By
admin on April 28th, 2011
Stock option is the right to sell or buy stock at a specific price. Basically you can make profit with option by buying at low price and selling at high price. If a stock price is $50 and you have an option to buy it at $40 that means you will have $10 profit. Option price is much cheaper than stock price. So for example in our case above the option price is $10. Since your stock make $10 profit, your option will worth at least $20. This means you have 100% profit from the option.
In a book written by Alexander Elder: Trading for a Living; Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management, to become a successful trader you need three M’s: Mind, Method, and Money. In other words, you need to have Methods for trading, discipline your Mind to follow your method, and know how to manage Money in your trading account.
First you need to develop your own powerful trading system. Different people have different trading system preference. If a system works on your friend it does not mean it will work on you. The system might need a lot of research to find good companies. Your friend likes to do some research but you didn’t like to do that. So the system only works on your friend. You should find trading system which is suitable for you.
Here’s my option trading strategy. First I will find good companies which I think its stock price will go up in the coming months. I use value investing to look for undervalued stocks. There are several criteria that I use, The company must have low P/E, high growth, and low debt to equity ratio. Once I found the stock, I will buy the call option several months like 6 months before it expire. Once the stock reaches my target price, I will sell the option. I do not want to be greedy. If it has only 30 days before expiration, I will sell my call option because during the last 30 days of its life, an option loses its value very fast.
You should not follow my strategy because although it works for me, it might not work for you. You can search your own trading system by using the internet or reading books. The internet will give you huge amount of information about option trading system. But you need to be careful, since every one can write in the internet you might get the wrong system. It’s your job to validate the system.
Reading books can be a better solution because it’s not easy to write a book about option trading and you can read the qualification of the writer. Here’s an excellent book about option trading: Get Rich With Options which is written by Lee Lowell. Lee has his own office-based trading firm where he trades options, stock and index options on a daily basis. The book quickly covers the basics of options like how options are priced, the use of Delta, and using volatility for your option trading. Later in the book he will talk about four options trading strategies that have helped him make profit. He said to forget about straight puts and calls because nearly 80 percent of those simple trades expire worthlessly. His strategies are:
- Buying deep-in-the-money call options
- Selling naked puts
- Selling option credit spreads
- Selling covered calls
Your trading system needs to have money management as well. You need to decide when to cut loss, when to take profit, and how much money to invest in a position. With proper money management you will survive longer in the market and eventually make money. I am sure you don’t want to put all your money in a position and then lose it all in one week.
Once you found a trading system that you want to try, you can first use a demo account. There you can try trading option using fake money. When you are confident with it you can start real trading. Always remember to follow your system. If your system say it is not the time to close position then don’t close it. I think the best way for this is to stay away from the market. Don’t look at the market when it is open. You can make your decision after the market closed. This way your emotion will less likely to affect you.
You can make a living from option trading, but it not easy because there are so many things to learn. It takes a lot of work. You need to have the Method, Mind, and Money.
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By
admin on May 16th, 2010
Trading, in general, is a highly technical field that does not only require would-be participants to have some understanding on what a particular trade is or how it works but also in-depth knowledge of what goes within a particular trade. In short, basic knowledge is not as helpful as most think it is. Specialized trading types, such as that of options trading, may force its participants to gain more knowledge.
Here are some tips that could help power you up when starting with options trading:
Know the lingo. Option trading has its own jargon that may seem gibberish to people who do not know a thing about the trade. To them, the terminologies commonly used in trading, regardless of the form, seem so complicated that they would lose interest on the trade even before they get started. Well the lingo of options trading is downright complicated, probably contributing to why too few people involve themselves to it. However, once a trader manages to pick up some basic terms and has learned quite a bit about the trade, it would be much easier to understand how the whole thing works. Probably not all the ins and outs of the trade but the general idea would be well-understood. So do yourself a favor, study the terminologies commonly used in options trading and maybe after that, read a few stuffs about it.
Attend options trading seminars, online or off line. If you want the shortcut to learning the trade, you might want to consider attending seminars or subscribing to online seminars and tutorials. In most cases, seminars cover all levels of knowledge regarding the trade. So for beginners, it would be best to start with the basics of the trade and continuously improve your knowledge by completing a series of seminars.
Subscribe to online tutorials/newsletter. There are several websites and companies that offer online tutorials which may consist of interactive modules, probably among the best learning tool there is. Interactive modules allow you to learn by practice. You can also join stock option newsletter which will send you daily email on what to buy and sell.
Indulge yourself to some options trading books. Internet could provide the basic things you need to get started with options trading but you must realize that internet can only give you so much. If you have started researching online about this trade, you will find out that the websites dedicated on options trading and other kinds of trades only cover the same things- basics of the trade, common terminologies, some risks involved and others. If you want thorough discussions on the trade, you have to rely on books written by well-recognized authors. Remember the operating word- well recognized. There may be a number of books written on this subject but you must try to pick the best book available so you don’t have to waste your time on repetitive information that you could commonly find online and rubbish talk that may not help you at all.
Once you have read a comprehensive book that discusses on various areas of options trading, it would be much easier to understand technical analysis. At this point, you will have to analyze what the charts suggest, know the types of options that you may want to trade (there are lots of them so be sure to pick out the one that suits you best), use the options strategies that work well with you, and demonstrate knowledge on various market analysis tools.
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By
admin on April 28th, 2010
Learn A Brand New *Better* Way To Trade Options For Income – Along With A Whole ‘Slew’ Of New Option Cashflow Strategies That Can Be Traded To Generate Income – Spending As Little As 15 Minutes A Day.
I just found a great Option Trading Course. This course is the result and culmination of 20 years. More info here.
Options Course Book
Well-known options strategist and instructor George Fontanills has updated his time-tested and bestselling book, The Options Course. The new edition improves and expands upon the original to help you avoid some common and costly options mistakes. The systematic, step-by-step approach, covers everything from basic concepts to sophisticated techniques and is designed for investors at all… More info here.
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By
admin on March 4th, 2010
You may have heard the mention about employee stock options quite a few times, but may have wondered what these are exactly and how you as a common employee can actually benefit from it. Let us learn in this article about the whole concept of employee stock options (ESO) and how they can be of great benefit to you.
What Is An Employee Stock Option?
Employee stock options (ESO) are contracts granted to specific employees of a certain company that give rights to trade shares in the company at a fixed price and within an indicated time period. Unlike a typical option traded in the exchange however, there is no put component included.
The basic goal for this type of concept is actually to boost business within an institution. By giving employees the benefit to buy option shares of the company that they work for, they would be motivated to strive harder and work for good business production. In theory, when stocks go up, and when employees perform at their best to ensure that their investments would pay off, then business would reach its peak of high performance.
Even if the theory mainly tries to align the incentives between the major shareholders of a company and the employees, many critics have pointed out however, that there is an enormous difference between owning an option and actually owning the underlying stock.
In cases wherein stocks go down, the owner of an option would lose the opportunity of a bonus gain, but would not necessarily experience the same loss of investment from an actual stockholder. But still, at the moment, this system has proven to be of very big help to a lot of major companies in the world.
How Do I Exercise My Employee Stock Option?
The thing that people have to know about exercising employee stock options is that in most companies, there are no brokerage firms available and so, you have to do most of the work on your own.
A stock needs to be purchased by a licensed representative. And so, you have to call a broker to inform them that you are interested in exercising your options. They can do all the needed paperwork for you and can even contact your company to speed up the ongoing transaction.
Most people would opt to exercise through a cashless method in which you can use margins to purchase stocks instead of cash. Margins are actually loans that are granted by departments because they guarantee quick repayments and take not that there are not interests assessed.
Once you have made the purchase and have sold your stock, you can pay for your loan as well as the taxes. Just make sure that the portion required for you to sell is small enough for you to be able to retain profit.
Employee stock options are great tools that benefit both the company and its employees. It is a great way to ensure productivity and fluidity within an institution’s financial market and this can provide many opportunities for gains to a lot of people.
If you are one of those that work for huge companies who offer ESOs, take the opportunity to invest. This may not always be as easy, but once you know how to smartly handle such trades, then this can surely give you much promise for a good and promising investment.
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By
admin on February 23rd, 2010
Stock option trading is not an advisable endeavor if you are new to the whole stock market game. If you delve into it unprepared, chances are, you may lose a lot of money as fast as you can make it. But doing your homework and starting out from the very basics can help groom you to be able to play in this complicated game. After all, this is a powerful investment tool if you plan to stay long in the stock market business.
What Are Stock Options?
First and foremost, it is important that you do not confuse an option with an actual stock. A stock option is actually a contract that gives the rights to either buy or sell the securities or commodities of a certain stock at a fixed price and within a specified time. When you trade options, you are basically just trading your privileges for securities or even certain merchandise involved, but not the stock itself.
These stock options are actually very important in the market because they provide advanced investors with extra opportunities that could pave way to better returns in doing business within the stock market. Investors usually make use of these rights to evade from price declines, to give insurance for the price of a future purchase, or even to help them speculate future stock prices.
There are two kinds of options –call options and put options. Call options basically give purchasers the privilege to buy underlying stocks, while put options allow the purchaser to sell the underlying stocks.
How Do You Exercise Options?
If you already own an option, you can exercise buying or selling its stock any time on or before its expiration date. This would allow you to trade the stock at a set price regardless of what the current market price is for that particular stock.
And thus, you can have the privilege of buying or selling stocks in cases wherein you fear that prices might get too high or too low for you. In this way, you have certain degree of insurance on the investments that you make. A lot of investors simply make trades without any intent of possessing the underlying securities.
How Do You Trade Options?
In trading options, also take not that the pricing may be extremely complicated. But it will basically depend on two major factors –the pricing of the underlying stocks and the amount of time remaining within the contract.
The price for principal stocks that accompany the options directly affects the price of the option. If the demand for the stocks is high, the price for the options will also go up and vice versa.
The amount of time left within the contract for an option also determines the price. As time expires, the price for the option may go down as it may become less desirable.
Take note that in the trading options game, investors use various trading strategies, which may all be very risky and complicated. And so, to become really successful in your attempts to profit from option trading, make sure that you at least familiarize yourself with the different strategies and consult experts who can give you good and reliable training.
Stock option trading can be a very strong investment tool for anyone who does business in the stock market. However, keep in mind that for someone who is not as familiar with the different strategies and if you are new to the stock exchange, this may be a very risky endeavor to take on. And so, utmost caution for beginners is highly advised.
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By
admin on November 4th, 2009
Learn A Brand New *Better* Way To Trade Options For Income – Along With A Whole ‘Slew’ Of New Option Cashflow Strategies That Can Be Traded To Generate Income – Spending As Little As 15 Minutes A Day.
I just found a great Option Trading Course. This course is the result and culmination of 20 years of thinking, planning, learning and practicing the material you will receive.
The course is created by a retail investor just like you who found a way to be successful and profitable trading stocks and options as a real business from my home office.
The trading methods I use are also used by professional hedge fund managers and market professionals who rarely, if ever, talk about their strategies.
Learn more about this fabulous course here.
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By
admin on June 19th, 2009
This week, the bears were able to flex their muscles and they pushed the market below support at SPY 93. It looked like they might be able to generate selling momentum and all they needed was a late day selloff yesterday. That didn’t happen and the market showed its resilience as buyers gradually stepped up. Before Thursday’s open, continuing jobless claims dropped by 148,000. Later in the morning, LEI and the Philly Fed came in better than expected. The S&P 500 popped five points on the news. These improvements sparked buying and the market gradually added to its gains throughout the …
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By
admin on May 26th, 2009

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