Testimonials

April 18, 2013

Front-Month Puts May Not be the Best Solution

Filed under: Options Education — Tags: , , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 8:48 am

With the market threatening to move lower after a bullish run to start the year and earning’s season upon us, it might be a good time to talk about put options. If a trader buys a put option, he or she has the right to sell the underlying at a particular price (strike price) before a certain time (expiration). If a trader owns 100 shares of stock and purchases a put option, the trader may be able to protect the position fully or to some degree because he or she will have the right to sell the stock at the strike price by expiration even if the shares lose value.

A lot of traders especially those who are just learning to trade options can be smitten by put options especially buying the shortest-term, or front month put for protection. The problem, however, is that there is a flaw to the reasoning of purchasing front-month puts as protection. Front-month contracts have a higher theta (time decay) and relying on front-month puts to protect a straight stock purchase is not necessarily the best way to protect the stock. If you were to continually purchase front-month puts as protection, that can end up being a rather expensive way to by insurance.

Although front month options are often cheaper, they are not always your best bet. The idea may be sound, the trader purchases a number of shares of the stock and purchases out-of-the-money puts to protect his or her position; but sound reasoning does not always lead to good practice. Here’s an example.

We will use a hypothetical trade. The stock is trading a slightly above 13 and our hypothetical trader wants to own the stock because he or she thinks the stock will beat its earnings’ estimates in each of the next two quarters. This investment will take at least six months as the trader wants to allow the news events to move the stock higher.

Being a smart options trader, our stock trader wants some insurance against a potential drop in the stock just in case. The trader decides to buy a slightly out-of-the-money October 13 put, which carries an ask price of $0.50 (rounded for simplicity purposes). That 0.50 premium represents almost 4 percent of the current stock price. In fact, if the investor rolled option month after month, it would create a big dent in the initial outlay of cash. To be sure, after about seven months (assuming the stock hangs around $13) the trader would lose more than 25 percent on the $13 investment.

If the stock drops in price, then the ultimate rationalization for the strategy is realized; protection. The put provides a hedge. The value of the option will increase as the stock drops, which can offset the loss suffered as the stock drops. Buying the put is a hedge and and a solid insurance policy – though, albeit, an expensive one. Investors can usually find better ways to protect a stock.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

February 21, 2013

Expiration Week: Butterflies

Filed under: Options Education — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 2:25 pm

One of the major differences when learning to trade options as opposed to equity trading is the impact of time on the various trade vehicles.  Remember that quoted option premiums reflect the sum of both intrinsic (if any) and extrinsic (time) value.  Also remember that while very few things in trading are for certain, one certainty is that the time value of an option premium goes to zero at the closing bell on expiration Friday.

While this decay of time premium to a value of zero is reliable and inescapable in our world of option trading, it is important to recognize that the decay is not linear.  It is during the final weeks of the option cycle that decay of the extrinsic premium begins inexorably to race ever faster to oblivion.  In the vocabulary of the options trader, the rate of theta decay increases as expiration approaches. It is from this quickening of the pace that many examples of option trading vehicles gain their maximum profitability during this final week of their life.

Some of the most dramatic changes in behavior can be seen in the trading vehicle known as the butterfly. For those new to options, consideration of the butterfly represents the move from simple single legged strategy such as simply buying a put or a call to multi-legged strategies that include both buying and selling options in certain patterns.

To review briefly, a butterfly consists of a vertical debit spread and vertical credit spread sharing the central strike price constructed together in the same underlying in the same month.  It may be built using either puts or calls and its directional bias derives from strike selection rather than the particular type of option used for construction.  For a (long) butterfly, maximum profit is always achieved at expiration when the underlying closes at the short strike shared by the two vertical spreads.

The butterfly has the interesting functional characteristic that it responds sluggishly to price movement early in its life, for example in the first two weeks of a four week option cycle. However, as expiration approaches, the butterfly becomes increasingly sensitive to price movement as the time premium erodes and the beast becomes increasingly subject to delta as a result of increasing gamma. It is for this reason that many butterfly traders restrict their use to the more responsive part of the options cycle. For a butterfly, the greatest sensitivity to time (and, therefore, profit potential) is reaped in the final week of the life cycle of the butterfly, i.e. expiration week.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

October 18, 2012

Weekly Options Impact and AAPL

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 1:54 pm

Options have traditionally traded in 12 cycles per year.  Since there are 52 weeks per year, most monthly cycles have had a life span of 4 weeks with the occasional 5 week cycle in order to make the math work out. In these multi-week cycles, each week tends to have its own personality and the tempo of price change would often accelerate as expiration approached.  This effect was at least in part the result of the non linear nature of the decay curve of extrinsic premium.  It is as if the option cycle began with a decay curve akin to an easy green ski trail and ends on a double black diamond slope.

If you are just learning to trade options, strategies that include a component of being short premium, the maximum potential total profit or loss is only achieved at expiration.  This effect is easily seen in the case of vertical spreads which only reach their maximum potential gain or loss at expiration or when the spread goes deep in-the-money or out-of-the-money.

CBOE introduced weekly options in 2005 on several broad indices and the launch was met with a tepid reception.  However, trading volume in weekly options contracts has recently exploded, additional indices and ETF underlyings have been added, and a number of actively traded equities have joined the family of weekly options.  An updated list of the rapidly increasing available weeklies can be found at this CBOE site: http://www.cboe.com/micro/weeklys/introduction.aspx

Weekly options are a rapidly evolving and changing part of the options world.  The new week’s options are offered on the Thursday of the week prior to expiration rather than the Friday.

The availability of weekly options has undoubtedly had a significant impact on a variety of strategies.  Their acceptance and increase in trading volume has been nothing short of stunning.  For example, the 635 and 640 call strikes in AAPL that were offered this morning and will expire next Friday, October 26, each have a volume of around 3,000 contracts today alone.

Are weekly options something that you can incorporate into your trading plan? You will have to decide for yourself.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

September 13, 2012

To Buy Puts or Not to Buy Puts…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 10:36 am

A lot of traders especially those who are just learning to trade options are enamored by the all mighty put – especially buying the shortest-term, or front month, put for protection. The problem, however, is that there is a flaw to the reasoning and practice of purchasing front-month puts as protection. Ah, yes; it’s true. Front-month contracts have a higher theta – and relying on front-month puts to protect a straight stock purchase is not, necessarily, the best way to protect an investment. If you were to continually purchase front-month puts as protection, that can end up being a rather expensive way to by insurance.

Although front month options are often cheaper, they are not always your best bet. The reasoning may be sound, the trader purchases a number of shares of the stock and purchases out-of-the-money puts to protect his position; but sound reasoning does not always lead to good practice. Let’s take a look at an example.

We will use a hypothetical trade today. The stock is trading a slightly above 13 and our hypothetical trader wants to own the stock because he/she thinks the stock will report blow-out earnings in each of the next two quarters. This investment will take at least six months, as the trader wants to allow the news events to push the stock higher.

Being a savvy options trader, our stock trader wants some insurance against a potential drop in the stock. The trader decides to buy a slightly out-of-the-money July 13 put, which carries an ask price of $0.50 (rounded for simplicity purposes). That 0.50 premium represents almost 4 percent of the current stock price. In fact, if the investor rolled option month after month, it would put a big dent in the initial investment. To be sure, after about seven months (assuming the stock hangs around $13) the trader would lose more than 25 percent on the $13 investment.

What if the stock drops? That is the ultimate rationale for the strategy in the first place: protection. The put provides a hedge. The value of the option will increase as the stock drops, which counterbalances the loss suffered as the stock drops. Buying the put is a hedge, a veritable insurance policy – though, albeit, an expensive one. Investors can usually find better ways to protect a stock.

Learn a better way to hedge with this FREE options report.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

September 6, 2012

Butterflies and Weekly Options

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 11:39 am

The weekly options have been the topic of our blog many times before.  Despite this topic being the trendy subject and in the forefront of many discussions, it is helpful to recognize the functional flexibility this dramatically shortened lifespan brings to a variety of  option strategies. If you need to find out more about weekly options or other option strategies, feel free to visit the options education section on our website.

As an example, consider the case of a frequently traded spread vehicle, the butterfly.  For those first encountering this strategy, it is helpful to consider briefly its components. It is constructed by establishing both a credit and a debit spread sharing a central strike price.  It can be constructed in either all puts or all calls.

Butterflies can be designed to be either a non-directional or directional trade strategy.  Functional characteristics include: negative vega, variable delta and accelerating gamma and theta during its life span. In the case of the long standing monthly duration option cycles which had heretofore been available, these characteristics developed over weeks to months and reached their final expression during the week of option expiration.

These functional characteristics have limited the utility of butterflies over brief duration moves occurring early in the options cycle.  Many butterfly traders have had the experience of correctly predicting price action early in the cycle only to have the butterfly deliver little, if any, profit.

The short nine day duration of the weekly options has dramatically accelerated the pace of butterfly trading as the changes begin to occur literally over the extent of a few hours.  As such, it is possible to gain the advantage of this trade structure over brief directional moves or in the case of non-directional traders to have market exposure for briefer periods of time.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

August 23, 2012

Fractal Position Management

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 1:48 pm

Option traders manage risk. Want a job description? That’s about it. Every trade has a risk and reward associated with it and traders must realize that especially when first learning how to trade. But because options are instruments of leverage, it is very easy to let risk get out of control, if you’re not careful. Traders must manage risk carefully, instituting tight reins their options, spreads and portfolio. The management technique of each is essentially the same because position management is fractal.

Something that is fractal has a recurring pattern that has continuity within its scale. For example, a tree is fractal. A tree has a trunk with limbs extending from it; limbs with smaller branches extending from it; smaller branches with yet smaller branches; and leaves with veins that branch off within each leaf. The pattern is repetitive within each iteratively smaller extension of the last. This is found in option position management too.

Individual options have risk that must be managed. They have direction, time and volatility risk which are managed by setting thresholds for each of the corresponding greeks which measure them. When individual options are a part of a spread, the resulting spread has these same risks of direction time and volatility. The spread’s risk must consequently be managed likewise. A trader’s complete option portfolio, which may be comprised of many spreads has systematic risk in accordance to the market. These risks are the same as for individual options or individual spreads: direction, time and volatility. Traders should treat their all encompassing portfolio as a single, macro spread and use the portfolio greeks to set parameters to minimize the total risk of the portfolio.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

July 19, 2012

Expiration Week: Butterflies

Filed under: Options Education — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 1:20 pm

One of the major differences when learning to trade options as opposed to equity trading is the impact of time on the various trade vehicles.  Remember that quoted option premiums reflect the sum of both intrinsic (if any) and extrinsic (time) value.  Also remember that while very few things in trading are for certain, one certainty is that the time value of an option premium goes to zero at the closing bell on expiration Friday.

While this decay of time premium to a value of zero is reliable and inescapable in our world of option trading, it is important to recognize that the decay is not linear.  It is during the final weeks of the option cycle that decay of the extrinsic premium begins inexorably to race ever faster to oblivion.  In the vocabulary of the options trader, the rate of theta decay increases as expiration approaches. It is from this quickening of the pace that many examples of option trading vehicles gain their maximum profitability during this final week of their life.

Some of the most dramatic changes in behavior can be seen in the trading vehicle known as the butterfly. For those new to options, consideration of the butterfly represents the move from simple single legged strategy such as simply buying a put or a call to multi-legged strategies that include both buying and selling options in certain patterns.

To review briefly, a butterfly consists of a vertical debit spread and vertical credit spread sharing the central strike price constructed together in the same underlying in the same month.  It may be built using either puts or calls and its directional bias derives from strike selection rather than the particular type of option used for construction.  For a (long) butterfly, maximum profit is always achieved at expiration when the underlying closes at the short strike shared by the two vertical spreads.

The butterfly has the interesting functional characteristic that it responds sluggishly to price movement early in its life, for example in the first two weeks of a four week option cycle. However, as expiration approaches, the butterfly becomes increasingly sensitive to price movement as the time premium erodes and the beast becomes increasingly subject to delta as a result of increasing gamma. It is for this reason that many butterfly traders restrict their use to the more responsive part of the options cycle. For a butterfly, the greatest sensitivity to time (and, therefore, profit potential) is reaped in the final week of the life cycle of the butterfly, i.e. expiration week.

John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

May 17, 2012

Option Gamma and AAPL

Filed under: Options Education — Tags: , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 10:42 am

The trifecta of option greeks are delta, theta and vega. But the next most important greek is gamma. Options gamma is a one of the so-called second-order options greeks. It is, if you will, a derivative of a derivative. Specifically, it is the rate of change of an option’s delta relative to a change in the underlying security.

Using options gamma can quickly become very mathematical and tedious for novice option traders. But, for newbies to option trading, here’s what you need to learn to trade using gamma:

When you buy options you get positive gamma. That means your deltas always change in your favor. You get longer deltas as the market rises; and you get short deltas as the market falls. For a simple trade like an AAPL June 540 long call that has a delta of 0.48 and gamma of 0.008 , a trader makes money at an increasing rate as the stock rises and loses money at a decreasing rate as the stock falls. Positive gamma is a good thing.

When you sell options you get negative gamma. That means your deltas always change to your detriment. You get shorter deltas as the market rises; and you get longer deltas as the market falls. Here again, for a simple trade like a short call, that means you lose money at an increasing rate as the stock rises and make money at a decreasing rate as the stock falls. Negative gamma is a bad thing.

Start by understanding options gamma from this simplistic perspective. Then, later, worry about working in the math.

Edited by John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

December 22, 2011

Weekly Options Impact

Filed under: Options Education — Tags: , , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 12:55 pm

Options have traditionally traded in 12 cycles per year.  Since there are 52 weeks per year, most monthly cycles have had a life span of 4 weeks with the occasional 5 week cycle in order to make the math work out. In these multi-week cycles, each week tends to have its own personality and the tempo of price change would often accelerate as expiration approached.  This effect was at least in part the result of the non linear nature of the decay curve of extrinsic premium.  It is as if the option cycle began with a decay curve akin to an easy green ski trail and ends on a double black diamond slope.

For strategies that include a component of being short premium, the maximum potential total profit or loss is only achieved at expiration.  This effect is easily seen in the case of vertical spreads which only reach their maximum potential gain or loss at expiration or when the spread goes deep in-the-money or out-of-the-money.

CBOE introduced weekly options in 2005 on several broad indices and the launch was met with a tepid reception.  However, trading volume in weekly options contracts has recently exploded, additional indices and ETF underlyings have been added, and a number of actively traded equities have joined the family of weekly options.  An updated list of the rapidly increasing available weeklies can be found at this CBOE site: http://www.cboe.com/micro/weeklys/introduction.aspx

Weekly options are a rapidly evolving and changing part of the options world.  As an example of this rapid evolution, the new week’s options have begun to be offered on the Thursday of the week prior to expiration rather than the Friday as had been the case previously effective July 1, 2010.

The availability of weekly options has undoubtedly had a significant impact on a variety of strategies.  Their acceptance and increase in trading volume has been nothing short of stunning.  For example, the 390 and 395 call strikes in AAPL that will expire tomorrow, December 23, each have an open interest of around 10,000 contracts.

Are weekly options something that you can incorporate into your trading plan? You will have to decide for yourself.

Edited by John Kmiecik

Senior Options Instructor

Market Taker Mentoring

October 13, 2011

Options Gamma and You

Filed under: Options Education — Tags: , , , , , — Dan Passarelli @ 11:30 am

The trifecta of option greeks are delta, theta and vega. But the next most important greek is gamma. Options gamma is a one of the so-called second-order options greeks. It is, if you will, a derivative of a derivative. Specifically, it is the rate of change of an option’s delta relative to a change in the underlying security.

Using options gamma can quickly become very mathematical and tedious for novice option traders. But, for newbies to option trading, here’s what you need to know:

When you buy options you get positive gamma. That means your deltas always change in your favor. You get longer deltas as the market rises; and you get short deltas as the market falls. For a simple trade like a long call, that means you make money at an increasing rate as the stock rises and lose money at a decreasing rate as the stock falls. Positive gamma is a good thing.

When you sell options you get negative gamma. That means your deltas always change to your detriment. You get shorter deltas as the market rises; and you get longer deltas as the market falls. Here again, for a simple trade like a short call, that means you lose money at an increasing rate as the stock rises and make money at a decreasing rate as the stock falls. Negative gamma is a bad thing.

Start by understanding options gamma from this simplistic perspective. Then, later, worry about working in the math.

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