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2 Butterfly Option Trades

November 15th, 2011 Genius

This is a video of myself looking for some option trades using one of my real money accounts. These trades are for example only and I may exit or change them at any time without telling anyone.

This is a sample of the types of videos that are produced for Option Genius members which anyone can join from our homepage.

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Tags: Butterfly Options, JNJ, MCD, Videos
Posted in Free Trades, Option Strategies, Options Education, Orders and Execution, Short Term Trades, Stocks To Sell Options On | 17 Comments »

Now Autotrading with OptionsXpress

September 9th, 2010 Genius

Good news!

OptionGenius.com has just reached an autotrade agreement with the broker OptionsXpress. We are already autotrading with eoption.com but adding a second broker to the mix gives members more options (Pun intended). Many of you probably already have accounts at OptionsXpress.

I’ve written about autotrading before but in case you don’t know what it is, autotrading is where a broker executes trades for you in your account on your behalf. So if I send out a new trade or a trade alert and you are on vacation, or at work, or driving the kids to school, etc you don’t need to worry about missing the trade. The broker will take care of it for you.

OptionsXpress is a very friendly option broker and has recently bought Optionetics so they are very strong in the educational component as well.

I hope this will be a long and happy relationship for all involved.

For more info [...]

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Tags: Autotrade, Autotrading, option brokers, OptionsXpress
Posted in Investing, option brokers, Option Selling, Orders and Execution | No Comments »

Autotrading

May 31st, 2010 Genius

We are happy to be introducing several enhancements to the OptionGenius.com service this month. As the days go on, we will announce 3 major improvements that should make membership much more valuable.

The first of these enhancements is Autotrading.

We are pleased to announce that starting today, we will be autotrading with Eoption.com ( a registered broker/dealer). Update: we are autotrading with Optionsxpress.com as well.

Autotrading is a great concept where members have the ability to have their broker execute the OptionGenius.com trades for them in their account.

Best of all, there is no extra charge for this service.

What this means for members:

Once we send out an email trade alert, your broker will automatically enter that order for you in your account. Chances are your order will be filled faster than you could do it yourself. Eoption.com has an autotrade desk where they have people who just sit and wait for these alerts all [...]

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Tags: Autotrade
Posted in Option Selling, Orders and Execution | 70 Comments »

17.39% Return in One Day

May 25th, 2010 Genius

Would you like a 17% one day return?

That’s what one of my members got today. He actually did much better than I did. I am still in this trade. He was able to get in at a much better price than I did yesterday and already exited the trade today.

The trade is a butterfly on IBM. For members, it is May Trade #2

I got into the trade for a debit of 1.24, but this member got in at 1.15. For 4 contracts his cost was $460.

He sold the butterfly and exited the trade for 1.35 today. That’s a gain of $80 and a return of 17.39% – in one day!

I myself am up a little less than 10% so far.  Hopefully I too will be out in a couple more days with a nice double digit gain.

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Tags: Butterfly, IBM, IBM Butterfly
Posted in Orders and Execution, Short Term Trades, Trades and Adjustments | 8 Comments »

Option Symbols Are Changing

December 1st, 2009 Genius

The symbols used to trade options are changing soon. Here is how Fidelity explains the changes:

Options Symbology Initiative (OSI)
Background

Due to the significant growth of the option market, the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) has enacted an industry-wide initiative known as the Options Symbology Initiative (OSI). Fidelity will be implementing changes during the weekend of January 23, 2010. The new options symbology will expand the current option series key, commonly referred to as the OPRA symbol, from a 5 character convention to a new key that accommodates up to 22 characters.

Benefits of the symbol change

It will be easier to identify a contract’s underlying security, original expiration date, call or put, and strike price without the use of code-translation tables. It provides more flexibility than the OPRA symbols. The new convention allows for the addition of unique identifiers for new issuers, for the indication of expiration days other than the standard monthly expiration, [...]

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Tags: OPRA, Option Symbols
Posted in Options Education, Orders and Execution | No Comments »

New Movie About Floor Trading

October 23rd, 2009 Genius

A fellow trader emailed me about a new movie about floor traders. Options are still traded on the floor but more and more floor traders are leaving because as it says in the trailer, everything is moving to computers.

Looks like a good movie.

Trailer #2

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Tags: Floor Trading, Open Outcry, Pit Trading
Posted in Options Education, Orders and Execution | 1 Comment »

Getting Good Trade Execution

October 2nd, 2009 Genius

HI Allen,
 
I have been trying to trade since Wednesday.

 My orders never get filled at Mid. Do you set the limit below the mid?

 

Today with so little market movement you should have gotten
the mid or very close to it. Sometimes it depends on which underlying it is.
SPX is a little harder to get at the mid than others. So what i do is send the
trade as a limit order at the mid. It if doesn’t get filled right away I check
which way the market seems to be headed. if it is moving heavy in my
direction I wait, it not i resubmit the trade giving up a little. if the market
is not moving and i am not getting filled, i resubmit the trade giving up
a little. then a little more as long as my risk/reward looks acceptable.
 
If I am getting into a trade I wait for a day or time when the underlying
is not moving in one direction. I want it just sitting there when i get in.
That’s when you get the best execution.
 
Sometimes I don’t get filled because i am not willing to give up any more.
For example, I have an aapl trade on right now. I have had an order to
buy back the spread at .05 for two days and have not gotten filled.
 
I could get it if i budged to .10 but don’t see the need to. I can wait
because the stock is so far away from my short strike.
 
On the other hand, if i saw another trade that i wanted to make
and needed the money, i would pay the .10 to close the aapl trade
and make the other trade.
 
Basically I send all my orders as Limit Orders. My broker’s software tells me what the Mid Price is so i don’t have to guess. I submit the order at the mid price first. Normally I will get filled within a couple minutes. Mostly it is instantaneous. if it is taking to long I will adjust the price and resend the order, making sure to cancel the original order first.
 
Let’s use an example. Say I want to buy an option at 3.00. if I don’t get it right away at 3.00 i will increase it to maybe 3.02. if that doesn’t work then 3.04 or 3.05. If I am trading spreads then I do the same. A budge a couple pennies. With the SPX you have to do it in increments of 5 cents. So if you start at 1.00, you would increase it to 1.05, then 1.10. Increasing .10 on the SPX is the same as increasing .01 when trading SPY. Many people people SPY is better because you have .01 between the ask and the bid, but it normally works out to be the same.

Tags: Limit Orders, Order Execution
Posted in Options Education, Orders and Execution | No Comments »

 

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