The objective of the Option Sleuth is educate the investor on how a managed option strategy as part of a diversified portfolio can generate additional income and boost returns.
There are two basic types of options: the call and the put.
A call is an option contract that gives the holder the right to buy the underlying security at a specified price for a certain, fixed period of time.
A put is an option contract that gives the holder the right to sell the underlying security at a specified price for a certain, fixed period of time.
Option contracts may be opened as a buy (long positions) or a write (short positions).
The following common option strategies are defined in terms of a net long position, however each strategy may also be opened as a net short position.
• Buy a call
Outlook on the underlying equity: Positive
Potential gain: Unlimited
Potential loss: Limited to price paid for call
• Buy a put
Outlook on the underlying equity: Negative
Potential gain: Limited to the value of the equity
Potential loss: Limited to price paid for put
• Buy a call spread (buy a call and sell a higher strike call)
Outlook on the underlying equity: Positive
Potential gain: Limited to spread value less price paid
Potential loss: Limited to price paid for spread
• Buy a put spread (buy a put and sell a lower strike put)
Outlook on the underlying equity: Negative
Potential gain: Limited to spread value less price paid
Potential loss: Limited to price paid for spread
• Covered call (buy equity, sell higher strike call)
Outlook on the underlying equity: Positive
Potential gain: Varies
Potential loss: Limited to value of equity less price received for call
This week's featured book on options trading:
Trading Options at Expiration: Strategies and Models for Winning the Endgame
by Jeff Augen
FT Press (March 2009)
From the publisher: Equity and index options expire on the third Friday of each month. As that moment approaches, unusual market forces create option price distortions, rarely understood by most investors. These distortions give rise to outstanding trading opportunities with enormous profit potential. In Trading Options at Expiration, leading options trader Jeff Augen explores this extraordinary opportunity with never-before published statistical models, minute-by-minute pricing analysis, and optimized trading strategies that regularly deliver returns of 40% to 300% per trade.
You’ll learn how to structure positions that profit from end-of-contract price distortions with remarkably low risk. These strategies don’t rely on your ability to pick stocks or predict market direction and they only require one or two days of market exposure per month.
If you’re looking for an innovative new way to reignite your returns no matter where the markets move, you’ve found it in Trading Options at Expiration.
Also available: Trading Options at Expiration (Kindle edition). Learn more about the Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device.
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