Butterfly Option Strategy » Option Trading

Option Trading – Developing An Option Trading System

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:03:40 +0000

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.

Options Trading and Risk

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:41:53 +0000

Is options trading risky? This is one of the most popular questions that options trading beginners ask. In fact, my clients ask me this same question all the time. I would then ask them “What do you mean by risky?”. The usual answer would be “Can I lose a lot of money in options trading?”.
At least this brings us somewhere. Asking if options trading is risky without a clear idea what risk is in the first place gets nobody anywhere.
Risk is defined in many different ways to different people and for most people, risk is simply an expression of their fear of losing money. Whenever I am asked by an options trading beginner if options is risky, I know what they are really telling me is that they don’t want to lose money. How can we address this “risk” then?
Even though there are many ways to define risk in the financial sense, I think my 2 parts explanation caters best to the needs of the common retail investor. In my 2 parts explanation, risk in options trading for common retail investors are made up of; 1, Probability of Loss. 2, Consequence of Loss.
It’s like crossing a street. The probability of death is small but the consequence of death is catastrophic. However, because the probability is so small, we continue to do it every day.
In stock trading, you cannot really control the probability of loss because you win only if the stock goes up. That is why stock traders reduce the consequence of loss by having sensible stop loss in place.
See how the probability of risk and the consequence of risk interact with each other now?
The good news about Options Trading is that you get to control both the probability of risk and the consequence of risk! If you can control both elements of risk, won’t options trading actually be less risky than stock trading?
Options trading reduces the probability of risk through options strategies that profit from more than one direction. In fact, there are options strategies that profit when the stock goes up, down and sideways all at once! When you can profit in so many different directions all at once, won’t your probability of risk be dramatically reduced? An example of such an options strategy is the Call Ratio Spread which makes a profit if the stock goes up to a certain limit, stay stagnant or go down endlessly.
Options trading (http://www.optiontradingpedia.com) reduces the consequence of risk through leverage. Leverage cuts both ways. If you abuse leverage and buy options like you buy stocks, then you are in big trouble. However, if you use only money you can afford to lose in each options trade and make use of its leverage to produce the same returns that you would if you have bought the stocks instead, won’t the consequence of risk always be within your acceptable limit? An example of this is the Fiduciary Call options trading strategy.
Since the probability of risk and the consequence of risk can be dramatically lower in options trading than in stock trading, is options trading still “risky”?
Risk can be defined in many ways and options trading is inherently risky due to its nature as a leveraged derivative instrument. However, with sensible control of the probability and consequence of risk, your options trading experience may be a lot less “risky” than you think. Options trading becomes “risky” when you lose control over these 2 critical elements.

What to Look for in Options Trading Sites

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:22:41 +0000

Everyone has their own option strategies in option trading, but when you’re just getting started, it can be very confusing. You’ll observe several choices spreads around the web, blogs proclaiming they have the wonderful options program and options trading sites in abundance, providing to teach you trading systems. Now, what is the best option strategy so that it helps you to succeed in your option trading? Primarily, take a look around the website. However, you might be restricted for public viewing, but the website must provide you sufficient details in public areas so that you understand if the fees is worth joining for. If a site consists just a sales page and no additional information, you’d be better off searching for another options trading site. If they are hiding all of their information, you can bet there isn’t much that’s worth while inside the membership section. It’s also necessary to confirm that you are able to get in touch with a human being in the industry. If there is no contact information, then it is an absolute no. Contact can be made through email, through the phone or via a contact form on the website. Test it out to see how fast the response time is, as well, since this is important if you have questions about specific option spreads later on. You also need a site that offers slight option trading details to begin with. There is a blog where you get numerous option strategies as well as some information, is really a good sign that tells f the website is perfect or not . This is a great way to notice if a website is worth concentrating. If their blog holds useful information, chances are you’ll get your money’s worth inside. Conversely, if the blog is nothing but drivel and offers no information at all . . . just keywords to try and rate well in the search engines, you’ll perhaps want to look elsewhere. Most of the membership that are found there have actually nothing important to sell. few of these are frauds, but others are hardly people who are trying to earn their living by telling others what to do. These people may only be gathering information from other sites, or worse, simply going on their own hunches, which are untried. Confirm that the website you select for understanding options trading is one based on knowledge. The option strategies that you find online must be really experienced by the site owner and not by used information or inexperienced presumptions . If they are open to sharing some of their techniques and secrets, you’ll be capable to see accurately how they do things and will observe quickly if it is worth focusing on this person or not. To avoid scams, stay away from any options sites that don’t give you enough information to make your decision. If you can’t get any information on the person behind the site, you need to also be suspicious. Diffeternt people have different experiences and that is why there are various options strategies. You’ll come out your own option trading strategies and you get familiar with the several sorts of option spreads and experience for things. But, this will take sometime. Trading systems take months or even years to thrive, so if you can get a headstart with someone who has a good knowledge of options trading, it’s well worth the investment. You’ll learn how options strategy works for others and can use similar moves to start building your options trading experience, as well. Sometimes all you need is some support.

Option Trading Tip – How to Leap Into Option Profits!

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:28:18 +0000

A LEAP (Long-term Equity Anticipation Product) is simply a long-dated option.

LEAP options that don’t expire upto 2 years into the future give the buyer much more time to be right about the future direction of a stock and at the same time offer tremedous leverage.

LEAP option trading has become quite popular in recent years because just like all options, LEAPs only cost a fraction of what it would cost to buy shares in the underlying stock itself, but give you the same amount of control.

As with all options though, time is the enemy (if you are a buyer) and over time options lose their value.

So how can we use LEAPS to speculate on the future direction of a stock (UP or DOWN) and at the same time reduce our risk of losing all our money on them?

Well let me share with you a couple of simple LEAP option trading strategies that have worked well for me over the years in both bull and bear markets…

TIP:

If you believe a stock will go UP over the next 1-2 years, then buy Call option LEAPs on it and at the same time sell the call options (at least one or two strike prices out of the money) that expire in the current month.

If you believe a stock will go DOWN over the next 1-2 years, then buy Put option LEAPs on it and at the same time sell the put options (at least one or two strike prices out of the money) that expire in the current month.

By doing this you will effectively be getting cash back on your investment every single month that you hold your LEAPs.

Over the long-term this will not only offset the time-decay of your LEAPs, but also offer you some downside protection, should the stock go in the opposite direction that you want it to.

This is known as a Calendar Spread and is a much more conservative way of speculating with LEAPs.

Important:

If the stock rises above your sold strike price for your current month Calls or below your sold strike price for your current month Puts, then you risk being assigned/exercised.

You should never allow this to occur because the moment you are assigned you will lose whatever time value is left on your LEAPs.

It is far better to close out the trade for a profit by buying back the sold option and selling your LEAPs for an overall profit or simply holding your LEAPs and then writing (out of the money) options against them for the next month.

The Truth About Most Option Trading Seminars

admin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:31:49 +0000

Are you about to pay thousands of US Dollars to attend an option trading seminar this weekend?
Whether or not you have decided to join that weekend seminar, I hope I can help you make a more intelligent decision here.
A Grim Experience At An Option Trading Seminar
I had a friend who joined a weekend, 2 days, option trading seminar (a very well-known one by the way), promising that every participant will walk away with enough knowledge to profit at any market condition and be on their way to their first million just by option trading. He paid USD$3000 for the 2 days seminar and walked away feeling all hyped up but totally confused as to how exactly to start option trading. He was then told to sign up for an advanced course for another USD$5000 for 4 days. That 4 days seminar taught him little more than option trading basics and how to open a trading account but still completely no idea whatsoever as to how to read the market and pick stocks on which to trade options in the first place. He was then asked to buy a USD$6000 laptop containing a magical software that will tell him exactly what to trade daily. That software turned out about a hundred opportunities a day… again, he is totally confused.
After paying a grand total of USD$11,000, my friend had completely no idea how to start trading options consistently and you guessed it, he ran into another USD$11,000.00 in credit card debt which he is still paying 24% per annum of interest on. (Not to mention losing another USD$5000.00 on losing trades produced by that “magical software”)
The Truth About Most Option Trading Seminars
The truth about option trading seminars these days are that they are conducted by people who claimed to have made millions from option trading but are really making millions by conducting seminars like that.
Here’s a math from an internationally acclaimed option trading “guru” who charges USD$2500.00 for her 4 days seminars:
Cost Per Head : USD$2500.00
Average Number of Participants : 120
Average Number of Seminars Per Month : 2
Average Gross Takings Per Month : USD$600,000.00
Average Gross Takings Per Year : USD$7.2 MILLION!
See how these option trading “gurus” are really making their millions?
What Option Trading Seminars Really Teach
Sadly, most option trading seminars have nothing magical nor proprietary to teach. Most of these option trading seminars simply teach people what option trading can do and how to do some of the common option trading strategies which anyone can learn completely for FREE on option trading sites like http://www.OptionTradingpedia.com .
These fake option trading “gurus” then use a lot of hype and motivational techniques to make all participants think that they have indeed stumbled upon a gold mine.
What Option Trading Seminars Are Not Teaching You
Option Trading, like all kinds of trading activities requires foremost for the trader to be able to pick the right stocks that behave within the predetermined limits of the strategy in the first place. You will lose money if you do a bullish option strategy on a stock that stumbles eventually and you will lose money if you do a neutral strategy on a stock that suddenly surges. The ability to pick the right stocks is the real key to any kind of trading, including option trading and that is exactly what you will not learn in most of these option trading seminars. This means that most of these option trading seminars really have nothing proprietary to teach anyone at all!
To make up for the gap, these fake option trading “gurus” make participants sign up for stock picking programs or buy expensive software which eventually still led to nowhere. Being able to pick the right stock for option trading is an extremely tricky task which the best in the industry are still trying hard to do consistently!
Everyone who learnt option trading must then begin the long and arduous journey of looking for a reliable way of picking stocks for option trading consistently. That is a long and wide journey which includes learning about fundamental and technical analysis, different scopes and methods of trading options and things like that… things that really do have proprietary knowledge and which is ok to pay a fair price for.
I am sad to see so many people who loves to learn about option trading fall prey to these option trading seminars and to pay thousands to learn things that can be learnt for free. That is why I started the http://www.OptionTradingpedia.com where I provide all the information and knowledge all beginners need to know what option trading is and how to trade options and I sincerely hope that the public can help me to help yourselves by spreading the good news around.

Stock Trading for Bold Brave Investors

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:09:10 +0000

Stock trading is one of the last true meritocracies. All that matters for your investment success are your own decisions. Stock trading is a precision-based activity and one tiny mistake in judgment could send you plummeting right to the bottom and result in a huge loss.
Likewise, the opposite could happen. You may make a great buying decision that will put you on the path to riches. Traditional stock trading is done at stock exchanges, which are places where buyers and sellers meet and decide on a price, although electronic trading is gaining in popularity. Stock trading is affected by how well the economy is doing and by basic supply and demand considerations.
Stock Trading is a get rich slow process. Money can be made, but it takes time. Stock trading is something that interests many people because it offers them a chance to make money without breaking into a sweat. In addition, it has a lot of excitement attached to it especially when using short term strategies that help pit traders against the stock market.
Stock Trading is trading stocks and shares of different types of companies and organization at the stock exchange. In every country, there is a stock exchange where various companies get their shares listed, when they arrange to raise required funds by means of issuing shares.
Stock trading is a very competitive field and in order to succeed you need to FOCUS on a set of simple strategies that you can implement without hesitation. The real “secret” of the stock market game is enclosed within the trading set ups and market signals you rely on to decide when to buy or when to sell shares. Stock trading is a business (because it is done for making money).
So as in a business, in stock trading, one needs to complete solid planning before making any buy/sell/trade. Stock trading is viewed by some people as a very complicated matter. This is regarded by many as an arena better reserved for those who have extensive exposure and experience in stock trading.
Stock trading is a game in which you cannot afford to be average. Thousands of new and inexperienced traders are being charged hundreds, even thousands of dollars by scam artists and self proclaimed experts for dubious stock picking services and mechanical buy and sell signal generators.
Stock trading is a relatively simple activity compared with other professions, particularly with the tools available in today’s Internet world. It is certainly within your abilities, and as you educate yourself on and build your skills, you’ll find that your fears subside as your confidence grows.
Researching a stock and then buying online it is one part of the story. The other part being how to plan a trade with an exit strategy? You must research the risks attached to online trading to make sure you are prepared for the worst. Be determined and goal orientated.
Exchange traded funds are good to use for trading and investing. By keeping trading simple, there is less stress and more opportunity to profit. Exchange Traded Funds, also known as ETFs, are index funds traded on the major stock exchanges just like stocks. An index fund involves a collection of securities, much like mutual funds, except that ETFs differ from mutual funds in some distinctive ways.
Options are bets about the future price movement of exchange traded securities. The prospect of unusually high returns always signals unusually high risk so be careful about trading options. Timing is everything.
Options are a great way to both earn and lose a lot of money. If you’re interested in involving yourself in the more unpredictable, risky, and spontaneous part of the stock market then trading options is something you should investigate. Option strategy is about selection of the best stock opportunities and following your signals. Here, you can achieve success if you are acquainted with the correct option trading strategy .
There are online resources available that will provide you with free simulated stock and option trading. You will easily find enough information to start your trading venture. You can practice trading stocks, options, spreads, futures, short sells, and so forth. Just run a search for “demo stock trading accounts” and you will find a good list to research.
Stock and option trading is a big game in many ways. But as it is a game involving the exchange of money if you play you need to take the game seriously.

Paper Trading Credit Spread and Iron Condor Option Trades

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:18:00 +0000

Paper trading using one of the many virtual trading systems provided by option brokers, and now CBOE, is so important if you have never traded options. This is especially important trading credit spreads, like Bull Puts and Bear Calls and ultimately Iron Condors. These are special strategy trades that must that must be fully understood before trading with your own funds. You must practice entering, closing and adjusting Bull Put and Bear Call spread trades. You must fully understand an Iron Condor trade and the requirements for making sure your broker only applies margin to one side of this 4 legged trade. And most important you must practice closing these spreads and rolling to new spreads when trades go against you.
I paper traded for six months using OptionsXpress’s virtual trading system before using my own funds. This is the system now used by CBOE so new traders no longer need to apply for a brokerage account to paper trade using a virtual account.
To get started you should establish a virtual trading account with your broker or just use CBOE’s free system. You must practice all types of credit spread trades like:
1. Entering new trades using the current bid.
2. Entering new trades using limits that are higher than the bids, like one half of the bid/ask or midpoint. Then shave 5-10 cents off this midpoint.
3. Enter stop loss orders to close profitable spread trades for 10 cents or less freeing up margin for new trades.
4. Practice adjusting Bull Put and Bear Call credit spreads. You should close and roll to new credit spread trades to collect another credit. This is the most important one to practice and master before committing your own funds.
The 4 types of trades above should be practiced many times over for a period of 2 to 3 months. Never enter into one of these specialty options trades using your own funds until you completely understand all the risks. You must have an exit plan and know exactly what to do when a trade goes against you.
Once of the huge advantages you have with option spreads is that you can break even when a spread trade has to be closed. This is accomplished by adjusting, or rolling, to a new spread trade to collect a new credit. Sometimes this new credit offsets, or exceeds, the debit you incurred closing your original spread. This is a key risk management procedure that you can master paper trading. Once you complete a few of these rolling trades you will really get excited about trading credit spreads and be able to protect your monthly cash flow so that you are always adding net credits to your account.

How Option Trading Profit In Any Market Conditions

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:03:17 +0000

All stock market multi millionaires must be able to profit under any kind of market conditions. If you are able to profit only when stock markets go up, then you will find it a gargantuan task to ever have any sustainable success, much less become a stock market millionaire.
Yes! It is possible and easy to profit whether stocks are up, down or sideways using option trading. If the ability to trade all kinds of market conditions is the doorway to becoming a stock market millionaire, then option trading would be the very key.
In this article, I will outline some common ways by which you can profit from all kinds of markets by option trading.
Simple Option Strategies for Up Markets
Buy Call Option – You could buy the same number of equivalent stocks for a fraction of the price using call options and profit when the stock goes up. If the stock should crash, you will lose only the small amount you put towards buying the option instead of the whole amount that you would have put towards buying the stock itself.
Sell Naked Put Option – Instead of buying call options, you could sell short put options thereby pocketing the entire amount you made on selling the put options if the stock should go up.
Bull Call Spread – A bull call spread consists of buying call options at the money and selling short out of the money call options of the same month. The benefit of this strategy is that you profit when the stock goes up and profit also when the stock stays sideways!
Simple Option Strategies for Down Markets
Buy Put Option – Instead of shorting stocks and risking a margin call, you could simply buy a put option. Buying a put option is exactly the same as buying call options except that you profit when the stock goes down instead of up.
Sell Naked Call Option – Instead of buying put options, you could sell short call options thereby pocketing the entire amount you made on selling the put options if the stock should go down.
Bear Put Spread – A bear put spread consists of buying put options at the money and selling short out of the money put options of the same month. The benefit of this strategy is that you profit when the stock goes down and profit also when the stock stays sideways!
Simple Option Strategies for UP or DOWN Markets
Straddle – A straddle consist of buying a call option and a put option at the same strike price on the same stock. This strategy allows you to profit whether the stock moves up or down and is excellent when you are certain that a stock will move greatly soon but isn’t sure which direction that may be.
Strangle – Similar concept to a straddle but buys out of the money call option and put option instead of at the money ones in order to reduce the cost of the position.
Simple Option Strategies for Sideways Markets.
Covered Call – If you are holding on to a stock that is moving sideways, you could collect “rental” out of it by selling the call option of that stock month after month and pocket the whole amount of the sale should the stock remain sideways.
Short Straddle – Instead of buying call options and put options as described above in a Straddle, you would sell short them instead. In this way, you create an option position which profits when the stock remains sideways.
Are you amazed now at how easy it is to profit in any kind of market conditions by option trading? These are only very few of the many more option trading strategies that you can use to your specific portfolio needs. To learn more about what option trading and stock options are for free, please visit http://www.OptionTradingPedia.com .

Options Trading in Extremely Volatile Markets

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:34:02 +0000

The recent stock market crisis (2008) not only rocked the financial system and the world economy but also the pockets of countless options traders all over the world. Options traders who used to profit in the years prior to this market crisis broke their bank as none of their options strategies seem to work in this market anymore. So what is it about extremely volatile markets and how should one profit through options trading under such conditions?
Extremely volatile market conditions not only produce unpredictable short term stock price swings but also open up the bid ask spread of individual stock options due to a lower liquidity and profiteering by market makers. This combined effect not only made it doubly hard for options traders to make a profit. Volatile options strategies, supposed to be meant for such conditions due to their ability to make a profit when the market moves up or down strongly and their ability to profit from an increase in volatility, also failed to produce any consistent profits due to the higher premium outlay and wide bid ask spreads, soaking up most of the profits. Unexpected rallies also crunch volatility to the extent of producing losses through decaying the premium of long legs at express speed. Short term (weekly, monthly) directional options strategies fared even worse as it not only became almost impossible to predict short term price swings but the high premium and bid ask spreads also took most, if not all, of the profits away even if the stock did move in the expected direction.
So what works in an extremely volatile market condition such as this one?
First of all, let’s look at all the different ways to trade options. There are 3 main options trading methodologies; Swing Trading, Position Trading and Day Trading.
Swing trading is a directional options trading methodology that aims to pick stocks that will move quickly and strongly within a short period of time in a predictable direction and then execute bullish or bearish options strategies in order to profit from these moves. As mentioned before, trying to profit from directional swing trading in an extremely volatile market is like swimming against the tide. Not only is directions hard to predict in the first place but the high options premium along with gapping bid ask spread all work against its favor.
Position trading is more complex than Swing Trading as it aims to profit mainly (although there are also position trading strategies that are directional in nature) from volatility or premium decay through putting together several different options and / or stocks in order to produce a hedged, market neutral position. Position trading has produced some pretty profitable results for me in this market crisis as volatility soared and options premiums are high. This puts the disadvantages of an extremely volatile market condition in the favor of the options trader. Such positions include dynamically hedged delta-neutral as well as delta-gamma-neutral positions. Both of these position trading strategies aim to neutralize market movement such that unexpected swings do not affect the position significantly while the position safely takes the high options premium on the short legs into your pockets.
Day trading is an extremely dynamic options trading method where options are bought and sold very quickly within one day in order to profit from the slightest intraday price swing or change in volatility. This strategy was a pretty hard one to profit from in low volatility market conditions as prices doesn’t change enough within a day to produce significant profits. However, day trading becomes extremely profitable in the hands of seasoned options trading veterans in extremely volatile market conditions such as this market crisis as the Dow itself has produced intraday trading ranges of up to 10%! Yes, this is the kind of trading range and price range that cannot be realized in normal market conditions. Day trading often takes the form of simply buying or shorting call or put options and then quickly covering them when profitable. Day trading also avoids the extreme overnight uncertainties that so often catch swing traders by surprise in this market crisis. Sudden overnight good news can often gap the Dow up by a significant amount and closing it over 10% higher. This can wipe out all your profits if you had been betting in the opposite direction overnight. Day trading, however, is extremely risky for beginners in options trading as the price movement is so fast and dynamic that when things happen, beginners may not know what to do and be able to do it quickly. This is therefore not recommended for beginners.
So, there you have, 2 ways to profit from this market crisis through options trading which I have used profitably. Options trading (http://www.optiontradingpedia.com) is definitely profitable under any market conditions as long as you use the right method for the prevailing conditions.

Balance of Risk and Reward in Options Trading

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:42:12 +0000

You don’t need to be a trader or an investor to know that the higher the risk, the greater the reward. This concept is true in all aspects of life and business. The more risk you are willing to undertake in life, the more life returns to you. Indeed, risk and reward are directly proportional and often in trading and investment, the more risk your account is exposed to, the greater the return on investment when things work out as planned.
Knowing that risk and reward are proportional makes finding the correct balance of risk and reward extremely important to all kinds of traders; stock traders, futures traders, options traders etc. There is no one solution that works for everyone and the correct balance is decided upon the risk appetite and risk tolerance of the individual trader.
For stock traders, balancing risk and reward primarily involves adjusting the amount of growth stocks and defensive stocks in one’s portfolio. Generally, the more growth or speculative stocks in one’s portfolio, the greater the risk due to greater uncertainty and therefore the higher the gain when things works out as expected. The more defensive stocks in one’s portfolio, the more predictable returns become and therefore the lower the return as these stocks does not generally move a lot. This degree of risk / reward balancing is at best crude compared to the surgically fine degree of balancing you can have in options trading.
Stock options are the most versatile trading instrument in the world right now due to the wide array of options strategies that are employable. Yes, not only can risk and reward be balanced through employing different mix of strategies in your portfolio, there are also different risk and reward profiles achievable by each individual options strategy. There are options strategies that range from making over 1000% profit while risking all your money to options strategies that make a mere 0.01% return while risking nothing as well as every centimeters in between.
As long as you understand what your personal risk appetite and risk tolerance is, you will be able to find an options strategy that suits your needs 100%. Here’s a general outline of the kind of risk reward balance that can be achieved through options trading:
Highest Risk, Highest Reward – OTM Call / Put buying
This is the options strategy that produces the legendary 1000% profit that amazed so many beginners. What those ads did not tell you is that the risk is losing ALL the money that you put into the strategy. This options strategy involves buying out of the money(http://www.optiontradingpedia.com/out_of_the_money_options.htm)call options when you think a stock is going to go up or buying out of the money put options when you think a stock is going to go down. Professionals use this options strategy with only a very small portion of their money in order to place a bet on an uncertain event such as leveraged buyout. Some lucky amateurs use this options strategy with all their money and then become millionaires overnight. The downside of this strategy is the fact that if the stock did not move far enough in the direction you expected it to, you can lose all the money you put into the strategy. That is also why so many beginners break their accounts overnight in options trading.
Various Degrees of Risk and Reward – Options Spreads
There are literally hundreds of possible options spread strategies out there with various degrees of risk and reward for every market condition. There are more aggressive bullish, bearish, neutral and volatile spreads and there are more conservative ones. All of them shares the same logic of higher risk compensated with a higher profit potential.
Lowest Risk, Lowest Reward – Options Arbitrage
Yes, there are literally risk free trading opportunities in options trading which also returns very small, sometimes negligible returns. These are the legendary options arbitrage strategies. Options arbitrage strategies such as conversion/reversal aims to make a fixed return totally risk free through simultaneously buying the underlying and shorting the overpriced synthetic equal or vice versa. The problem with such strategies is that the returns are so low that most of the time, it’s even lower than the commissions you will pay for the trades made. Even if you manage to return a positive return, the return can be as low as 0.01% in percentage terms. That is why arbitrageurs aim to make an absolute return using enormous amounts of money.
With this in mind, the most conservative traders may choose to specialize totally in arbitrage strategies (http://www.optiontradingpedia.com/options_arbitrage.htm) while the most aggressive traders may choose to specialize in leveraged speculation using OTM options. Everyone else would be able to find something to suit your risk appetite in the hundreds of spread possibilities. This degree of flexibility and range of risk/reward possibilities makes stock options the most versatile trading instrument in the world today and why options trading (http://www.optiontradingpedia.com) is so popular these days.