#079: Fri 2/19/2010
February Options Expiration

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#242: Tue 3/9/2010
Closing Our Last Repair Trade From February For A Gain

We have a gain of $2.49 on the stock and the March $43 put is worth $0.30. The gain on the sale of this option is $1.39. Our combined gain is $3.88 against a loss of $1.20 for a profit of $2.68 on a cost of $42.63 or 6.29%. ~more~

#241: Mon 3/8/2010
Selling OIH Stock And Buyung Back The March $125 Put

This morning the OIH is at $127.23 so we will sell the stock we bought at $124.44 for a gain of $2.79. The March $125 put is now worth $1.49 so we will buy back the put and lock in a gain of $2.26. Coupled with the gain in the stock price our gain is $5.05 or 4.05%. However, we have a loss on our original call of $3.10. Therefore, our profit moves to $1.95. The final gain is $1.95 or 1.56%. ~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~

#242: Tue 3/9/2010
Closing Our Last Repair Trade From February For A Gain

We have a gain of $2.49 on the stock and the March $43 put is worth $0.30. The gain on the sale of this option is $1.39. Our combined gain is $3.88 against a loss of $1.20 for a profit of $2.68 on a cost of $42.63 or 6.29%. ~more~

#241: Mon 3/8/2010
Selling OIH Stock And Buyung Back The March $125 Put

This morning the OIH is at $127.23 so we will sell the stock we bought at $124.44 for a gain of $2.79. The March $125 put is now worth $1.49 so we will buy back the put and lock in a gain of $2.26. Coupled with the gain in the stock price our gain is $5.05 or 4.05%. However, we have a loss on our original call of $3.10. Therefore, our profit moves to $1.95. The final gain is $1.95 or 1.56%. ~more~

#240: Fri 3/5/2010
Locking In Gains Nucor (NUE) Calls

Tuesday we bought March $43 Calls(NUE100320C00043000) in Nucor (NUE) for $1.30. The calls are now at $1.91. We will lock in our gain of $0.61 or 47%. ~more~

#239: Tue 3/2/2010
Buying Calls In This Steel Name

We will buy March calls in ... ~more~

#079: Fri 2/19/2010
February Options Expiration

There are two open option positions with February expirations. Therefore, we either let them expire or do some repair damge. We will opt for the latter ~more~

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

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

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

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#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~