit the $1000 that he paid for the option. The seller in this case was obliged not to sell that piece of land to anyone else for the next sixty days.
The same process can be applied to almost anything. If you apply the example of the property deal to the stock market you get the same situation.
Lets assume you buy a call (right to buy) 100 shares of Xyz company at an agreed price (strike price) on an agreed date (expiration date) at say $40 per share and you pay $5 for the option.
If on or before the expiration date Xyz is trading at less than $40 per share then you would not exercise your option and you would have lost the price you paid on the option $5.
If Xyz Company is trading at $50 per share on or before the expiration date your option is in effect worth $10. This is the difference between the price you have an option to buy Xyz at in this case $40 and the price it is actually trading at $50.
The reverse of this is a put (right to sell) option on an underlying asset. You might feel that the market is overheated at the present time and want to buy a put (right to sell) option.
This will give the individual who bought the put option the right to sell that option at and agreed price (strike price) on or before a specific date (expiration date).
You can also sell options (as opposed to buying a put). The writing of call options can be extremely high risk and I would not advise this for new traders until they thoroughly understand their liability. Buying an option either call or put gives you rights, selling (writing) options gives you an obligation.
The day after the expiration date an option has no value. At this stage it may seem that the buyer of the option has all the cards but don’t forget the seller of the option receives the money for granting the option. The money that is exchanges is commonly referred to as the premium.
Although option trading has more than its fair share of jargon remember the essence of all markets is that there is a buyer and a seller and both believe they have an advantage and have the potential to make money.
Think of an option in the same way that you would pay your house insurance company. The premium you pay each month gives you the right to a benefit if some event in the future happens and you decide to exercise your right to have the insurance company pay you for that event.
The insurance company on the other hand has the obligation to pay you should you should you exercise that right in exchange for accepting your premium each month.