Option Strategy Workshop: Rolling Contracts
by phil - December 19th, 2010 7:04 am
OptionSage submits:
“Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent” – John Maynard Keynes
Much like
At the beach, many people stake out spots near the water but, as the day goes on, the tide gets higher and the people move to higher ground. Some people go much higher and some people move just a little but there’s a certain point where the water crests up onto the beach and sends everyone scurrying for higher ground in a mad dash.
Then it goes the other way!
Just when it seems that the water is going to go higher than it ever went before (and, thanks to global warming it does!) and just when you start to think the next wave will wash over the top and soak everyone, it suddenly stops and an hour later you can’t believe you ever thought the water would get that high as it seems so impossible as you watch it pull away from the beach, exposing sand that hadn’t been seen since the morning .
“The markets are like that. Frothy highs and "impossible" lows and lots of investors scurrying back an forth trying to guess where the next wave will stop (day traders) while others stake out medium-term positions (deck chair people) and still others make substantial long-term plays (beach house owners) and are willing to ride out even the harshest storms. While I have fun playing in the waves I guess I have to think of myself as a shell collector, looking for the opportunities that are uncovered once all the excitement dies down. Let the other people get soaked trying to guess the waves – we can do very well renting deck chairs in any market!
Rolling Options to Ride the Waves
In the stock market, renting deck chairs is akin to selling options (in this case call options). Always a buyer is on the prowl for the next…
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September Expiration Results
by revtodd64 - September 18th, 2010 2:50 pm
I took a conservative approach for September and wrote only deep in-the-money calls on stocks that had the edge I was looking for at entry. Here are the percentage gains for my five trades that are called out today:
TSL – 3.68%
WFR - 3.31%
VMW - 3.10%
CCJ - 2.67%
CMI - 2.2%
Total Average Gain = 2.99%
Since I was not fully invested for September, my actual virtual portfolio gained about 1.2%. I took early positions for October as I found good entry points that worked for my strategy. I am tracking my virtual portfolio compared to the SPY, which moved from 107.53 at August close to 107.88 yesterday, which is a .32% move upward. So even partially invested I beat the S&P 500 by nearly 1 percent.
At some point I will calculate how much I would have made if I had bought the stocks outright and I’m guessing it would have been a very nice number since they all went up and every stock but CCJ was up more than 5 percent. My checkpoints should make for a great stock picking system for straight stock purchases to hold for 3 to 6 weeks. So why don’t I do that instead? My trading style is very cautious. I hate to lose money. I have tried other systems and found myself vulnerable to buying high and selling low, or getting too nervous and shaken out of positions early, when I could have made a profit with patience. This month I would have had a hard time fighting off all the negativity in the market to even enter positions unless I had a hedged entry with a covered call. Since I have a master’s in psychology, my world view is that trading success has as much to do with psychology and emotions as it does fundamental and technical analysis. I have confidence in my system and feel more secure investing when I know I am hedged and can roll into the next month. I feel like I have taken back control from the market manipulators by selling options to give myself flexibility and a cushion against whatever crazy thing happens out there.
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Always Trade with Your Edge
by revtodd64 - September 11th, 2010 12:23 pm
Always Trade with Your Edge
Courtesy of Rev Todd
As I near the first option expiration next Friday during my one year plot to make 3% a month for a year, I know I won’t make 3% the first month and I am OK with that. I did not fully invest right away and phased in investments as I found stock patterns that fit my philosophy. After three weeks I am still not fully invested. I will probably make up ground by October because I have put in a number of positions already that will make more than 3%, so I’m not going to go crazy trying to hit my target every month. While I want to make money, I’m going to meet that goal by not losing money and not taking unnecessary risk. I believe I will still meet my overall goal without 3 percent this month by following this simple advice:
Always trade with an edge.
What is the trading edge when writing monthly covered calls? I am trying to take advantage of one of the three certainties in life – death, taxes and premium decay on options. I don’t know what the stock market or the company I invest in will do. I do know with certainty that when I sell an option I will get paid and the premium will drain to zero by the third Friday of the next month. I sell monthly options because the premium is compressed to a greater degree than LEAPS (long-term) options. My first edge is very simple, sell premium that allows for 3 percent in profit per month. Since my current bias is that the market is ranging, I’m playing it safe and writing in-the-money calls that allow for a 5 to 10 percent downside protection, which seems reasonably safe for now.
I never write a covered call on a stock just because of a compelling premium. My goal is to make a stable income on the stock every month, not to speculate. High premiums are a sign of high volatility in the stock, which makes the investment more speculative. I want a high degree of certainty, so I follow some basic rules, which you can see in every trade alert I post.…
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7 Steps to Consitently Making 30-40% Annual Returns
by phil - May 29th, 2010 8:27 am
Option Sage Submits:
Just a couple of decades ago it would have been almost unfathomable for the retail investor to consider generating consistent returns above 20% per year. Indeed, those who competed in arguably the most competitive financial market place, the stock market, were considered gurus when they beat the S&P 500 year in and year out.
Others, such as Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts made a name for themselves in private equity as did Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman with the Blackstone Group. Gains in the stock market for Joe Public were subjected to a limiting factor – the inability to leverage substantially. Joe Public was also limited in participating in private equity investments; they were the domain of the rich – the insiders. These days, private equity still remains the domain of the rich, but leveraging is possible through the purchase of equity derivatives. And the sale of those same equity derivatives can be highly profitable too.
Whereas it would have been unthinkable years ago to consider making big profits year in and year out on a stock that doesn’t move much – because the only source of income, dividends, tended to be in the low single digits in percentage terms - these days options afford us the opportunity to sit tight and profit while holding stock positions. This can easily be achieved through the sale of short call options against stock holdings, otherwise known as the Covered Call strategy. While the Covered Call strategy may appear straightforward when first encountered, many applications may be employed. In this article, we will consider the application that Market Tamer labels: 7 Steps to 40% per year!
Step 1: Wait for a selloff
Ok, so you want to skip this step and move on to Step 2. Wait!
One of the great quotes in investing comes from Jesse Livermore and pertains to this concept of patience. In Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, it is stated:
"It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I’ve known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very
…
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7 Steps to Consistently Making 30-40% Annual Returns
by phil - March 27th, 2010 8:28 am
Option Sage Submits:
Just a couple of decades ago it would have been almost unfathomable for the retail investor to consider generating consistent returns above 20% per year. Indeed, those who competed in arguably the most competitive financial market place, the stock market, were considered gurus when they beat the S&P 500 year in and year out.
Others, such as Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts made a name for themselves in private equity as did Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman with the Blackstone Group. Gains in the stock market for Joe Public were subjected to a limiting factor – the inability to leverage substantially. Joe Public was also limited in participating in private equity investments; they were the domain of the rich – the insiders. These days, private equity still remains the domain of the rich, but leveraging is possible through the purchase of equity derivatives. And the sale of those same equity derivatives can be highly profitable too.
Whereas it would have been unthinkable years ago to consider making big profits year in and year out on a stock that doesn't move much – because the only source of income, dividends, tended to be in the low single digits in percentage terms - these days options afford us the opportunity to sit tight and profit while holding stock positions. This can easily be achieved through the sale of short call options against stock holdings, otherwise known as the Covered Call strategy. While the Covered Call strategy may appear straightforward when first encountered, many applications may be employed. In this article, we will consider the application that Stock and Option Trades labels: 7 Steps to 40% per year!
Step 1: Wait for a selloff
Ok, so you want to skip this step and move on to Step 2. Wait!
One of the great quotes in investing comes from Jesse Livermore and pertains to this concept of patience. In Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, it is stated:
"It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears
…
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How to Make Profits in Your Spare Time
by phil - February 7th, 2010 8:26 am
Option Sage submits:
I saw an infomercial from Fisher Investments where Ken Fisher mentioned 3 attributes that he believes are keys to successful investing which can be crudely summarized as follows:
[1] Focus on long-term investing
[2] Expect surprises
[3] Stay ahead of the crowd by knowing what others don’t
The first point is certainly critical and weeds out the greedy ‘get-rich-quick’ traders from the patient traders. Our policy here is that of ‘play-to-win’. We like to be aggressive in seeking profits with short-term plays but we also recognize that if those trades don’t work out that we can still rely on longer term plays to end up profitable in the end.
The second point regarding expecting surprises asks the trader the question “Are you managing risk well and do you have contingency plans in mind each time you enter a trade?” While the second part of the sentence is important, the first is paramount! No matter what you do, never violate risk management rules which we have discussed here in the past.
The third point is a luxury in my view. Of course, it would be nice to know what others don’t but it’s not critical. By definition only a small number can have information that the rest of the crowd does not have so if you are not trading full-time you have to find another way of making money without relying on staying ahead of the crowd.
As I was scanning for trades over the weekend, I came across one trade which might in fact fall into the category of offering relatively attractive profits by relying on options rather than additional information. In fact, I know many of our members find it hard to focus on the daily trades and would like to construct virtual portfolios with the longer-term in mind. As Phil mentioned in his classic "James Bond Investing" article, playing short-term positions requires constant vigilance and you need to ready to turn on a dime with…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the site
