Jonathon Hartman asked:

Most people lose money in a bear market. Do you remember the tech bubble and recession in 2000-2002? This article will discuss three option trading strategies that can make you big profits in a bear market or recession.

Option Strategy No. 1 - Buying Put Options

It is fairly easy to purchase put options. This option trading strategy can even be used in an IRA account as long as you have been authorized by your broker. You desire to select a stock, which you feel has a good chance of going down in price. Your risk will be limited to the cost of the put option. For example, stock XYZ is currently trading at $50 per share and you buy a put option on XYZ with an expiration date of two month later with a strike price of $50. If the stock drops from $50 to $40, your put option would be worth $10 per share.

Option Trading Strategy No. 2 - Buying Bear Put Spread

Buying a put spread is a little more complicated than just buying a put option but gives you the benefit of reducing your cost but caps your profit. A put spread is characterized by the trading of two same month expiration put options, buying one at a given strike price and selling the other put option at a strike price lower than the purchased put option. You want to pick a stock that you believe will be falling in value. Your risk will be limited to the cost of the put spread. As an example, if we purchase the put option as listed above but also sold a put option with a strike price of $45. In this example, should the stock plunge to $40, you would profit $5 per share ($50 strike price - $45 strike price). And while you are making less per share, your savings comes in the fact that the cost of buying the put option outright would be much higher than the initial cost for the bear put spread.

Option Trading Strategy No. 3 - Married Put

Risk can be minimized by utilizing a married put, which is a hedging strategy. This strategy consists of purchasing a stock that you believe will appreciate in value and buying a put option at the same time to minimize any losses due to adverse market movement. You might have heard the saying that there is always a bull market going on somewhere. In order to benefit from this strategy find out what business sectors and securities go against the grain and appreciate in a bear market. Next you buy the stocks you chose and protect your investment by buying a put option to limit your losses if the stock goes south.

In conclusion, you can still make big profits in bear markets by looking for stocks that you think are going to fall in price and buying a put option or a bear put spread. Alternatively, you could buy a married put on a stock in a sector you believe is going to appreciate, thus minimizing your risk. In addition to buying options on stocks, you can also buy put options on exchange traded funds or index options. Exchange traded funds let you invest in global markets, commodities and even currencies. It is possible to receive a large profit in a bear market. However, it is vital to comprehend the details of the option strategies, choose the correct stock, exchange traded fund or index option, and make use of a proven tactic and begin.

Disclaimer: This article should not be used as financial advice; it is only for informational purposes. Be sure to contact your financial advisor prior to making any decisions on investing.

Linda

Jason Ng asked:


All stock market multi millionaires must be able to profit under any kind of market conditions. If you are able to profit only when stock markets go up, then you will find it a gargantuan task to ever have any sustainable success, much less become a stock market millionaire.

Yes! It is possible and easy to profit whether stocks are up, down or sideways using option trading. If the ability to trade all kinds of market conditions is the doorway to becoming a stock market millionaire, then option trading would be the very key.

In this article, I will outline some common ways by which you can profit from all kinds of markets by option trading.

Simple Option Strategies for Up Markets

Buy Call Option - You could buy the same number of equivalent stocks for a fraction of the price using call options and profit when the stock goes up. If the stock should crash, you will lose only the small amount you put towards buying the option instead of the whole amount that you would have put towards buying the stock itself.

Sell Naked Put Option - Instead of buying call options, you could sell short put options thereby pocketing the entire amount you made on selling the put options if the stock should go up.

Bull Call Spread - A bull call spread consists of buying call options at the money and selling short out of the money call options of the same month. The benefit of this strategy is that you profit when the stock goes up and profit also when the stock stays sideways!

Simple Option Strategies for Down Markets

Buy Put Option - Instead of shorting stocks and risking a margin call, you could simply buy a put option. Buying a put option is exactly the same as buying call options except that you profit when the stock goes down instead of up.

Sell Naked Call Option - Instead of buying put options, you could sell short call options thereby pocketing the entire amount you made on selling the put options if the stock should go down.

Bear Put Spread - A bear put spread consists of buying put options at the money and selling short out of the money put options of the same month. The benefit of this strategy is that you profit when the stock goes down and profit also when the stock stays sideways!

Simple Option Strategies for UP or DOWN Markets

Straddle - A straddle consist of buying a call option and a put option at the same strike price on the same stock. This strategy allows you to profit whether the stock moves up or down and is excellent when you are certain that a stock will move greatly soon but isn’t sure which direction that may be.

Strangle - Similar concept to a straddle but buys out of the money call option and put option instead of at the money ones in order to reduce the cost of the position.

Simple Option Strategies for Sideways Markets.

Covered Call - If you are holding on to a stock that is moving sideways, you could collect “rental” out of it by selling the call option of that stock month after month and pocket the whole amount of the sale should the stock remain sideways.

Short Straddle - Instead of buying call options and put options as described above in a Straddle, you would sell short them instead. In this way, you create an option position which profits when the stock remains sideways.

Are you amazed now at how easy it is to profit in any kind of market conditions by option trading? These are only very few of the many more option trading strategies that you can use to your specific portfolio needs. To learn more about what option trading and stock options are for free, please visit http://www.OptionTradingPedia.com .



Steve

John Howard asked:


Learning Forex trading strategy is not a simple task, but in no way it is difficult either. Forex trading is all about regulation, willpower and determination. Leveraging your strength could be extravagant by organizing the apt trading strategy. Forex trading strategies are the key to successful trading or online currency trading. A knowledge of these trading strategies can mean the difference between a profit and a loss and it is therefore imperative that you fully understand the strategies used in trading.

Forex trading is very different from trading in stocks and using strategies will give you more advantages and help you realize even greater profits in the short term. There are a wide range of trading strategies available to investors and one of the most useful of these trading strategies is a strategy known as leverage.

This strategy is designed to allow online currency traders to avail of more funds than are deposited and by using this strategy you can maximize the trading benefits. Using this strategy you can actually utilize as much as 100 times the amount in your deposit account against any trade which will make backing higher yielding transactions even easier and therefore allowing better results in your trading.

The leverage strategy is used on a regular basis and allows investors to take advantage of short term fluctuations in the market.

Another commonly used strategy is known as the stop loss order. This strategy is used to protect investors and it creates a predetermined point at which the investor will not trade. Using this allows investors to minimize losses. This strategy can however, backfire and the investor can run the risk of stopping their trading which could actually go higher and it really is up to the individual trader to choose whether or not to use this forex trading strategy.

An automatic entry order is another of the forex trading strategies that is commonly used and this strategy is used to allow investors to enter into trading when the price is right for them. The price is predetermined and once reached the investor will automatically enter into the trading.

All these forex trading strategies are designed to help investors get the most from their trading and help to minimize their losses. As mentioned earlier knowledge of these strategies is vital if you wish to be successful in trading.

Take the time to actually understand the forex trading strategy. Study the components independently so a deeper understanding of the strategic mechanisms would be mastered. If you recognize the components, internalize its use, and make consistent profits into your trading account, then you have your own Forex trading strategy. It does not really matter what the professionals say, your account balance is the final judge and judges for your strategy.



Robert

Markus Heitkoetter asked:


Anyone who knows anything about stock trading or day trading has heard the term ‘trading strategy.’ A trading strategy is a simple concept – it’s basically the roadmap that a trader follows while trading the markets. A trading strategy is governed by a set of rules that do not deviate for anything other than market action. Faithfully following a sound trading strategy will provide you with your greatest weapon against your worst enemy – your emotions. With a trading strategy, you’ll know exactly when to buy and when to sell, regardless of what the market does or what your emotions are telling you.

About Day Trading Strategies

Every profitable trader will tell you that the key to trading success is an effective, reliable trading strategy. You, as a trader, need to identify a winning system, implement it, and have the discipline to stick to it. Though it would be possible for you to develop a unique trading strategy, it probably wouldn’t be that practical. The best – and most efficient – approach would be to adopt an existing strategy, one which has been used by other traders in the industry and which has already proven to be successful.

Just remember, whether the strategy you’re using is your own or someone else’s, it is critical that you have a thorough understanding of it, especially its entry and exit signals. Do not fall prey to the pitfalls of following untested trading “advice,” especially the free advice available in numerous trading forums and chat rooms. Advice that you receive in these types of venues is likely to be opinion rather than fact, and in the market, opinions are not worth anything. What you NEED is a proven and effective trading strategy, one that will work in any market, under any market condition.

Because of this need for solid strategies, more and more traders are looking for trading success through technical approaches to the markets. One of these approaches is Welles Wilder’s RSI indicator. The general idea behind using the RSI is to buy when the RSI crosses above 30 and to sell when the RSI crosses below 70. As you can see, these rules are clearly defined and don’t leave much room for interpretation. This is EXACTLY what you want from a trading strategy. In trading, you’ll need to make big decisions in mere seconds. There’s simply no time to rethink, or try to interpret the unknown signals and information that come your way. Following a set of simple, easy-to-understand rules – and having a trading strategy that regulates all of your signals and indicators efficiently – is the major key to trading success.

Though the rules of trading are very important, they are not the most essential element of trading success. The most essential element is YOU. The best trading strategy in the world will be useless if you lose your head in the market and panic. You need to remain calm at all times, executing your trading strategy efficiently, without hesitation.

How to Find a Good Day Trading Strategy

So, you’re convinced that trading strategies are important. Now, how do you find one that works for you? Obviously, day trading strategies don’t grow on trees. You’ll need to do some research and either develop a strategy yourself, or find one that is easy to understand and has been proven to be successful. Take your time and do your research. Your strategy is an important step towards financial success, and it’s more than worth the investment of time and energy. There are plenty of books and helpful websites to guide you along your way.

Also, be on the lookout for scams. There are a lot of “educational companies” out there, each selling their own trading systems and strategies, and each claiming that their system works better than their competitors’. Be wary of these companies. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you can buy a solid trading strategy for $97 and then make thousands in a short period of time. This is a lie.

More recently, some of the “educational companies” mentioned above started offering “free local workshops” in nice hotels. These free workshops, which are typically advertised in late night infomercials, are another danger sign. Most of them are merely a sales pitch for the company’s actual product, and the learning that takes place at the “workshop” is minimal. You’d be better off spending that time researching the trading market on your own.

To avoid scam artists and faulty systems and strategies, you need to educate yourself. Your trading education should focus on exploring and familiarizing yourself with several different strategies; these ought to teach you to take advantage of price direction. You won’t be able to get a solid education after reading only one book or watching a single 60-minute webinar on the Internet. True education takes more time and effort than that.

Fortunately, there are many ways to get a good trading education these days, and your best source of trading information and research is online.

Education and training play a vital role in the molding of a successful trader. If you want to be profitable in the trading market, you shouldn’t be cheap when it comes to high-quality trading education. Find a company that has a proven track record. Check the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to learn about their reputation. Research the internet for company information, especially handy sites like www.ripoffreport.com and www.badbusinessbureau.com.

Get Researching So You Can Get Trading!

Day trading is a very risky venture if you have limited knowledge, weak discipline, and/or poor money management. However, if you approach day trading correctly, armed with extensive knowledge, a sound strategy, and the drive to succeed, it can become one of the most lucrative business ventures you’ve ever embarked upon!



ARAGORN

Roger Cox asked:

Welcome again to the 10 keys of how to trade stock options successfully. Previously we have discussed the technicalities of options trading. This week I will start looking at the more esoteric aspects of trading beginning with how to formulate a trading plan.

It is imperative you trade with a plan. No trader has ever successfully prospered without a trading plan or with a plan that they didnt stick to. A sound trading plan includes, but is not limited to, the following items:

1. Money management rules, i.e. acceptable profits and losses per trade, how much capital you will commit to any one trade and to the market at any one time.

It is important you identify what your stop loss margin is (as discussed last week) and even more important you stick to it. Writing this sort of information into your trading plan will help cement it in your mind. More on money management will be covered in week eight.

2. Stock and option identification rules, i.e. how you will decide which stocks to trade options on and which options you will trade.

You should figure out if you like technical analysis, fundamental anlysis or a combination of both. How big will your watch list be? What price range of stocks will you trade? Do you like trading in the money or out of the money options? What Greeks will you consider?

3. Entry and exit rules, i.e. What will make you enter and exit a trade, what length of time will you stay in the trade and how often will you trade.

Entry and exit rules will depend largely on technical analysis, write down the patterns and indicators you will look for. Deciding how often to trade will be a big factor in your success. Most people over trade, if you have a fixed profit target then once you have met it you should stop trading. Attempting to go for that little bit extra can lead to a big loss, all the more difficult to take if you had already met your profit target!

4. Your own strategy rules, i.e. which trading strategies you will use primarily and which strategies suit your risk profile.

Know thyself as the ancient Greek saying goes is critical when formulating a stock options trading plan. You will tend to trade options and you do anything else in life, for example, if you are cautious by nature you will trade cautiously, if you are impatient in everyday life you will trade impatiently. Therefore consider your unique traits and formulate your plan around them.

Once you have practiced trading options you will discover your own style of trading, and from that you will develop a plan that suits you. Once you have your plan, and you know it works, stick to it through thick and thin. That doesnt mean that a plan cant be changed but you must ensure that you give your plan a chance to work and that you dont change it the first time you take a loss.

Once you formulate and implement a good trading plan you will be well on your to trading stock options successfully. Next week we will discuss trading with the overall market and index options.

US Government required disclaimer: Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Prior to buying or selling an option, a person must receive a copy of the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Copies of this document may be obtained from your broker, from any exchange on which options are traded or by contacting The Options Clearing Corporation, One North Wacker Dr., Suite 500 Chicago, IL 60606 (1-800-678-4667).

Kyle

Timothy Stevens asked:


The Foreign Exchange market, it is the most profitable, the premier, the largest and the leading financial market in the world. Millions of people trade in this market through the internet every day, generating as much as two trillion dollars of trade daily on average. But the sad truth is that not everyone is able to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Foreign Exchange market. More than 95% of all traders lose their money, 4% are able to generate profits and only 1% of all traders are able to make a killing. With those kinds of odds, how can you win?

There are always more than one way to crack an egg, and same thing with the Foreign Exchange market, there are more ways to make a profit in here. An alternative method is by using forex options. There are two types of forex options in this market, the first is the traditional.

Traditional option basically gives you control over certain amount of currency. By paying the contract price, you reserve the right to purchase them but not the obligation to do so. Thus, you risk less money but you receive control over it.

The second type of forex options is the SPOT or Single Payment Options Trading. Here, you will input a scenario you predict. After which you will receive a premium quote; if the scenario takes place, then you will automatically payment.

The advantage of forex options is that it involves less risk. You do not need to put in a lot of money to get good opportunities.



Nathan

Ron Ianieri asked:


The selection and management of a vertical spread are only two-thirds of the game. Closing out, rolling or morphing the position has to be analyzed and executed with the same due diligence as was used in the selection and management processes.

Looking at the closing out of a vertical call spread, we find there are three possible outcomes that must be addressed. The spread can finish out-of-the-money and valueless. For a call spread, this scenario occurs when the stock closes at or below the lower strike of the spread. In this scenario, in order to close out the spread, one would just let it expire. Both options finish out of the money so no residual position will be left over.

If the spread finishes fully in the money, (at maximum value) that is with both options in-the-money, then both options will be exercised. You will exercise your long call and your short call will be assigned. They will cancel each other out and you will be left with no residual position. This scenario occurs when the stock price closes lower than the lower strike call involved in the spread.

The difficult scenario is when the stock closes in between the two strikes of the spread. This scenario, the closing of the stock between the two strikes creates a situation where one strike winds up being in-the-money while the other ends up out-of-the-money.

When both options expire in-the-money, they are both exercised-one creating a long stock option, the other creating a short position thus canceling each other out. This is not the case here. Here, one option, the one that is in-the-money will leave a residual stock position and since the other option is out-of-the-money, it will not be able to be used to offset the residual stock position created by the expiring in-the-money option.

There are two actions that could be taken. Choice number one involves trading out of the spread on expiration Friday just before the close. Because of the bid/ask spread of the two options, you will probably have to give away some of your profits in order to close out the position. Giving up a portion of the profits may be the best thing to do in order to avoid naked, unlimited risk.

If you only trade out of the in-the-money option, you run the risk (albeit short-lived because you are doing this late on expiration day of the expiring month) that the stock moves adversely and the out-of-the-money option suddenly becomes in-the-money. If that happens, you will now be naked the residual stock position. Of course, if there is still time, you could always trade out of the option then but that is very risky. However, if the stock is at a relatively safe distance from the out-of-the-money you may want to just close out the in-the-money option and let the out-of-the money option expire worthless.

The two factors that must be considered are: the combination of the distance of the strike from the stock price in relation to the short amount of time for the stock to get there, and the amount of money saved by not buying back the out-of-the-money option. Remember, this is being done at the very end of the day on expiration day. These options only have minutes of life left. So, knowing this, the risk is somewhat mitigated, but still there none the less.

The catch is the proximity of the stock to the out-of-the-money option. If the stock is close to the out-of-the-money option, you would be best advised to trade out of the spread entirely.

Again, as stated before, if the stock closes either with the spread fully in-the-money, or fully out-of-the-money, the position will adjust itself through the exercise process leaving no residual position. If the stock price finishes between the two strikes, there will be a residual position. We discussed above how to trade out of this position. Your second choice is not to trade out and allow yourself to go through the expiration process. You must remember that if you are going to accept a residual stock position, you must be able to afford it.

Then, if you have 10 July 50 calls and you exercise them you will be receiving 1000 shares of stock at $50.00 per share. Thus, you must have $50,000.00 of cash and/or margin in your account to receive the stock. If you do not have enough cash and/or margin to accept delivery of the stock, then you must trade out of the position before it expires.



Raymond

Andy Poon asked:


An option contract is an agreement between two parties to buy/sell an asset (In this case, the asset refers to stock) at a certain price and specific date.

It is called an option because the buyer is not obliged to carry out the transaction. If, over the life of the contract, the asset value decreases, the buyer can simply elect not to exercise his/her right to buy/sell the asset.

There are two types of option contracts - Call options and Put options. A Call option gives the buyer the right to buy the underlying asset, while a Put option gives the buyer the right to sell the underlying asset.

A simple example: Peter buys a Call option contract from Sarah. The contract states that Peter will buy 100 Microsoft shares from Sarah on the 5th May for $25. The current share price for Microsoft is $30.

Note: this is an example of a Call option as it gives Peter the right to buy the underlying asset.

If the share price of Microsoft is trading above $25 on the 5th May, then Peter will exercise the option and Sarah will have to sell him Microsoft shares for $25. With Microsoft trading anywhere above $25 Peter can make an instant profit by taking the shares from Sarah at the agreed price of $25 and then selling the shares on the open market for whatever the current share price is and making a profit.

The $25 value, which is stated in the agreement, is referred to as the Exercise (or Strike) Price. This is the price at which the asset will be exchanged.

The date (in this case 5th May) is known as the Expiry (or Maturity) Date. This date is the deadline for the option contract. At this date, the option buyer is to decide if a transaction of the underlying asset is to occur.

Outcomes: Let’s imagine that at the expiration date, Microsoft is trading at $30, then Peter will buy the shares from Sarah at the agreed $25 and then he can sell them back on the open market for $30 and make an instant $5.

Alternatively, if Microsoft is trading at $20, then buying the shares from Sarah at $25 is too expensive as he can buy them on the open market for $20 and save $5. In this situation, Peter would choose not to exercise his right to buy the shares and let the options contract expire worthless. His only loss would be the amount that he paid to Sarah when he bought the contract, which is called the Option Premium - more on that a little later. Sarah would, however, keep the option premium received from Peter as her profit.

All in all, there are more than 50 strategies you can deploy in options trading by combining many different strike prices and expiration. But do you need to know all?

The good news is you do not have to!In fact, most of them allow you to make money very slowly or limited.



Danny

Timothy Stevens asked:


To read a forex price quote consisting of two different currencies you have to note that the first currency is known as the base currency while the second currency is called the quote currency. Another point of note is that the first currency value is always 1 (one).

To further illustrate, the price quote or exchange rate tells us how much of the quote currency we must pay to obtain one unit of the base currency. Likewise. The price quote or exchange rate tells us how much we will receive in the quote currency by selling one unit of the base currency.

For example, if you wanted to buy the EUR/USD a price quote of EUR/USD of 1.3550 means that 1 EURO dollar (EUR) is equal to 1.3550 US dollars (USD). This means that to buy 1 EURO dollar (EUR), you would have to pay 1.3550 US dollars (USD).

In the above case, if the currency pair’s prices rises (i.e. the EUR/USD price goes up) it would mean that the EURO dollar (EUR) has appreciated against the US dollar (USD) which has weakened. If the EUR/USD has now risen to 1.3850 from 1.3550 it will mean that the EURO dollar is stronger now compared to the US dollar (USD) as 1 EURO dollar can buy more US dollars (USD) than before.

Likewise if the EUR/USD has now dropped to 1.3350 from 1.3550 it will mean that the EURO dollar has become weaker relative to the US dollars as 1 EURO dollar now can only purchase lesser US dollars

To be continue… on Forex Options Trading - How To Read FOREX Price Quotes (Part 3 of 3)



Phillip