We often hear people saying that trading or investing in options is very risky. Yes, it is certainly no mean feat to trade or invest, using options as your investment vehicle. But is it really that risky in the first place? If trading or investing in options is really risky, then why are there so many individual traders or investors who make money from it? The only possible explanation is that those people had spent a lot of time and effort to study, understand and learn all they can about options in addition to the basic technical knowledge of how the market functions. They would have learnt how to increase their probabilities in making a profit and also reduce their risk to the minimum.

So what actually are stock option greeks? Why is it important to understand how they can affect the profitability of your trade or investment? Stock option greeks are actually sensitivities of the stock option to risks characteristics. These risks are actually factors that affects the pricing of the option. By learning how the stock option greeks relate to risk characteristics in addition to other basic technical analysis skills such as identifying the market trend, knowing when to and not to trade or invest according to timing ( Eg. Not to trade during lunch hours ), interpreting technical indicators correctly, have a risk and money management system to assist in making decisions when trading or investing ( This helps to eliminate and not involve your emotions that affect your trading decisions ) …etc We are able to have certain control over our risk exposures to leverage, time decay, volatility and interest rate risks. Each option risk characteristics, is represented by a greek word and they affect the option pricing differently. It is important to know whether you are purchasing a stock option at a under or over priced value as this can be another factor that will affect profitability of your trade or investment. You do not want to be in a disadvantage position at all times when trading or investing as the majority of the factors are against you and you have absolutely no control over them. ( Eg. Interest rates )

Mastering each risk characteristics will certainly help to reduce risk tremendously when trading or investing in stock options, what’s more, there are lots of stock option strategies that can be utilized once you understand the mechanics of the stock option greeks and make them work for your trade or investment.



By: Ben Ang

About the Author:

Do you believe buy & hold is safe? Or that selling short is risky? Read below the top 4 myths that are widely believed, and keeping people from their trading potential. When you properly understand these myths, you will be leaps ahead of everyone else.

Myth #1 Selling Short Is Risky

This trading myth comes from the fact that some stocks can trade down to zero while there is no limit to how high that stock can trade. So losses for long positions are limited on the downside, but short positions can suffer unlimited losses.

But the belief that short selling is risky is preventing you from minimizing risk and preventing you making money. You see, selling short works just as well as buying long if done properly. The level of a positions risk depends on good money management methods.

A small percentage of traders have realized this and have developed a trading strategy to sell short and profit easily regardless of which way the stock market is moving.

Myth #2 Buying & Holding is Safe

This would have to be the most common trading myth, that stems from the belief that the stock market always goes up in the long run. This is true enough, but it can also take an extremely long time. Some markets have been known to drop dramatically, and not return for 25 years! Like the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1929 to 1954.

It dropped so low during this time that no one would sit through it. Money managers who can duplicate the performance of the general market are very rare. You need an exit strategy that limits risk for every strategy, whether investor or trader.

A small percentage of traders are using a trading method that will actually apply to any market. This potentially gives them a winning edge. They aren’t simply buying, holding, and hoping like most traders do.

Myth #3 Trading is easy

If making money consistently from the stock market was easy, everyone would be doing it, and all be wealthy from it. Yeah, the physical part is easy enough, but many people have this idea that trading is easy, but they were never given the tools that make it easy.

It’s not that trading needs to be difficult, but it requires a solid trading method, and diligence on the traders part to stick with it. And unless you also trade with discipline and use good money management principals like the most successful traders, you can only hope to be less than successful.

Myth #4 The existence of the Holy Grail

I see far too many traders hopping from method to method, pursuing the next guaranteed thing only to be repeatedly let down. Newbies tend to think they should be able to win practically every trade. Thinking they should be having a straight line of wins without any major setbacks.

When armatures try something, they conclude that their system doesn’t work after the first few losses in a row. So they jump on something else. How can anyone expect to succeed this way. Unless you want to continue to suffer losing trades, and eventually give up, stop chasing this holy grail nonsense.

The holy grail of trading doesn’t exist. It would seem more than 90% of traders are wasting years of their life with this myth. Think of the progress, the money that could have been made, if they had spent that time and energy on a solid trading system, and a good trading method.

Where to go from here:

Well first, simply understand and clear your head of the above stock, and trading myths. Free yourself from these beliefs that restrain your potential as a trader. This will automatically put you in front of most traders.

There are a few traders however, less than 1%, who understand the above and more. who are quietly making a killing from the stock market, and are spending no more time trading than you. A lot of them keep their winning system and their successful trading secrets to themselves, but there are a few who will share this information with the public

Just remember, none of these super traders are born geniuses. And they don’t have a crystal ball forecasting the stock market. They simply have found a winning system that isn’t restricted to any time frame or market. The most successful traders are nobody special, apart from the stock market secrets they learned and diligence to put them in action.

Regardless of whether you trade Stocks, Options, Futures or Forex, or your level of experience, you can’t afford to keep buying and hoping. Stop leaving your success to chance when you can take control. It isn’t necessary to keep wasting all this time and money on the common trading methods. Even if you are ahead, the average trader could trade far more efficiently.

You too can become one of the very small percent of traders. Seriously, you just need to learn how to properly, plot the chart, the right setup conditions, the best entry point, stop loss point, and place your profit target point.

To learn how to do the things listed above, and for actual insider trading secrets on how the most profitable traders really do it - Read on.



By: Peter Bosch

About the Author:

While we may be talking about how profitable and consistent money can be made by selling options, some traders have popped the most fundamental but yet critical question on what type of options to sell.  Our context here refers to stock options, ETFs options or futures options.

Most options sellers may be familiar with the concept of selling options against equities which can include stocks or ETFs, but selling options against futures contract may be a totally new ground to them.  The basic principles may remain generally the same, but one must be aware of certain aspects which could make one more appealing or fearful than the other.

ETFs options work very much the same as stocks options. They are treated like just normal stocks except that while stocks can crash to zero value, the possibility of ETFs crashing to zero is extremely small, which I will not commit to saying zero.  Something very drastic must have happened to the market to cause this to happen since ETF like SPY comprises of some of the strongest companies listed in the exchange.  And for that reason, I generally prefer to sell put options on ETFs. Of course, that’s just my preference and I believe you have yours too. 

I have heard of some traders who did options selling on stocks and I mean on big companies which failed.  Depending on the risk management approach that was taken, disastrous to the trading account could have been avoided or minimized then.

The risk associated with selling options on stocks may therefore be perceived as relatively higher and thus lead to a possibly higher margin.  Premiums obtained from selling stock option and future options differ.  Margin requirement from selling stock options can be 10, 20 times higher than the premium collected while that for future options can be just a few times higher.  The return on investment is thus viewed as better for doing options selling on future contracts. 

Strike price consideration is also a critical factor when deciding between stocks and futures options.  For futures options, it is possible to sell very far OTM options and yet collecting a reasonable amount of premium for it.  However, for stock options, one would have noticed that after just a few strikes OTM, the premium to a miserable amount which might not be worth the risk to do so.

With a lower margin and possibility of getting a substantial premium for very far OTM options, futures options seemed a much choice than stocks options at this moment.  However, one must be aware that futures come with contract dates which they mature or expire.  They are unlike stocks or ETFs which one can hold upon assignment on the expiry dates.  Risk management for futures and stocks options selling hence differ.  Futures contracts like the E-mini S&P (symbol ES) also come with different contract dates, e.g., the September, December contract etc.  ES options expiring in the months of October, November and December are associated with the underlying future contract which expires in December.  Such knowledge can be important to a trader who is trading these options though the price difference between the various future contracts can be small.

Hope this article has been helpful to you if you are thinking of embarking on the futures options selling track.

Good luck!



By: uktank

About the Author:

Do you believe buy & hold is safe? Or that selling short is risky? Read below the top 4 myths that are widely believed, and keeping people from their trading potential. When you properly understand these myths, you will be leaps ahead of everyone else.

Myth #1 Selling Short Is Risky

This trading myth comes from the fact that some stocks can trade down to zero while there is no limit to how high that stock can trade. So losses for long positions are limited on the downside, but short positions can suffer unlimited losses.

But the belief that short selling is risky is preventing you from minimizing risk and preventing you making money. You see, selling short works just as well as buying long if done properly. The level of a positions risk depends on good money management methods.

A small percentage of traders have realized this and have developed a trading strategy to sell short and profit easily regardless of which way the stock market is moving.

Myth #2 Buying & Holding is Safe

This would have to be the most common trading myth, that stems from the belief that the stock market always goes up in the long run. This is true enough, but it can also take an extremely long time. Some markets have been known to drop dramatically, and not return for 25 years! Like the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1929 to 1954.

It dropped so low during this time that no one would sit through it. Money managers who can duplicate the performance of the general market are very rare. You need an exit strategy that limits risk for every strategy, whether investor or trader.

A small percentage of traders are using a trading method that will actually apply to any market. This potentially gives them a winning edge. They aren’t simply buying, holding, and hoping like most traders do.

Myth #3 Trading is easy

If making money consistently from the stock market was easy, everyone would be doing it, and all be wealthy from it. Yeah, the physical part is easy enough, but many people have this idea that trading is easy, but they were never given the tools that make it easy.

It’s not that trading needs to be difficult, but it requires a solid trading method, and diligence on the traders part to stick with it. And unless you also trade with discipline and use good money management principals like the most successful traders, you can only hope to be less than successful.

Myth #4 The existence of the Holy Grail

I see far too many traders hopping from method to method, pursuing the next guaranteed thing only to be repeatedly let down. Newbies tend to think they should be able to win practically every trade. Thinking they should be having a straight line of wins without any major setbacks.

When armatures try something, they conclude that their system doesn’t work after the first few losses in a row. So they jump on something else. How can anyone expect to succeed this way. Unless you want to continue to suffer losing trades, and eventually give up, stop chasing this holy grail nonsense.

The holy grail of trading doesn’t exist. It would seem more than 90% of traders are wasting years of their life with this myth. Think of the progress, the money that could have been made, if they had spent that time and energy on a solid trading system, and a good trading method.

Where to go from here:

Well first, simply understand and clear your head of the above stock, and trading myths. Free yourself from these beliefs that restrain your potential as a trader. This will automatically put you in front of most traders.

There are a few traders however, less than 1%, who understand the above and more. who are quietly making a killing from the stock market, and are spending no more time trading than you. A lot of them keep their winning system and their successful trading secrets to themselves, but there are a few who will share this information with the public

Just remember, none of these super traders are born geniuses. And they don’t have a crystal ball forecasting the stock market. They simply have found a winning system that isn’t restricted to any time frame or market. The most successful traders are nobody special, apart from the stock market secrets they learned and diligence to put them in action.

Regardless of whether you trade Stocks, Options, Futures or Forex, or your level of experience, you can’t afford to keep buying and hoping. Stop leaving your success to chance when you can take control. It isn’t necessary to keep wasting all this time and money on the common trading methods. Even if you are ahead, the average trader could trade far more efficiently.

You too can become one of the very small percent of traders. Seriously, you just need to learn how to properly, plot the chart, the right setup conditions, the best entry point, stop loss point, and place your profit target point.

To learn how to do the things listed above, and for actual insider trading secrets on how the most profitable traders really do it - Read on.



By: Peter Bosch

About the Author:

A lot of traders now favor option stock trading because of its many advantages. For one it can be highly profitable if used rightly, it offers the investor more flexibility and a larger option to diversify. This trading system offers more protection to the portfolio gives more control to the investor and offers a higher possibility to generate more returns on investment. They can be used under any market condition. They offer the investor the advantage of making returns on a change in stock price without actually owning the stock. Options stock trading can be used in combination with other option contracts and/or other financial tools to maximize returns.

Furthermore, a lot of trading is done on the floor of the stock exchange; one of such is referred to as stock option trade. Sometimes the trading could just be more of speculative activity. Speculative activity trading is done on stock exchanges through stock options trading. The term option in stock parlance means “a right”. There exists the right to sell as well as the right to buy. In a deal involving an option, the right to buy or sell a certain amount of securities, within a particular period at a given price can be bought off a dealer. If the purchased right was an option to buy securities it would be called a “call option”. If the right was the option to sell, it is called a “put option”. Instances where the two possible options are combined, to buy or sell a certain quantity of securities at a particular price up to a given future date, it is then referred to as “a double option”, or “a put and call option”

Speculative activity or stock option trade is carried out for anticipated profit. Here is how it works. If a speculator expects the price to go up, he buys a call option. This allows him in future when the price has arisen to buy at the old lesser price and sell at the higher prevailing price. When the reverse happens and a drop in price is anticipated he buys the put option.

When a speculator notices that his predicted or expected rise or fall in price did not occur he can chose not to exercise his right or stock trade option that he had purchased. The party that grants or sells the stock option trade to the speculator is paid a premium for granting it.

This premium is also called the option money. This is the fee that is earned by the trader who grants the speculator the stock option trade. When the speculator desires not to exercise his option he loses the option money or premium. But his loss is restricted to the option money alone. Stock option trade is useful for speculators who want to protect their capital and yet seize advantage of fluctuations in prices. He has the choice to decide whether to exercise his option or not.



By: Wincent Loh

About the Author:

It is a well known fact that serious investors seeking long term growth of capital have as their main objectives the two most basic goals in investing:

• to find an investment vehicle that would effectively preserve capital and minimize risk in the face of a fluctuating and constantly flexing economy

• the investment vehicle must provide better than decent yields in all economic conditions to promote constant growth of capital value.

With the stock market as the premiere choice due to its historical record of outperforming all other investments over time, people are increasingly turning to the stock market as their main investment vehicle for future capital growth. It is here where much higher rates of return can be made with a relatively small increase in risk to capital.

With thousands of books, manuals, internet sites, seminars and courses offering investment strategies and trading systems in the stock market and its derivatives, there are few, if any, that deliver the ideal investment vehicle sought by the long term investor in search of safety and high returns. Not only is there a near total absence of an ideal investment system but there are many that promise eye popping, mind boggling returns and, they are exactly that; mere promises.

Most of the trading systems offered are structured on strategies or activities that work when conditions are ideally suited to the program being peddled. Most of their successes are highly dependent on picking the right stocks at the right time. In other words you must be a good stock picker or use a stock picking service (for a high monthly fee) to select the right ones for you. Market timing is also an important factor in their systems. Again, you must be a good market timer or depend on a service that provides market timing signals (also for a high monthly fee). These supposedly high yield investment programs don’t say anything about how bad things can be when conditions go against their predictions. These programs do exactly as promised: great when the going is good but disastrous when the going is bad. Without doubt many have been taken by these so-called services and while an investor/trader may be successful for a while, the end result over a long period of time is always the same - no better than if you had done the selections yourself.

While there is no one investment system or vehicle that can be an answer-all to the various goals of various investors, there are some investment alternatives that can come close to satisfying the two basic needs of safety and decent returns. Diversified mutual funds have been touted as the answer to these basic needs. But over the years these funds have shown that during downturns in the economy they perform just as badly as the whole investment market in general. And, over the long term, many of these diversified funds have failed to even match market performance in general, much less outperform it.

Enter market derivatives with emphasis options.

Trading in stock options has become very popular with institutional investors as well as private individuals as a sound money management system supplementing their investment portfolios. The ability of stock options to give the investor a wide range of choices is what has made the options market grow considerably over the last two decades. To quote one options expert: “Stock options are the greatest wealth producing tool ever invented on this planet. . . . if you know how to use them”.

The key element of this statement is: . . . if you know how to use them.

For many people the mere mention of stock options, sends shivers up their spine. They look at options as synonymous with great risk. But isn’t driving a car very dangerous for one who doesn’t know how to drive? The ability of stock options to give the investor a wide range of choices in stock market investments is what has made the options market grow by leaps and bounds over the last twenty years. Statistics compiled by the Options Industry Council, a group that educates investors about options, show that volume in options trading has risen tremendously in recent years. Further, studies show that individual investors make up 60% of the market.

For the individual who has sufficient funds and is looking for more than a decent return on his capital and with controllable risk, stock options may be the answer.

There are dozens of option trading systems being employed by individual investors and institutions. Each system is designed to accomplish a specific investment goal. A financial institution may use long put options to hedge its winnings in stocks that have appreciated in value. Another investor may buy call options instead of stocks to enter a position in a security that has caught his fancy. Still another may sell calls against his stock holdings to generate income from his stock position, or what is popularly known as covered call writing.

Of the dozens of option trading systems there is one that can be carried out as a long term investment program offering a fair degree of safety and consistent high returns over time, thus satisfying the investor’s two basic needs of safety and return.

This is the selling of uncovered or naked options.

But wait! Is it not said that selling naked options carries the risk of unlimited losses? Isn’t this a contradiction?

Indeed selling naked options when done carelessly and without a disciplined strategic program is extremely risky!

But by using a carefully planned and disciplined system of trading, the so-called “unlimited risk” factor in selling options can easily be conquered. There is a three-pronged trading strategy being used by one successful options trader that is proving to be a consistent winner in all market conditions. It is a trading technique that couples naked option selling with a modified ratio credit spread and the use of the roll over feature. While naked option selling has acquired a bad rap of being highly risky, this three-pronged trading strategy allows the trader to defeat the risk. Not only is the system able to substantially reduce the risk, it also offers one the ability to become a savvy investor/trader without having to depend on picking the right stocks or timing the market.

It involves utilizing the system in any market condition using only one or a few stocks, ETFs or indexes (the latter two are more effective). One need not worry about finding the right stocks or timing the trades. The fact remains that stocks behave, more often than not, in crazy and irrational ways so that one can almost say that consistently choosing winning stocks is as good as a random walk down Wall Street. Rather than be proactive and try to predict and time the market, as many try to do, this three-pronged investment system is reactive. The prescribed trades are done in reaction to how the market has moved, not in anticipation of its future behavior.

This three-pronged trading system does not promise quick profits or mind boggling yields but steady annual returns in excess of 30%. Many are averaging returns of 50% to 60%. It would be prudent to say that in times of deep downturns the system may not deliver the promised returns but it will hold its own and will definitely outperform the market.

One options trader that has mastered this three-pronged trading technique has decided to share his knowledge of the system by writing an e-book on its methodology. Borrowing from that quote about options being a great wealth producing tool he has aptly titled his work: STOCK OPTIONS: THE GREATEST WEALTH BUILDING TOOL EVER INVENTED. In it he details the step by step methodology of this trading technique and gives an exhaustive series of sample trades covering several months of transactions. It shows the effectiveness of the system in an up market, down market and horizontal market using only one ETF stock. To this day the writer continues to use only one or two ETFs in all his options trades and he includes a web page that shows his current and actual trading results month by month on an ongoing frequency.



By: Daniel Mollat

About the Author:

Many people are attracted to the stock market, as they should be for investment purposes. The stock market has always been a valid option for people to build a retirement fund or a nest egg over time, provided they are savvy enough to pick the correct stock or fund. Many times, there is not enough time to devote to financial planning so a reputable financial planner is enlisted for guidance. This scenario is the usual way people approach the stock market, however, speculation is another way people use the stock market to make money.

Speculation comes in many forms with the stock market, usually by people that have enough disposable income to absorb a loss. Futures trading or commodity trading is one form of highly speculative investing or trading. Another is option trading. Stock options are derivatives that get their value from the underlying stock and can be highly speculative as they can expire worthless in a given period of time, unlike stocks. One good thing about stock options, the amount of money a person can lose is the amount spent on the options, unlike short selling, which can become extreme losses if a person is on the wrong side of the trade.

Another form of speculation is penny stock trading. Penny stocks, as tradition states, are any stock that trades below five dollars. However, for the purpose of this article, any stock trading below one dollar is a true penny stock. Many people are attracted to penny stocks because of their low price and the amount of shares that can be purchased for less money than larger stocks. One major drawback of penny stocks is that they are thinly traded and can go weeks or months without a single trade being executed by market makers. Usually the companies trading on penny stock exchanges are smaller companies with little or no cash, or shell companies with no viable business operating within the shell.

Penny stocks are wrought with fraud in some cases as unscrupulous characters tout these thinly trade stocks over the Internet or newsletters, selling their shares into penny investors as the share price increases. However, this is not always the case. There are viable start up companies trading on the penny stock exchanges that have a sound business plan with exciting futures, but little cash. When penny stock investors are fortunate enough to invest in one of these companies, gains in the stock price can be one thousand percent or better.

A speculation in penny stocks unfortunately is mostly done by people with little cash available for speculation and are unable to withstand the loss. Attracted to the inexpensive cost of these stocks, speculators more time than not, lose their investment and in some cases average down by purchasing more stock as the share price tumbles with the hope that the stock will return to previous highs. In some cases the penny stock investor does realize gains after averaging down, but this is not the norm.

Penny stock investing should be approached with caution and proper research should be done before buying equity in the company. Diamonds in the rough are out there trading on the penny stock exchanges, but honest research and a critical thinking should be applied before deciding to become a shareholder in a smallcap company. Due diligence is key to making informed decisions when considering a penny stock company.



By: Phillip Hatley

About the Author:

When adjusting the delta on an option spread to manage risk, many option traders do not understand how to use volatility to adjust a position in their favor.

For example, let’s say you are in a butterfly spread and the market trends up and hits your adjustment point. So what kind of adjustment do you make?

Well, when trading options, it’s important to follow the volatility chart as well as the price chart. For example, if the underlying is trending up, it’s most likely that the vols are going down (but not always the case). So, when putting on your adjustment, why not put on an adjustment that benefits from falling volatility? (eg. a negative Vega adjustment).

Likewise, if the vols are rising, you might consider putting on a “positive vega” adjustment.

In conclusion, there are many ways to neutralize the Delta position of your options spread. So when comparing your adjustment possibilities, remember to analyze the volatility graph to choose the best Vega adjustment at the same time. Videos on this topic and others can be seen free on my website. www.sjoptions.com



By: SJ OPTIONS

About the Author:

Using the internet to trade stocks provides you with the freedom to trade which in the past was not accessible to amateur traders not that long ago. The idea has gotten extremely accepted and numerous variables have been critical in promoting the popularity of online trading. Let us look at some of the advantages of doing online stock trading.

Probably the most intense variation has been lower brokerage commissions. People really like the fact that that online stock investing provides a broker commission rate that is considerably lower than the traditional method of equity investing. Moreover, there are several online brokers who offer a fixed amount for each transaction irrespective of how many stocks are traded. So you can bring down your cost if you buy and sell stocks in larger volumes.

Another gain is that you get to play in real time stock trading. Online trading gives you the opportunity to invest in stocks in real time. You can trade stocks with simply a few mouse clicks. Your stock orders will be executed in real time and you will be able to immediately verify the changes in your account. So online stock trading is undoubtedly transparent and you are the master of your own.

Another advantage is that there are no middlemen. When you trade stocks online, there is no middleman taking part in the process so you can do everything by yourself. buying or holding your stocks are completely your decision. You initiate the commands on the terminal and do the trading. There is no broker and middleman caught up in the process so your trades are much more simpler.

One other benefit with trading online is that there is less paper work. Paper work is not required when you trade stocks online. Everything is done immediately, a few mouse clicks are are all you need to do to process a trade.

You have access to a wider range of investment choices such as stock options with this sort of investing. It doesn’t matter if you do day trading or make long-term investments, online brokers will provide a wide range of trading stock options. Online brokers feature many options for trading, they exist in more stock exchanges and you have plenty of options when it comes to initiating an account for online stock trading. All you have to do is log in to any broker website and select the option that satisfies your objectives.

You also have access to stock analysis and consultancy. Most of these online stock brokers provide in depth stock consideration and research, and they create scheduled tips and recommendations for investing. These services are valuable for those who are not capable of keeping track of the stock market everyday. The consultancy services help them choose the right stocks that will get them maximum profit. Therefore, when you choose your online stock broker, please make sure they will provide you with the consultancy service and do it without charging you anything. To get this benefit and to make the most out of your stock investment, you have to find our trustworthy and knowledgeable online stock broker.

There are numerous online stockbrokers offering really great solutions with appealing brokerage rates. All you need to do is to select one and open an account and start to make your online stock market trading.



By: Charles Cox

About the Author:

The Strangle is another option strategy that features the use of options in unison with each other. The Strangle is philosophically identical to its ‘cousin’ the Straddle. However, whereas the Straddle has a single strike as its focal point, the Strangle has its focal point spread out over two strikes.

The effect of this as compared to the Straddle is that the Strangle will produce wider break-even points and lower prices. The widening of the break-even points changes the risk/reward scenarios for both the buyer and the seller of the Strangle as opposed to the Straddle.

The benefit to the buyer of the Strangle is that it will cost less than a Straddle (thus less risk) but, like all risk/reward scenarios, less risk equals less reward. The buyer’s trade-off for lower cost and less risk is that the stock will have to move significantly more than if the buyer had purchased a Straddle.

The benefit to the seller of the Strangle is that it offers a larger margin of error in terms of the anticipated stock movement. The wider range of the break-even prices allows the stock to have more movement while still allowing the seller to profit. The seller’s trade-off for this luxury is price. The seller will not bring in as much premium from the sale of a Strangle as opposed to the sale of a Straddle.

With that said, let’s look at the Strangle. The Strangle, like the Straddle, consists of two options. In the Strangle, however, the two options are not at-the-money options of the same strike (Straddle), but out-of-the-money options (both a call and a put) of different strikes.

The Strangle features one position (either long or short) and two options: an out-of-the-money call and an out-of-the-money put.



When you put together a Strangle the construction should be as follows:

- Different options (out-of-the-money call & an out-of-the-money put)

- Same stock

- Same expiration

- One to one ratio

Strangle positions are referred to as ‘long Strangle’ or ’short Strangle’ depending on whether you purchase the call and the put (long) or sell the call and the put (short).

For example, with the stock trading at $57.50, you would construct the long Strangle by purchasing both the July 60 call and the July 55 put. You would construct the short Strangle by selling both the July 60 call and the July 55 put.

It is important to note that the Strangle is a one to one ratio strategy. For every call that you buy (or sell), you must purchase (or sell) exactly one put to properly construct a Strangle.



By: Ron Ianieri

About the Author: