#078: Mon 2/8/2010
Quick Update on Open Positions and The Euro

As we head into the second week of February trading, the state of the energy and materials market is being dictated by one variable, the U.S. dollar. As the dollar strengthens against other currencies, the sellers appear to take both gold and oil lower. Remember the best environment for gold and oil is a weak dollar. In our humble opinion, the dollar appears to have lots of resistance at the current level. This level on the UUP is $23.75. A retracement from the November low to last week's high could see a move back to $23.11 at a minimum and more likely $22.91. This should be enough to catch a nice rally in stocks in the energy and materials space.

~more~

#232: Mon 2/8/2010
Buying a March Call Spread In This Steel Name

Steel stocks have been hammered. Time to go fishing... ~more~

#231: Fri 2/5/2010
Covering Short on Williams Companies and Covering February Calls For Gain of 10.50%

On January 14th, we exercised the put and went short the stock. The stock was shorted at today's $21.50 and sold the February 20 calls (WMBBD) for $2.00. Our loss on the initial put was $1.20. On the short we have made $1.86 and the short on the call has gained $1.40 as the call is at $0.60. The gain on the short stock and call total $3.46 less a loss of $1.20 our gain is $2.26 off the exercised price of $21.50 or 10.50%. ~more~

#137: Tue 12/1/2009
Unusal Options Activity From Tuesday

One of the stocks we picked upon Monday made our list again on Tuesday. Put action is again high in this name. ~more~

#232: Mon 2/8/2010
Buying a March Call Spread In This Steel Name

Steel stocks have been hammered. Time to go fishing... ~more~

#231: Fri 2/5/2010
Covering Short on Williams Companies and Covering February Calls For Gain of 10.50%

On January 14th, we exercised the put and went short the stock. The stock was shorted at today's $21.50 and sold the February 20 calls (WMBBD) for $2.00. Our loss on the initial put was $1.20. On the short we have made $1.86 and the short on the call has gained $1.40 as the call is at $0.60. The gain on the short stock and call total $3.46 less a loss of $1.20 our gain is $2.26 off the exercised price of $21.50 or 10.50%. ~more~

#230: Thu 2/4/2010
Too Oversold

We will buy calls in... ~more~

#229: Wed 2/3/2010
Locking In Gains On Newmont Mining Calls

Monday we bought calls in Newmont Mining (NEM). The Newmont Mining Feburary $45 Calls were bought for $1.70. They are at $2.01 so we will lock in a gain of $0.31 or 18%. ~more~

#078: Mon 2/8/2010
Quick Update on Open Positions and The Euro

~more~

---

#077: Wed 1/27/2010
Update On Current Thoughts

~more~

---

#076: Thu 1/14/2010
First Update For The Year

~more~

---

#075: Fri 12/18/2009
Option Expiration Trades

~more~

---

#137: Tue 12/1/2009
Unusal Options Activity From Tuesday

One of the stocks we picked upon Monday made our list again on Tuesday. Put action is again high in this name. ~more~

---

#136: Mon 11/30/2009
A Move To Daily Updates Around The Close

Starting today, we will move to a new format where at the end of the day we will run through interesting options outliers in the energy/materials space. Helmerich & Payne (HP) traded 24,110 options against an average of 1127 so the % rise was 2039%. Both calls and puts were fairly even at 12,135 calls to 11,975 puts. The stock is stuck in a range so this could be a good spread trade and probably what happened today. ~more~

---

#135: Mon 10/19/2009
Several Small Cap Names Saw Unusual Options Action

These plays could be interesting as new plays on the long side. Given the low stock price there is a chance one of these names could appear as a low stock price recommendation. ~more~

---

#134: Fri 10/9/2009
Change In This Section Of The Website

Going forward, when we are in the office expect to see the outliers list by symbol and what is sticking out as an outlier. Initial outliers include ... ~more~

---

Advantages of Call Options Over Stock
10/01/2007

Options were originally created to hedge or avoid risk. By purchasing or selling options, you can custom tailor the profit and loss profile of your holdings which is something that long stock holders cannot do. ~more~

---

Why all the Excitement about Options?
09/11/2007

While there are numerous advantages to options, most can be grouped into one of three categories. First, significantly less money is spent to gain control of stock. Second, investors can alter the profit and loss profiles to accept or reject particular risks. Third, investors can profit from a lack of movement in the stock, which is certainly something that cannot be done with stock ownership. Let's take a closer look at each of these reasons in turn. ~more~

---

Education Corner, Options - There's Risk in Reward
by Bill Johnson, 04/20/2006

Over the past few months, I've presented some hedging ideas and strategies for retail investors. Many of the questions I receive have a similar tone where people ask things like, "Wouldn't it be better to buy the $50 call instead of the $55?" or "Wouldn't it be better to sell a higher strike put so that you get a bigger credit?" While these are great questions, there is one simple way to answer them all decisively — by understanding the elusive concept of risk versus reward. ~more~

---