If you’ve been trading stocks for some time and have never tried options, then you may want to give them a go. Stock options are more speculative but offer flexibility, diversification and control to protect your stock portfolio or create more investment income. So, here are some things you should know about options.
An option [...]
As you know, when it concerns investing money in the stock market, or any other sort of exchange, there’s always going to be a reasonable measure of risk involved. You could make an immense amount of money and retire, or you could turn a loss and lose your shirt with a poor decision.
In the [...]
When it comes to option trading, the most important lesson to retain is an understanding of what’s actually being traded. The real commodity in any option trading strategy isn’t the underlying stock itself, and it has little to do directly with phrases such as implied volatility, net debit, net credit, strike price, or expiration date. [...]
Another protective strategy that allows for some upside capital gain while providing maximum down side protection is the collar.
The collar is a combination of the covered call and protective put strategies. The collar uses a long put position in coordination with a short call position along with a long stock position. The ratio is one [...]
As previously stated, when we buy a stock, three potential outcomes exist. The stock can go up, go down, or remain stagnant. Let’s hypothesize results across these three scenarios. Say you buy the stock for $31.00 and buy the front month 30 put for $1.00.
In the ‘up’ scenario, let’s assume the stock price is $31.50 [...]
As a reminder, a put gives an owner the right but not the obligation to sell a certain stock, at a specific price, by a specified date.
For this opportunity, the buyer pays a premium. The seller, who receives the premium, is obligated to take delivery of the stock should the buyer wish to sell the [...]