Iron Condor

There are 2 kinds of option trading systems in general; Discretionary and Mechanical. A discretionary option trader follows no specific rules but chooses, enters and exits an option trade using all of his knowledge or gut feeling. A mechanical option trader is one who translates his knowledge of choosing stocks, entry and exit into objective rules. Such a system is commonly translated into a computer program in order to completely automate the option trading system. The advantage of mechanical option trading is obvious; the removal of human emotions in the trading process thereby reducing human errors.
I moved from discretionary to mechanical option trading years ago and only started becoming consistently successful in option trading after I developed my personal mechanical option trading system called the Star Trading System (http://www.mastersoequity.com).
So, what are the steps to be taken in order to develop your personal mechanical trading system for option trading? Here is a guideline…
1. Stock Selection
List down all the criteria you think must be true in order for a stock to qualify as an option trading candidate. Make sure all of these criteria are quantifiable. Example : a. Last close more than $10, b. Last price rising for the past 3 days c. PE must be positive. Finally, program a charting software with these criteria so that you can run a scan of all stocks that qualified within seconds daily. Technological advances have made possible to screen stocks within seconds. Traders used to have to spend hours going through each stock against a spread sheet in order to find trading candidates.
2. Option Selection Procedure
Now that you have chosen your stock, you need to determine which option qualifies for your option trading system. Your personal option trading system may be based on OTM options or ITM options or even based on bullish or bearish spreads.
3. Entry Procedure
Now that you have determined what stock to watch and which option to buy, it is time to determine under what conditions to make that move to buy on. It may be as simple as to enter upon market opening or as complex as to watch the underlying stock movement for a pre-determined period of time before it qualifies for entry. Whatever it is, it must compliment your personal option trading style.
4. Exit Procedure
Now that you have an open position, you need to determine what must be true for you to take profit or to stop loss. There are 2 classes of exit procedure that you must establish; Stop Loss and Profit Taking. Stop loss in option trading can be simply based on a % loss of the option position or based on a % loss on the underlying stock. Profit taking can be based on the stock’s target price or a % gain on the option position. After you have done that, you would want to see how your broker can help to automate that for you. Commonly, people break their own stop loss or profit taking points due to emotional involvement, that is why many brokers have features which allow fairly complex stop loss or profit taking strategies to be automated. If your broker does not support such automation and you are the type who cannot properly enforce your own stop loss or profit taking strategy, then it may be good to consider switching to a broker that does.
Now, give that option trading system a name and paper trade it for at least 6 months. Do not expect to get it right the first time. Developing a profitable option trading system takes time, knowledge and experience and is something which cannot be rushed. My Star Trading System (http://www.mastersoequity.com) took me years of work to arrive at a stage where even complete amateurs can follow easily and make a consistent profit from.
So, have fun translating your option trading philosophy into an option trading system and to watch it in action. I am sure it will be an extremely fulfilling experience whether or not the system turned out to be profitable.

 

Let’s be clear on this. There is no other option trading strategy that can outshine or even equal the profit generating potential of the sport of writing naked options. The term ‘sport’ is used here because those who practice this money making trading technique not only turn out fabulous profits but also have fun in the process. It is a fun, profitable but dangerous option trading sport that is mostly played by seasoned and skilled option players. That is, until the sport’s peril’s were tamed with the use of trading techniques that, while offering substantial safeguards to the player, still continued to offer high profitability ratios, albeit at slightly reduced rates. Having made it ‘investor safe’ has only slightly altered the profit potential of writing nakeds and certainly, without doubt, continues to be the premiere money making trading strategy in the options market.

 

The birth of the options market in recent decades spawned the creation of dozens of trading strategies and systems that is today being used not only by individual options traders but also by financial institutions. Stock options as an investment instrument is now widely employed as a safe and sound money strategy. The ability of options to give the investor a wide range of choices in stock market investment is what has made the options market grow by leaps and bounds over the last two or three decades. There are dozens of option trading systems being employed by individual investors as well as financial institutions. Each system is designed to accomplish a specific investment goal. A financial institution may use long put options to hedge its winnings in stocks that have appreciated in value, another investor may buy call options instead of stocks to enter a position in a security that has caught his fancy. Still another may sell calls against his stock holdings to generate income from his stock position, or what is now popularly known as covered call writing.

 

Trading strategies, techniques and systems available to the option trader are so numerous today that it would take a whole book to describe each and that would be just a brief description not a detailed explanation. It would be far beyond the scope of what we could cover in this short article. Most of the strategies are based on the principle of buying calls and puts or, variations of this strategy such as the use of spreads. The reason for the popularity of buying calls and puts and its variations is quite simple; limited or defined loss against the potential for unlimited and fabulous profits. This is what has driven thousands into the options trading game. But like everything else in life there is always a trade off. While the potential for fabulous profits against limited investment exists the reality of achieving such success is restricted. It’s almost like buying a lottery ticket with the potential for winning fabulous riches. Or putting it differently, it’s also akin to going to a casino and placing bets on gaming tables with the hope that at the end of the evening you will come out with more money than you came in. As we all know there are very few winners in casinos and that is why the gaming business offers tremendous profits for the operators.

 

But one can be an option trader and be in a similar position as the casino operator.  How? By being an option writer or seller instead of a buyer. For every option that is bought in the market, there must be a seller or writer of the option. These writers are the casinos in the options business. As the option seller you take the bets from the option buyers and since 75 to 80 percent of all options in the market expire worthless, you the seller pocket the premiums paid by the buyers when the options they bought expire worthless. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with gambling casinos, the winning odds of casinos over the betting player is only around 5 percent and yet they rake in profits from this business. Now imagine this, research and studies have shown that the option writer (seller) has better than 10 to 20 percent odds over the option buyer.

 

Option traders who successfully use the strategy of selling options consider themselves as having found the Holy Grail of Investments. And of all the variations in option selling strategies (just as many as there are in option buying), writing naked options is considered to be the Cadillac division. No other option selling system offers the profit potential of the naked writer.

 

So why aren’t there more option writers in the market? For two reasons:

 

 

 

 

 

It must be noted however, that option writing is fast gaining popularity among serious investors looking to grow their wealth at a steady, consistent and secure manner regardless of market or economic conditions. For those willing to venture into this lucrative field for long term capital appreciation don’t let the first reason above frighten you into inaction. There are many ways one can protect himself and conquer the element of ‘unlimited loss’ in writing nakeds. The author of this article is one of many successful naked option sellers. He has put out an e-book detailing a trading system that uses a three pronged strategy that trounces the so-called risk of loss to be almost neglible. Information about his system can be found at his web site.   

 

 

 

For those who have not yet discovered the benefits of rolling out options, it’s high time you look closely at this very valuable feature. Roll outs not only offer additional profit generating advantages but more importantly it offers an extraordinary ability for limiting or eliminating potential losing positions. Before going on to describe the remarkable benefits of using the rollout process let’s be sure we understand what is meant by rolling out an option. It is simply the closing of one option position and the opening of another position either farther away in strike price or farther away in expiration date, or both, with the objective of making an existing condition more beneficial to you.

There are many situations where option rollouts may be used. For purposes of this article, being limited in scope, I will just touch on two of the more practical uses of the rollout process. The first is the benefits it gives the covered call player. The second is the remarkable ability of the rollout feature to offer protection against the potential for loss that faces the naked option writer.

How does a roll out benefit the covered call player? Consider this scenario: you own 500 shares in a company which you originally bought some time back at a price of $50. Assuming the market has recently gone on an uptrend and your stock has now appreciated to $60. You are tempted to sell and take in profits from your investment. At the same time you don’t want to miss out on any further upward movement the stock may take in the face of what appears to be a strengthening market. Yet you are also afraid that the market might reverse direction and you could then lose some of the profits you’ve already achieved. Selling call options against your stock enables you to participate in any future appreciation of your stock, and the profits generated from the option sale provides some protection if the market should change direction forcing you to exit your position. If the stock continues rising and hits the strike price at which you sold the calls, you are faced with two nice choices. Let the option holder call the option (exercise his right to buy the stock at the strike price you sold it for) or, roll out the options to a farther expiration and strike price once again allowing you to participate in further gains if the stock continues its upward trend. If you let your options be called you have gained not only the money from the option sale but also from the appreciation price of the stock at the time the option is called. But if you roll out the calls you could continue to stay in the game for a further appreciation in the value of your stocks. Of course there is always the potential of a market reversal and losing the potential for further appreciation. Even so you still have gained the premium money you obtained in the sale of the calls. If the market continues uptrending you can ride the appreciation wave by rolling out your positions several times up to and until you run out of future strike prices. By this time you would have gained substantial profits.

Now let’s see how the roll out benefits the naked option writer. When you sell a naked option, be it call or put, you theoretically face the risk of unlimited losses in your position due to the fact that if the underlying security moves against you the potential for loss is unlimited. The term “theoretical risk” is used here because this risk has been blown out of proportion and grossly exaggerated. While the potential risk of loss does exist it’s a negligible one if you employ appropriate strategies to defeat it. Please see another article on this subject entitled “Risk of ‘Unlimited Loses’ In Naked Option Selling Is A Myth” where it talks about this theoretical risk being totally controllable using proper defensive strategies. One of the defensive strategies mentioned in that article is the use of roll outs.

Here’s a scenario that may face an option writer. Let us suppose you sold naked puts several strikes out-of-the-money with expiration forty to sixty days away. Some time during its life the market turns against you and begins to drop down to the price level of the strike you sold. Many option traders would just close out the position buying back the puts at a higher price and taking a loss. You being the smart trader would roll out your puts by buying them back at the now higher price and at the same time sell new puts farther out in time and several strikes out-of-the-money at a higher price than you bought back your puts. You’ve just converted your original 40 or 60 day puts into longer expiration puts thereby avoiding taking a loss at this point in time. The process of closing and opening positions can be done as a spread trade and in this way you are paying reduced brokers commissions. If the market continues its downward trend you can also keep rolling out your positions repeatedly till you reach a point where there are no more available future options to roll out to. At this point your puts may be so far out in the future that even if it goes deep in the money chances of it being exercised are slim. There is an e-book written on this subject titled “Stock Options: The Greatest Wealth Building Tool Ever Invented” where the roll out process is described in much detail together with other protective strategies for naked option traders. The e-book contains numerous actual trading illustrations of the use of the roll out process. See this article’s author profile for more information.

If you are going to be an option trader or already are one, rolling out is a must strategy in many of your option trades. You will find the strategy highly rewarding and in many cases offers a wide variety of choices to your trading styles. Not only does it enable you to increase your trading profitability but more importantly it affords you the ability to protect your trade positions against certain adverse conditions. As this article is written today, we are in the midst of a financial crises as never seen in a long time. The stock market has now depreciated to panic lows with investors seeing the value of their investments evaporate into thin air. Yet for many option traders extensively using the roll out process they will weather the storm much better than others and they will certainly recover much faster when economic conditions turn for the better.

Most people lose money in a bear market. Do you remember the tech bubble and recession in 2000-2002? This article will discuss three option trading strategies that can make you big profits in a bear market or recession.

Option Strategy No. 1 – Buying Put Options

It is fairly easy to purchase put options. This option trading strategy can even be used in an IRA account as long as you have been authorized by your broker. You desire to select a stock, which you feel has a good chance of going down in price. Your risk will be limited to the cost of the put option. For example, stock XYZ is currently trading at $50 per share and you buy a put option on XYZ with an expiration date of two month later with a strike price of $50. If the stock drops from $50 to $40, your put option would be worth $10 per share.

Option Trading Strategy No. 2 – Buying Bear Put Spread

Buying a put spread is a little more complicated than just buying a put option but gives you the benefit of reducing your cost but caps your profit. A put spread is characterized by the trading of two same month expiration put options, buying one at a given strike price and selling the other put option at a strike price lower than the purchased put option. You want to pick a stock that you believe will be falling in value. Your risk will be limited to the cost of the put spread. As an example, if we purchase the put option as listed above but also sold a put option with a strike price of $45. In this example, should the stock plunge to $40, you would profit $5 per share ($50 strike price – $45 strike price). And while you are making less per share, your savings comes in the fact that the cost of buying the put option outright would be much higher than the initial cost for the bear put spread.

Option Trading Strategy No. 3 – Married Put

Risk can be minimized by utilizing a married put, which is a hedging strategy. This strategy consists of purchasing a stock that you believe will appreciate in value and buying a put option at the same time to minimize any losses due to adverse market movement. You might have heard the saying that there is always a bull market going on somewhere. In order to benefit from this strategy find out what business sectors and securities go against the grain and appreciate in a bear market. Next you buy the stocks you chose and protect your investment by buying a put option to limit your losses if the stock goes south.

In conclusion, you can still make big profits in bear markets by looking for stocks that you think are going to fall in price and buying a put option or a bear put spread. Alternatively, you could buy a married put on a stock in a sector you believe is going to appreciate, thus minimizing your risk. In addition to buying options on stocks, you can also buy put options on exchange traded funds or index options. Exchange traded funds let you invest in global markets, commodities and even currencies. It is possible to receive a large profit in a bear market. However, it is vital to comprehend the details of the option strategies, choose the correct stock, exchange traded fund or index option, and make use of a proven tactic and begin.

Disclaimer: This article should not be used as financial advice; it is only for informational purposes. Be sure to contact your financial advisor prior to making any decisions on investing.

To the average citizen, the stock market itself denotes something quite mind-bogglingly complex. Of course, options trading simply makes the merely complex truly confounding to such individuals. Providentially, the modern world is all about making complex things simple and this process has been aided effectively by the internet. Options trading is no longer as remote and inaccessible as before, patronized only by the most hardened of stock market junkies – if you’re interested enough to learn about it!
First off, why do people trade options? The answer is that options trading provides the investor a certain level of security. Essentially, if your speculations are correct that an asset’s value will increase, you are rewarded with a large profit or more than you invested for. One the other hand, if an asset’s value falls, you only lose what you bought an option for which could be much less than the price of the asset itself. Advanced investors however even have techniques to help them benefit from options even when the market goes down.
What’s important to remember though, is that options trading is not to be dabbled in lightly. Options trading requires time, research and dedication, resulting in options trading being an investment tool used only by people for whom investment is a profession and/or people who want to manage their wealth directly, without the need for middlemen. This is because options trading is mainly dependant on timing as a major factor when making purchases and floating stocks on the market. You can’t possibly be detached – it’s all about direct involvement.
If you’re interested in the world of options trading, and looking to invest, it is very advisable to take up classes. There are a number of very comprehensive websites offering up-to-date and detailed information on how best to maximize your gains from options trading. These courses give you the chance to learn absolutely everything you can about the market, how it works and most importantly, how best you can use its trends to your own financial advantage. Real-time trading and in-depth technical analyses are often features of these classes, thus giving you the opportunity to view options trading as it happens.
Hands-on knowledge is quite indispensable for options trading and classes give you the chance to make mistakes and not come off too badly from them. It is important thought, to choose the right course and, of course, avoid scams! As much as the internet is a boon, it can also be quite deceptive – so choose your options course wisely. A course that offers you one-on-one tutoring, live examples of trading and in-depth theoretical knowledge is usually a good bet. Options trading courses can be expensive, but they’re worth the investment considering the amount of time and money that you will ultimately be investing in the options trading world!