Get started

Options-strategy

Call Ratio Spread CreditA ratio call spread is a neutral strategy in which we buy several calls at a lower strike and sells more calls at a higher strike. In a ratio call spread with credit, there is no downside risk. The ratio spread that we see on the chart has a ratio of 2:1. We can see from the chart the non-linear behavior of options. Inputs: MA (Mastercard) Credit received -> 3.1 ($310 for one position) Stock price -> 332 Upper strike -> 340 , 2 calls sold Lower strike -> 330 , 1 call bought Days to expire -> 37 Implied Volatility -> 0.291 (29.1%) Date -> 11/11/2020 The credit received is $310, the maximum profit is $1310 with less than 1% probability, the maximum loss is theoretically unlimited. In this example, one call was bought at 330 strike price for 14.2 and two calls were sold at 340 strike price for 8.65 each, in total 17.3. The credit = 17.3-14.2 = 3.1 If at expiration the stock price will be below the lower strike (330), all of the options will be worthless and all the credit will be received. The maximum profit at expiration for a ratio spread occurs if the stock is exactly at the striking price of the sold options. The reason is that the call that was bought has some profit (stock price above strike price) and the sold options are worthless. Maximum profit = The spread (340-330=10) + Credit received (17.3) – Debit paid (14.2) = 13.1 => $1310 (mulitpling by 100 shers per option contract) The risk in this position is to the upside. The calculation for the break-even at expiration. Break-even point = Upper strike price + the points of max profit = 340+13.1=353.1 This strategy has a high probability in general and even more so when used correctly. The example that has been used could profit the most in the blue zone, where the profit is greater than 50% of the maximum profit, but it will take 34 days out of 37 to reach there. How implied volatility affect this position? In a ratio spread, there are more options sold than bought, in the previous posts we saw that volatility increase is harming sold options and benefits bought options, this example is no different. 10% increase in implied volatility, the lines are now in a worse location compare to the original position. 10% decrease in implied volatility, the lines are now in a better location compare to the original position. The position can now reach the 50% max profit zone in 30 days. The next post will be on ratio spread debit, that looks different from the ratio spread credit, the solution to the partial differential equations of the Black-Scholes model can be seen.
NYSE:MAEducation
by ZoharCho
1
Options strategy Iron CondorIron Condor - a spread with limited risk and limited profit, using four different striking prices but the same expiration date. The position is a combination of puts and calls all of which are Out of the money. The maximum profit is realized between the two inner strikes, and the maximum loss is realized outside of the higher and lower strikes. This strategy is preferable for beginner traders because there is no unlimited risk theoretically, unlike selling straddle/strangle. When selling an Iron Condor (or Iron Butterfly), the trader is neutral. Because all the options are Out of the money, the trader receives credit for it. The inner options are being sold, those options worth more than the outer options that being bought, inner options are closer to the stock price, which means their strike is closer to At the money strike (to more expensive options). If the stock price closes between the two inner strikes at expiration, all the options will expire worthless. The trader will receive all the credit. Chart example: Inputs: Credit recived-> 13.45, Stock price-> 484, Top Upper strike (Bought) ->560 Call Top Lower strike (Sold) ->530 Call Bottom Upper strike (Sold) ->450 Put Bottom Lower strike (Bought) ->450 Put Days to expire -> 46 Implied Volatility -> 46.7% (0.467) Date - > 02/11/2020 Maximum Profit = The credit recived = $1345 Maximum Loss = Difference in Upper (or Lower) Strike – the credit = 560 - 530 – 13.45 = 16.55 = 450 - 420 – 13.45 =16.55 Maximum Loss = $1655 If the Iron Condor is not balanced (the differences between strikes are not equal like in this example), the calculations are different. Like selling Straddle / Strangle, the same conclusions about increase or decrease in Implied volatility are true here. In these conditions, it will take 10 days for the position to enter the profit zone and 35 days to receive 50% of the credit. This post relates to previous posts.
Editors' picks
NASDAQ:NFLXEducation
by ZoharCho
12
Option strategy sell Strangle/Straddle In the chart, you see the strangle strategy when sold, I will show what will happen if the implied volatility changes, you can see this strategy being bought in the next post. You can come back to this post and watch how things play out. As a rule of thumb, strategies are sold when implied volatility is relatively high and bought when implied volatility is relatively low, the seller would try to anticipate IV decrease and the buyer would try to anticipate IV increase. Selling Strangle The strangle is a position involving calls and puts, they will have the same expiration date but different strike prices. Selling Strangle is established by selling Out of the money calls and puts when the stock price is usually in the center. This strategy when selling a strangle is neutral, the seller anticipates that in the life of the options the stock price will remain between the strikes, and at expiration, the options will be worthless and the seller will receive all the credit. The green zone is the profit zone, the yellow lines are the break-even lines, the blue lines are losing lines, the lime green lines represent when you can realize 50% of the credit. I added pink broken lines to show where this strategy will have the maximum profit at expiration. For example, from the chart, these options are from 29/10/2020 close in Zoom. The strategy sold for -> 44.6, meaning credit is received. Stock price-> 489.68 , Upper strike (call)-> 600, Lower strike (put)-> 400 Days-> 50, Impleid volatility-> 82% (0.82), date-> 29/10/2020 For one position we received 44.6, multiplying by 100 (number of shares per contract) if the stock price will be between 400 to 600 at the expiration date , all the options will expire worthless, the seller will receive all the credit $4460 this is the maximum profit. Upper break-even point at expiration: The upper strike + credit received = 600+44.6 = 644.6 Lower break-even point at expiration: The lower strike - credit received = 400-44.6 = 355.4 Between 600-644.6 and 355.4-400, one of the options is not worthless at expiration, so it has intrinsic value, the seller will get between $0-$4460, the seller will need to close the position before expiration to avoid assignment. If the price got to 689.2 or 310.8, the position is losing, in this case (-$4460), this strategy has a limited profit and theoretically unlimited loss. You can see from the chart that It will take at least 22 days to realize 50% of the credit, some traders don’t want to wait until expiration and they prefer to close the position at 50% credit. How implied volatility affects the position? (20% increase and decrease) The blue area is the new profit zone, the purple lines are the new losing lines. If the IV will raise after entering the trade (left chart), the seller will need to wait 18 days before his position will re-enter the profit zone, what was before a profit area will now be a losing area. On the other hand, if the IV will fall (right chart), the seller will profit much quicker, the losing lines will be farther away. Selling Straddle This strategy is a private case to the strangle (the general strategy), in the straddle both options the calls and puts are at the same strike price, usually At the money. The strategy is sold at the money because the time premium is the largest there. This means that the seller receives a lot more credit for this strategy, the downside is for getting the maximum profit the stock price needs to finish exactly at the strike price, the probability for this to happen is less than 1%. The opportunity to realize 50% of the maximum profit will take longer than the strangle, in this example 39 days. The break-even lines will be much closer. The maximum profit for this example is $11,690, much larger than the strangle. The risks are also much larger. How implied volatility affects the position? (20% increase and decrease) The selling of the strangle and straddle are not for beginner traders, due to the risk involved, a less risker strategy is the Iron Condor . In the next post, I will show the buying side of the strategies.
NASDAQ:ZMEducation
by ZoharCho
3
Dec Hedge: VXX Puts - 18 Dec expiryDecember's Hedge Trade This trade hedges OLLI my secondary trade which is riskier as it was strategically structured to be the opposite of the border market movement. Hence if OLLI surges this should mitigate the loss. It is 15% ($827.42 with comms) of the premium from Dec's Primary and Secondary trade. If things go well I should not need to cash this at all. Bought 95 Puts @ 0.08, Strike 14 It requires an est -26% drop to reach the strike
AMEX:VXXShort
by Ronin_trader
JETS ETF Bullish inclined naked Puts - 18 Dec expiryDecember's Primary Trade As the Primary Trade is this aligned to the larger market direction and is deemed less risky. I'm bullish inclined for JETS as it is considered one of the COVID19 recovery sectors. The 9 Nov vaccine and US election news cause a significant gap upwards. Vaccine news as we near 2021 could start increasing it's frequency, resulting in traders trying to capitalize on it by entering sectors previously hit hard by COVID19 Sold 140 Puts @ 0.17, Strike 17 BP block: 25k Max gain - est $2380
AMEX:JETSLong
by Ronin_trader
$THBR entry PT 10.25-10.40 PT 30 and higher$THBR (fm @Marcoux Faraday) $THBR $thbrw enters into a definitive agreement with indie Semiconductor, "a leading pure-play provider of next-generation semiconductor and software solutions for the rapidly growing Autotech market this is major semiconductor sector has been un-phased this year $THBR + Indie semiconductor are merging with a value of $1.4 bill. Lower left crayon DD 1/3 ✓ Same management took $RPAY public Stock ATM $24+ ✓ Current customers: Apple CarKey, MAGNA, BYD, Sirius XM, Tesla, BMW, etc. ✓ $2B+ in backlog They work with $TSLA and $AAPL $982M EV (2x 2025 revenue) $1.44B Equity Value $SPAC Deal - $NPA DA with AST SpaceMobile (pre-revenue until 2023), who is building the first space-based cellular broadband network. $1.392B EV / $230M PIPE (Info from Twitter $THBR thread)
TLong
by BADQOMOCAWGOWLD
1
Options Delta ExplainedI’m Markus Heitkoetter and I’ve been an active trader for over 20 years. I often see people who start trading and expect their accounts to explode, based on promises and hype they see in ads and e-mails. They start trading and realize it doesn’t work this way. The purpose of these articles is to show you the trading strategies and tools that I personally use to trade my own account so that you can grow your own account systematically. Real money…real trades. What is Delta? What is Delta? You see options prices are influenced by what they call the Greeks. A few of the Greeks are Delta, Gamma, and Theta. These are just three of the Greeks there are more. When you’re trading options, it is important that you know about the Greeks and what they do. For this article, we will focus on Delta, what it is, and why you should know exactly what Delta is. Then we’ll go through a specific example explaining it, and then I’ll share with you a few things that you need to know about Delta. So let’s get started. The Greeks OK, so as I mentioned, there are the option Greeks. Here are a few of them and what they tell you: 1) Delta is actually measuring the sensitivity. It’s a mouthful, but I’ll show you exactly what it means, for the option’s premium relative to the underlying asset in this article. In a nutshell, though, it basically says, how much does the option price change if the stock moves $1 to the upside or the downside? 2) Gamma is the rate of change of the Delta. 3) Theta , and Theta basically measures time decay. What Is Delta? So what is Delta? Delta is a number between 0 and 1 that measures how much the price of an option changes if the stock moves by $1. I know all of this sounds super theoretical, so let me actually give you a specific example. Now, the example that I want to use here is Microsoft MSFT when it was trading at $211.20. I want to cover different strike prices of options, because, again, options have strike prices and expirations. We are looking at the current price of this option and we will look at the new price of this option if MSFT moves by $1 from $211.20 to $212.20. When you bring up the option chain in your trading platform, in my case I use Tastyworks, the option we are using as an example is expiring on November 27th. Here, you would see there are different call options on this site with different strike prices. You would also see that they have all sorts of different Deltas. So let’s get started with the 205 that is right now trading at $7.30, and the Delta is 0.8. Remember, the Delta is 0.8 because again, the Delta is between 0 and 1. I’ll tell you about negative Delta in just a moment. The current price of the option is what we are seeing right here. We look at the last traded price, the last traded price is $6.92. So what does it mean? It means if MSFT goes up by $1 to $212.20, that the new price is $6.92 plus the Delta ($0.80). So, you see this where it’s really important that you understand Delta. Some people think that options move even more than the stock, and this is not true at all. So option prices always move less than the stock price. So the new price here of the option would then be $7.72. So this is for a strike price of 205, and this is a strike price that is so-called ITM “In The Money” because its value, its strike is less than the current price. Now let’s take a look at a strike that is at the money. Now assuming MSFT is trading at $211 we will use the 210 strike price. The 210 strike price has a Delta of 0.57, and this would be a so-called ATM “At The Money” with a Delta of 0.57. Again, it is between 0 and 1. The current price of the 210 strike here is $3.05. We are using the last traded price here. So if MSFT moves by $1 upwards, this option only moves 0.57. So this means that this option moves to $3.62. Lets cover one more example. So if we are using a strike of 215, that would be OTM “Out Of The Money,” and the Delta is 0.27. So the current price of this option is $1.06. So if the stock moves up by a dollar, this option only moves up by $0.27. Even though the stock moves up by $1, this only moves to $1.33. Things You Need To Know So let’s talk about the things you need to know. Options that are ITM have a higher Delta then options OTM. So this means that ITM options move more. Now, if you were to look back at your options chain, you see that the Delta for deep in the money options is 0.98. So this basically means that if the stock goes up by $1, the price of this option goes up by $0.98, so the deeper in the money, the closer to $1 the price will move. So options that are ITM are more expensive. This is where it’s important that you see that there’s a relationship between the Delta and the price. The higher the Delta, the higher the price, because the higher the Delta, the more it is in the money. As a rule of thumb, options ATM “At The Money” which are right where the strike price is right at the level where the current price is, are usually around 0.5. Now, all this applies to call options. Now put options have a negative Delta which is between -1 and 0. Well, the price of a put decreases if the option goes up. So the Delta for put options is all negative. Now, put options that are ATM, are usually closer to one. And options that are OTM, don’t move a whole lot. This is very important because some people just think, “Oh, my gosh, I’m buying out of the money options because they are cheap. It is so much cheaper to pay $1.6 than $6.92.” But they don’t really move a whole lot. Now here’s a really cool tip that you might not have known. The Delta is a rough estimate of the probability of the stock price closing above the strike. So here, you see with a delta of 0.8, it means that there’s an 80% probability right now that the stock will be above that strike price. If the Delta is 0.27, then that means there’s a 27% probability that the stock will be above that strike price. So I think it’s kind of cool as an options trader to know this. So the Delta is giving you a rough approximation of how likely is it that the stock will be above or below the current strike price on exploration. Now here’s the tricky part, Delta is not fixed. So the Delta changes as the price changes and here’s why. Right now, if, for example, MSFT (trading at $211) goes up to 215, the current strike price of 210 is deeper in the money therefore, then the Delta will be higher. So now you know what Delta is, how it influences the option price, and you see that this is important when you are trading options.
TVC:NDQ
by rockwelltrading
SLG bullish inclined naked puts - 20 Nov expirySLG is a REIT, I identified this company through Finviz, so far it seems like a pretty decent tool to identify opportunities. Real estate similar to travel is another sector that has been beaten so badly. As such I don't think there are many speculators monitoring this company to move the price wildly Since the drop in Mar, unlike the broader market. SLG has not recovered and has been ranging for the entire Q3. The recent earnings has been pretty positive but it did not result in a spike or a huge price movement. This gave me the confidence to sell PUT options. My PUT sells also aligns to the broader bullish market movement and RSI is at a low of 45 Sold 30 PUTs @ 0.87, Strike 40 BP block: 14k Implied Volatility is contast around 0.62 Max gain est: $2610
NYSE:SLGLong
by Ronin_trader
Hyatt bullish inclined naked Puts - 16 Oct ExpiryHyatt is part of the hotel sector that has been battered by COVID-19 and since Mar it has slowly been gaining ground by following the overall market's bullishness. As it is one of the hugely weakened sectors, I don't expect much speculation/volatility in this sector (Near term). At this point (24 Sep), the market has been bearish across sectors. H's price movement has not fallen significantly vs the other more speculative sectors like tech. Since 17 Sep, price has dropped -13%. I placed a naked put at Strike price of 45 as it is near a key S/R line. Despite the past few negative days the larger trend is still bullish (Yellow line) RSI is also at 40 which seems to be the average low I also like it that it is the opposite of my JETS trade as it acts like a hedge. This seems like a viable hedge strategy as I can win both or lose one where the other will mitigate that loss (To an extend). Another hedge thought would be to potentially buy a cheap OTM Vix put or call. But let's see. Sold 40 Calls @ 0.45, Strike 45 BP block: 20k Max gain - est $1800
NYSE:H
by Ronin_trader
OLLI Bearish inclined naked calls - 18 Dec expiryDecember's Secondary Trade This trade is slightly more risky and is the opposite of the general market movement (bullish). I shortlisted Ollies out from the category of Discount Outlets from Finviz screener. Unlike the rest of the market that gapped up, this category fell after the 9 Nov US election news. This was one of the reasons why I feel the company's stock direction in the shorter term will be somewhat opposite of the market especially if there are vaccine related news. OLLI also had a good price for a strike above the current Support and Resistance line and is a good 19% from the entry price. I'm slightly worried about the Earning release on the 2 Dec, but i think with potential vaccine news traders will be optimistic and move their money to COVID19 recovering sectors like Travel etc. I will be hedging this trade with a bullish VXX trade, paid by the Dec premiums Sold 18 CALLs @ 1.85, Strike 105 BP block: 19k RSI: 51 Max gain est: $3330
NASDAQ:OLLIShort
by Ronin_trader
JETS ETF Bullish inclined naked Puts - 22 Jan expiryAs the Primary Trade is this aligned to the larger market direction and is deemed less risky. I'm bullish inclined for JETS as it is considered one of the COVID19 recovery sectors. More vaccine news and it's potential positive speculation could start increasing it's frequency, resulting in traders trying to capitalize on it by entering sectors previously hit hard by COVID19 Sold 120 Puts @ 0.30, Strike 19.5 BP block: 28k Max gain - est $3600
AMEX:JETSLong
by Ronin_trader
$TLGT PT 3-5.75 and higher by Jan 5th to Jan 21stTeligent, Inc., a specialty generic pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic topical, branded generic, and generic injectable pharmaceutical products in the United States and Canada. The company offers generic pharmaceutical products in topical, injectable, complex, and ophthalmic dosage forms. It is also involved in contract manufacturing and development business, including the development, manufacturing, filling, and package of topical semi-solid and liquid products for branded and generic pharmaceutical customers, as well as for over-the-counter and cosmetic markets. The company's topical semi-solid and liquid products are used in various applications that range from cosmetics and cosmeceuticals; and the prescription treatment of conditions, such as dermatitis, psoriasis, and eczema. It sells its products through national chain drug stores, drug wholesalers, distributors, and group purchasing organizations. The company was formerly known as IGI Laboratories, Inc. and changed its name to Teligent, Inc. in October 2015. Teligent, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is based in Buena, New Jersey.
TLong
by BADQOMOCAWGOWLD
2
NEE Options Plays With this chart, I have identified two possible options plays (both long OTM buys) based on the current trend and moving average positions, there a couple of indicators I found proving both an upside and downside theory so it's fair to say at this point the market must decide. The pink boxes are possible entry zones Id be comfortable with given the support and resistance shown, given the premiums and greeks add up feel free to expand upon this idea or leave me some feedback, thanks and good luck
NYSE:NEE
by Street_level_trader