Tag: Options Strategy

10 Options Trading Rules That Must Be Followed

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Despite the COVID-19 backdrop, some individual stocks and broader indices have exploded to new all-time highs and retraced previous all-time highs, respectively. Since the depths of the COVID-19 induced sell-off in late March, the markets have experienced an uninterrupted resurgence. It’s easy to become complacent when markets are roaring higher. However, one must remain disciplined when managing risk, especially as it relates to options trading. Mitigating risk and maximizing returns is paramount as the markets rotate out of the depths COVID-19 sell-off. Options trading offers the optimal balance between risk and reward while providing a margin of downside protection and a statistical edge. Proper portfolio construction and optimal risk management is essential when engaging in options trading as a means to drive portfolio performance. The Q4 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic are prime examples of why maintaining liquidity, risk-defining trades, staggering options expiration dates, trading across a wide array of uncorrelated tickers, maximizing the number of trades, appropriate position allocation and selling options to collect premium income are keys to an effective long-term options strategy.

An Effective Long-Term Options Strategy

A slew of protective measures should be deployed if options are used as a means to drive portfolio results. One of the main pillars when building an options-based portfolio is maintaining a significant portion of cash-on-hand. This cash position provides the ability to rapidly adapt when faced with extreme market conditions such as COVID-19 and Q4 2018 sell-offs. When selling options and running an options-based portfolio, the following guidelines are essential (Figures 1 and 2):

      1. Trade across a wide array of uncorrelated tickers
      2. Maximize sector diversity
      3. Spread option contracts over various expiration dates
      4. Sell options in high implied volatility environment
      5. Manage winning trades
      6. Use defined-risk trades
      7. Maintains a ~50% cash level
      8. Maximize the number of trades, so the probabilities play out to the expected outcomes
      9. Continue to trade through all market environments
      10. Appropriate position sizing/trade allocation

10 Options Rules
Figure 1 – Defining the 10 rules that one must follow to appropriately manage risk and maximize returns when deploying options as a means to drive portfolio results
Continue reading "10 Options Trading Rules That Must Be Followed" →

Options Trading - Diagonal Put Spreads Part 2

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Leveraging a minimal amount of capital, mitigating risk, and maximizing returns are paramount as the markets rotate out of the depths COVID-19 sell-off. Options trading offers the optimal balance between risk and reward while providing a margin of downside protection and a statistical edge. Proper portfolio construction and optimal risk management are essential when engaging in options trading as a means to drive portfolio performance. The Q4 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic are prime examples of why maintaining liquidity, risk-defining trades, staggering options expiration dates, trading across a wide array of uncorrelated tickers, maximizing the number of trades, appropriate position allocation and selling options to collect premium income are keys to an effective long-term options strategy. A risk-defined diagonal put spread optimizes the risk management aspect of an options trade while maximizing return on investment.

Minimizing Risk and Maximizing Return

Leveraging a minimal amount of capital and maximizing returns with risk-defined trades optimizes the risk-reward profile. Whether you have a small account or a large account, a defined risk (i.e., put spreads and diagonal spreads) strategy enables you to leverage a minimal amount of capital which opens the door to trading virtually any stock on the market regardless of share price such as Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Chipotle (CMG), Facebook (FB), etc. Risk-defined options can easily yield double-digit realized gains over the course of a typical one month contract (Figures 1, 2, and 3).

Options Trading
Figure 1 – Average income per trade of $190, the average return per trade of 7.3% and 95% premium capture over 41 trades in May and June
Continue reading "Options Trading - Diagonal Put Spreads Part 2" →

Options Trading - Diagonal Put Spreads

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Balancing the trade-offs between risk and reward is front and center even as the markets recover from the depths COVID-19 induced sell-off. Options trading can offer the right balance between risk and reward while providing a margin of downside protection and a statistical edge. Proper portfolio construction and optimal risk management are essential when engaging in options trading as the main driver for portfolio results. One of the main pillars when building an options-based portfolio is maintaining a significant portion of cash-on-hand. This cash position provides the ability to rapidly adapt when faced with extreme market conditions such as COVID-19 and Q4 2018 sell-offs. The COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example of why maintaining liquidity, risk-defining trades, staggering options expiration dates, trading across a wide array of uncorrelated tickers, maximizing the number of trades, appropriate position allocation and selling options to collect premium income are keys to an effective long-term options strategy.

Minimizing Risk and Maximizing Return

Leveraging a minimal amount of capital and maximizing returns with risk-defined trades optimizes the risk-reward profile. Whether you have a small account or a large account, a defined risk (i.e., put spreads and diagonal spreads) strategy enables you to leverage a minimal amount of capital which opens the door to trading virtually any stock on the market regardless of share price such as Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Chipotle (CMG), Facebook (FB), etc. Risk-defined options can easily yield double-digit realized gains over the course of a typical one month contract (Figures 1, 2, and 3).

Options
Figure 1 – Average income per trade of $184, the average return per trade of 7.4% and 95% premium capture over 38 trades in May and June
Continue reading "Options Trading - Diagonal Put Spreads" →

COVID-19 - An Agile Options Strategy - Part 2

Posted on by The INO.com Team

COVID-19 was the black swan event that culminated in bringing the worldwide economy to its knees. The spread of the virus globally, along with intermittent spikes, has crushed stocks and decimated entire industries such as airlines, casinos, travel, leisure, and retail while others are battling to remain in business. COVID-19 was the linchpin for the major indices to drop over 30% over the course of 22 days. This COVID-19 induced sell-off has been the worst since the Great Depression in terms of breadth and velocity of the sell-off while inducing extreme market volatility that hasn’t been seen since the Financial Crisis.

Although options trading provides a margin of downside protection and a statistical edge, when hit with a black swan event, no portfolio is immune from the wreckage. Thus, proper portfolio construction and optimal risk management are essential when engaging in options trading to drive portfolio results. One of the main pillars when building an options-based portfolio is maintaining ample liquidity via holding ~50% of one’s portfolio in cash. This liquidity position provides the ability to adjust when faced with extreme market conditions such as COVID-19 rapidly. An agile options based portfolio is essential, and the COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example of why maintaining liquidity, risk-defining trades, staggering options expiration dates, trading across a wide array of uncorrelated tickers, maximizing the number of trades and selling options to collect premium income are keys to an effective long-term options strategy.

Maximizing Return on Capital

Options can be sold with defined risk while leveraging a minimal amount of capital to maximize return on investment. Whether you have a small account or a Continue reading "COVID-19 - An Agile Options Strategy - Part 2" →

COVID-19: Speculative Positions Update

Posted on by The INO.com Team

In March, I published a piece on taking speculative positions given the complete market meltdown. It was as good a time as any to put on some speculation plays because this COVID-19 black swan event presented a once in a lifetime opportunity. This COVID-19 induced sell-off has been the worst since the Great Depression in terms of breadth and velocity of the sell-off. This health crisis has crushed stocks and decimated entire industries such as airlines, casinos, travel, leisure, and retail with others in the crosshairs. Now many positions have been sold at realized profits between 20%-100% gains as the market bounced back from its lows in late March.

The broader indices have shed approximately a third of their market capitalization into April. Some individual stocks directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic have lost 50%, 60%, 70% and even 80% of their market capitalization. Investors had been presented with a unique opportunity to start speculating on some of these names as sharp rebound candidates. Throughout the market sell-off, I began to speculate on a variety of names with small amounts of capital. Let's not confuse speculation for investment; thus, these trades were purely speculative for a sharp potential recovery. These names have been battered to levels not seen since the Financial Crisis. Names such as Expedia (EXPE), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Capri Holdings (CPRI), MGM Resorts (MGM), Yelp (YELP), Yum Brands (YUM), Chipotle (CMG), Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Royal Caribbean (RCL), Boeing (BA) and Twitter (TWTR) are some speculative names that have sold off ~40%-85%.

Evaporated Market Capitalization

The COVID-19 pandemic has destroyed entire industries and many individual stocks. Anything related to travel, leisure, retail, industrials, and Continue reading "COVID-19: Speculative Positions Update" →