stock market was up today...

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Buy Puts? Oh hell naw. I'll sell a ton at these prices and volatility.

Thanks for the tip!

I wouldn’t sell DJT puts with the stock at these levels. I don’t do the complex combinations or strategies with options and I wouldn’t want be forced to buy shares even if they go lower. And I’m really bad about cutting bait if a trade moves against me.

I would MAYBE sell a few near term puts here with that volatility premium, but not with the election results coming in after the next 4 trading days.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

I wouldn’t sell DJT puts with the stock at these levels. I don’t do the complex combinations or strategies with options and I wouldn’t want be forced to buy shares even if they go lower. And I’m really bad about cutting bait if a trade moves against me.

I would MAYBE sell a few near term puts here with that volatility premium, but not with the election results coming in after the next 4 trading days.

Yeah I am going to have the majority of my options closed out this week. With DJT, it is a tempting premium, but only a few months ago it was down under $12/share, so you're right that the stock is too high. If he somehow manages to beat the cheating machine, I bet it goes higher. Not one I really want to lay down though.

I don't do all that complex options stuff either. I sell puts. That's about it.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Yeah I am going to have the majority of my options closed out this week. With DJT, it is a tempting premium, but only a few months ago it was down under $12/share, so you're right that the stock is too high. If he somehow manages to beat the cheating machine, I bet it goes higher. Not one I really want to lay down though.

I don't do all that complex options stuff either. I sell puts. That's about it.

I don’t know what the percentage of puts expiring worthless is, but I’d guess of mine it must be well over 75% and when I have occasionally been assigned shares I’ve been able to unload those tgat I don’t want to keep within a few weeks at a slight ST gain.

I’ve wanted to sell some covered calls to ditch some stuff, but the premiums just haven’t been very attractive.

 

[Orange_Vol1321]

You have to understand the "Greeks" of options or you can get in to a pickle pretty fast. Better to "buy time" and stay at least 2 months out or longer with the expiration. Either way, whether you have calls or puts, the play can go south on you pretty quickly.

You see 15 to 25% on your option(s), take the money and run.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

You have to understand the "Greeks" of options or you can get in to a pickle pretty fast. Better to "buy time" and stay at least 2 months out or longer with the expiration. Either way, whether you have calls or puts, the play can go south on you pretty quickly.

You see 15 to 25% on your option(s), take the money and run.

I don’t pay attention to the Greeks. I will often focus on the implied volatility. I’ll watch the quote of the underlying security. I also typically sell puts with 2-3 weeks left on the contract. But I’m not really aiming to trade in and out of contracts and mixing it up with the professional traders, institutions, and algorithmic trading. I use put options instead of placing limit orders to buy the underlying shares. I’ll usually sell the contracts only after the shares were pushed down and seem to be near a ST bottom. I try to sell contracts that are about 2% of the reserved cash with a strike another 2-3% below the underlying share price. So in the worst case scenario, if I’m assigned the shares I’m long the stock for about 5% less than I would be if I had bought the shares the day that I write the put contract.

I’ll have a fluid limit order set to buy to close the positions as soon as I’m short. Day 1 I might set the buy order at around 75% of what I sold for. Then adjust it down over the next week or two. Once the contract has fallen by 75 or 80% I’ll set the limit closer since there’s little potential profit left. Inside that 2-3 week window, once the contract is off by around 75% I feel there’s usually enough cushion that the contract will still probably go to zero so I won’t chase it with higher buy limit orders if the contract is heading up. But rule #1 is that I’d like to own those specific shares.

I don’t buy puts other than to close a short position. But DJT has me thinking about it. Also, I’ve only been involved with them for about two years which has been a mostly bull market. I’ll be re-evaluating if markets get ugly. Probably selling covered calls.

I haven’t been buying calls. I’d be spending a lot of time learning and studying the Greeks if taking that position was my strategy.

 

[Orange_Vol1321]

I don’t pay attention to the Greeks. I will often focus on the implied volatility. I’ll watch the quote of the underlying security. I also typically sell puts with 2-3 weeks left on the contract. But I’m not really aiming to trade in and out of contracts and mixing it up with the professional traders, institutions, and algorithmic trading. I use put options instead of placing limit orders to buy the underlying shares. I’ll usually sell the contracts only after the shares were pushed down and seem to be near a ST bottom. I try to sell contracts that are about 2% of the reserved cash with a strike another 2-3% below the underlying share price. So in the worst case scenario, if I’m assigned the shares I’m long the stock for about 5% less than I would be if I had bought the shares the day that I write the put contract.

I’ll have a fluid limit order set to buy to close the positions as soon as I’m short. Day 1 I might set the buy order at around 75% of what I sold for. Then adjust it down over the next week or two. Once the contract has fallen by 75 or 80% I’ll set the limit closer since there’s little potential profit left. Inside that 2-3 week window, once the contract is off by around 75% I feel there’s usually enough cushion that the contract will still probably go to zero so I won’t chase it with higher buy limit orders if the contract is heading up. But rule #1 is that I’d like to own those specific shares.

I don’t buy puts other than to close a short position. But DJT has me thinking about it. Also, I’ve only been involved with them for about two years which has been a mostly bull market. I’ll be re-evaluating if markets get ugly. Probably selling covered calls.

I haven’t been buying calls. I’d be spending a lot of time learning and studying the Greeks if taking that position was my strategy.

Yea. That implied volatility in the Greeks is the Vega. Theta is the time until the expiration. I pay the most attention to those.
I don't really use them to buy shares off of them. Just buy and try to hit my 15 to 25% in money and bow out.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Yea. That implied volatility in the Greeks is the Vega. Theta is the time until the expiration. I pay the most attention to those.
I don't really use them to buy shares off of them. Just buy and try to hit my 15 to 25% in money and bow out.

I initially tried to do the wheel strategy but I was selling enough puts that went to zero that I never got it rolling. And I’m still long most of what I’ve been assigned. But I’m more enhancing returns a little rather than going heavy into options trading as the primary reason to be involved. And I haven’t been hedging. Maybe I’ll do some hedging if market averages quickly (with a year or two) go up another 25-50% and there’s not a big macro wave suggesting positive returns will continue.

When I have open options positions it’s almost always only 1 or 2 contracts. And the cash reserved only represents a fraction of 1% my investment capital. I always begin with assessing the underlying stock and how much cash I have in the account that can be reserved. I prefer using IRAs so I don’t create a tax record keeping issue.