adiggs
Well-Known Member
For those dabbling with options for the first time, I commend to you the Options Trading and Advice thread.
I'm pretty new to options myself, and recently stumbled on the site optionsalpha.com. They've got some paid services - the reason I mention them is they've got 10's of hours of basic options education, all of which is free. From my own experience, and the reviews I've found of the site by third parties, we're all in agreement that the free education is outstanding.
Probably 30 hours worth to get through the 3 training tracks - I recommend every bit of it. On the other side of that education, you'll not only be able to understand some of the shorthand being used to talk about options, you'll also be better able to form your own opinions about what to do and when.
I've got a different trading strategy that I've begun implementing than @BenPrice. That's to be expected though - we've got different starting positions, different targets, different ways of seeing the world. I'm looking forward to learning from everybody
My 'core' strategy is buy and hold. I've got shares from 2012 and some more from purchases over the years since. I don't trade in and out on those, though I have (as of a week ago) begun selling far OTM calls against them (and I do mean FAR - sold some May 1500 strikes; not much money, but it's a strike that if assigned, I won't exactly be crying in my milk about it).
Beyond that core strategy, I've begun selling puts and calls. The general idea being that option sellers tend to be paid more than options are worth (implied volatility mostly overestimates actual volatility, and that overestimation is an edge for sellers).
My focus isn't making a pile fast - it's more like generating a dividend using cash plus shares I already own. So if I can swing 1-5% per month with far OTM options (very low risk), then that's outstanding (12-60% annual dividend sounds stupidly good to me). And doing so with as little risk as possible.
Current positions:
sold some April 24, 500 strike puts, on 4/14 (about $2 each)
sold some May 1500 strike calls on 4/14 (about $6 each)
Intention with all of those is to hold until expiration or a good exit (75-90% of value), and then sell again.
Last month, I discovered that the early close of the position means I'm likely to get to sell the current month twice. We'll see how that works out this month.
The puts were chosen so I can close them before earnings.
The calls were chosen so far OTM so I can ride through earnings and see what happens after. I think it unlikely we'll get to 1500 by May 15.
I'm pretty new to options myself, and recently stumbled on the site optionsalpha.com. They've got some paid services - the reason I mention them is they've got 10's of hours of basic options education, all of which is free. From my own experience, and the reviews I've found of the site by third parties, we're all in agreement that the free education is outstanding.
Probably 30 hours worth to get through the 3 training tracks - I recommend every bit of it. On the other side of that education, you'll not only be able to understand some of the shorthand being used to talk about options, you'll also be better able to form your own opinions about what to do and when.
I've got a different trading strategy that I've begun implementing than @BenPrice. That's to be expected though - we've got different starting positions, different targets, different ways of seeing the world. I'm looking forward to learning from everybody
My 'core' strategy is buy and hold. I've got shares from 2012 and some more from purchases over the years since. I don't trade in and out on those, though I have (as of a week ago) begun selling far OTM calls against them (and I do mean FAR - sold some May 1500 strikes; not much money, but it's a strike that if assigned, I won't exactly be crying in my milk about it).
Beyond that core strategy, I've begun selling puts and calls. The general idea being that option sellers tend to be paid more than options are worth (implied volatility mostly overestimates actual volatility, and that overestimation is an edge for sellers).
My focus isn't making a pile fast - it's more like generating a dividend using cash plus shares I already own. So if I can swing 1-5% per month with far OTM options (very low risk), then that's outstanding (12-60% annual dividend sounds stupidly good to me). And doing so with as little risk as possible.
Current positions:
sold some April 24, 500 strike puts, on 4/14 (about $2 each)
sold some May 1500 strike calls on 4/14 (about $6 each)
Intention with all of those is to hold until expiration or a good exit (75-90% of value), and then sell again.
Last month, I discovered that the early close of the position means I'm likely to get to sell the current month twice. We'll see how that works out this month.
The puts were chosen so I can close them before earnings.
The calls were chosen so far OTM so I can ride through earnings and see what happens after. I think it unlikely we'll get to 1500 by May 15.
