Which is Better: Married Puts or Long Calls?

by Tom Nunamaker | Jun 2, 2014 | General

I read an article about position sizing using married puts with long stock at radioactivetrading.com. Kurt's strategy of married puts is a good idea, but if you remember from my article on option synthetics, that: Long Stock + Long Put = Long Call Kurt could achieve...

The Big Fish are Eating the Smaller Fish

by Tom Nunamaker | May 28, 2014 | Options trading

According to Crain's Chicago Business, a New York private-equity firm is planning to take control of OptionsHouse LLC and TradeMonster Group Inc. by investing in both of them and then merging the two companies. General Atlantic LLC is purchasing OptionsHouse from...

VIX Options to Add Half-Point Strikes in Near-Term Expiration

by Tom Nunamaker | May 28, 2014 | General

The CBOE announced they are adding half-point strikes for the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) options. The half-point strikes will be listed for the near-term expiration month and in the strike price range of 10 to 15 (i.e. 10.5, 11.5, 12.5, 13.5 and 14.5 strikes). The...

Option Synthetics Primer

by Tom Nunamaker | May 18, 2014 | Options trading, Trading

Let me ask you a question. Which position is more risky? Selling a Covered Call Selling a Naked Put Most people would say selling a Covered Call is a great investment strategy, but selling a Naked Put is terribly risky. If you understand Option Synthetics, you'll know...

Option Position Greeks Calculator Online

by Tom Nunamaker | May 14, 2014 | General

Dan Harvey has a spreadsheet he uses to help guide his contract sizes and manage his Weirdor trades. I extracted the option Greeks portion of it and created an online version which is at https://my.aeromir.com/go/c.option-position-greeks-calculator Here's a screen...