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

Click here to view the embedded video.

2 Butterfly Option Trades is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com

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 on autotrading and what you need to do to sign up, please visit:

www.optiongenius.com/Autotrade.html

Now Autotrading with OptionsXpress is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com

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 day. Once it comes in, they enter the order for you at the price listed in the email alert.

This is great for those who can’t get to the computer as soon as I send out a trade alert. If you have ever missed a trade because the market moved too fast, this service should help solve that problem.

• You will always have full control of your account.
• You can cancel the autotrading at any time.
• OptionGenius.com has no access to your account or your money. We actually have nothing to do with this – it is an agreement between you and your broker.
• If there is a trade that is entered for you that you do not like, you can exit the trade.
• Eoption.com has the lowest commissions we have seen.
• We are not affiliated with Eoption.com in any way. After researching several brokers, they were the easiest to work with.

The only requirement is that you have an account at Eoption.com and an active membership with OptionGenius.com. Currently Eoption.com is the only broker we are autotrading with. If you use another broker and would like us to autotrade with them, please email them and let them know of your desire.

Here’s how it works:

Once you have an account with Eoption.com, you fill out and sign an Autotrade Agreement. You get to choose how you want OptionGenius trades executed. You can use a percentage of your account for each trade, or you can choose a number of contracts for each trade. What we recommend is that you tell them to use a percentage of recommendation. So for example, since I use $10,000 as my account size and base all the trades on this amount, if you are also trading a $10,000 account and want your account to match mine 100%, then you would instruct them to use 100% of recommendation. If I send out a trade using 10% of the account, it will be the same in your account. If you have an account with $20,000 you can tell them to use 200% of recommendation. That way if I use $2,000 for a trade, you will be using $4,000 for the same trade.

Many of you have been asking for autotrading for a while. I want you to know that I have thoroughly tested Eoption.com and their order fulfillment capabilities. I opened a real money account with them and for two months had them autotrade that account. They did a wonderful job getting the trades executed. I do not forsee any problems, but if there are we will quickly address them.

Keep in mind that this is between you and the broker and things can go wrong. It is your money and you should be watching it like a hawk. Just because this service makes it easier to follow OptionGenius does not mean you have any less responsibility in managing your money.  Also, there is no guarantee that all trades will be executed.

Autotrading is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com

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.

17.39% Return in One Day is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com

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, and for adjusted contracts. It will also indicate more precise and varied strike prices.

How this change affects you

• The main impact to you as a Fidelity customer will be learning the new symbology. Below is a guide that explains this new symbology and the important dates that you need to know.
• Existing functionality in Fidelity.com and Active Trader Pro will not change. You will still get quotes, place trades and do your analysis in the same way you did before this change. The only difference is you will now use the new OSI symbol in place of the 5 character OPRA code. If you choose not to input the new OSI symbol you can use the option chain to bring up quotes, click to trade, or use the drop down menus for quick and easy point-and-click access.

For more in-depth information concerning the Option Symbology Initiative you can go to the following industry website: http://www.theocc.com/initiatives/symbology/default.jsp.

Proposed Timeline

To allow for a more orderly transition from old symbology to new symbology, the OCC will use a two-phased approach. Phase One, Conversion, will roll out elements of the new symbology. Phase Two, Consolidation, will introduce all aspects of the new convention and will complete the process.

Phase One weekend of January 23, 2010

Phase One involves converting the old OPRA-based symbology to the new OSI symbology and its 4 key fields: Option Root Symbol, Expiration Date, Call/Put Indicator and Strike Price.

For example:

The old symbol (OPRA) of -VMFAY for a Microsoft January 22, 2011 27.50 Call will be -VMF110122C27.5 as a new symbol (after Conversion).

Phase Two March 12, 2010 through May 14, 2010

Phase Two involves simplifying the root symbols. The multiple-option root symbols currently used to identify options will be replaced by the symbol of the underlying stock.

For example:

The new symbol (after Conversion) of – VMF110122C27.5 for a Microsoft January 22, 2011 27.50 Call will be -MSFT110122C27.5 as a final symbol (after Consolidation).

Below is a detailed look at the upcoming changes. Please carefully review the following symbol formats and timelines.

Phase 1: What is Conversion? weekend of January 23, 2010

It is the date that the OLD SYMBOLOGY becomes “inactive” and the NEW OSI SYMBOLOGY becomes “active” for all processes. At Fidelity we plan on switching to the new OSI format during the weekend of January 23, 2010. The first trading day you will see and use the new symbol format will be January 25, 2010. The industry mandated cutover date is February 12, 2010.

What does this mean for you?

Until the weekend of January 23, 2010 you will continue to get quotes and place orders under the current symbology. On January 25, 2010 you will get quotes, analyze options, and place orders using the new symbology.

Phase 2: What is Consolidation? March 12, 2010 through May 14, 2010

The second stage, Consolidation, will start March 12, 2010. Consolidation is the process of consolidating option symbols that share the same underlying symbol. In nearly all cases, the resulting symbol will be the same symbol as the underlying symbol being delivered. For example, all LEAPS, wraps, short dated symbols with an underlying of MSFT and their respective series will be converted to MSFT. Furthermore, the standard MSQ series will be converted to MSFT.

There are a few known exceptions to the consolidation strategy above. One is for previously adjusted options with non-standard terms of delivery. The strategy for consolidating these nonstandard options is to convert the symbol to the primary underlying appended by a single integer. The initial integer being appended will be the number “1”, and incremented for subsequent non-standard options. For example, MSZ is the result of a prior adjustment and has multiple deliverables with the primary deliverable being MSFT. When Microsoft options are consolidated, MSZ options would become MSFT1. The planned date for consolidation of non-standard or adjusted options is: March 12, 2010.

The goal of this approach is to have all classes consolidated prior to June 2010. Here is the schedule for consolidation. The dates below are the days the options will be trading under the consolidated and FINAL symbol.

Option Symbology Key

It is important to note that Fidelity.com, ActiveTrader Pro and OptionTrader Pro will continue to offer existing functionality in the same manner as you are currently accustomed. The only change will be the symbol used. Below is a detailed explanation of the current option symbology and the new option series key for both conversion and consolidation.

Current options series key:

The current option series key is comprised of 3 individual data elements (Underlying, Expiration Date, and Strike Price) that collectively can be used to fully qualify a unique option. The Expiration Month and Strike Price Indicator elements are currently derived from translation tables. You will continue to use the old symbology until the cutover during the weekend of January 23, 2010.

Here is an overview of the current OPRA code symbology:

For a Microsoft January 22, 2011 27.50 Call, the current symbol is -VMFAY, where the first one to three characters represent Contract Symbol (in this case VMF translates to MSFT), the next character represents Expiration Month, and the final character represents Strike Price Indicator.

New Option Symbol Format — after Phase 1 Conversion (weekend of January 23, 2009)

The new OSI symbol format contains 4 key fields: Underlying, Date, Call/Put Indicator and Strike Price. IMPORTANT! — These 4 fields are strung together with no spaces in between to create the new OSI symbol format. During conversion the “underlying” contract symbol will be the unique root symbol used to identify the underlying in the old symbology.

For example, Microsoft, under current symbology, has several different root codes to identify the underlying. Those identifiers or root codes (-MQF, -MSQ, -WMF and -VMF) will continue to be used to identify those specific options. After consolidation, all of the unique identifiers will be converted to MSFT and adjusted options will be identified with an appended integer.

Nature of the symbol change (OSI Symbol — Up to 22 characters) — the new options symbol format will include:

For a Microsoft January 22, 2011 27.50 Call, the Conversion Phase symbol is -VMF110122C27.5, where the first one to six characters with no trailing spaces represent Underlying (in this case VMF translates to MSFT), the next six characters represent Expiration (YYMMDD), the next character represents Call/Put Indicator, and the final characters represent Strike Price.

During Conversion, the root symbol of the contract will be the underlying identifier under old/current symbology. Date is a full numeric representation of the contract’s original expiration date (YYMMDD); for example, November 21, 2009 becomes 091121 and January 16, 2010 becomes 100116. For the Call/Put Indicator, “C” is used for Call; “P” is used for Put. Strike Price is a full numeric representation, including the decimal point with fraction up to three spaces (with no trailing zeroes); for example, 100.00 becomes 100, 27.50 becomes 27.5, 37.125 remains 37.125, and 52.50 becomes 52.5.

New Option Symbol Format — after Phase 2 Consolidation (begins March 12, 2010)

For a Microsoft January 22, 2011 27.50 Call, the Consolidated (final) symbol is -MSFT110122C27.5, where the first one to six characters with no trailing spaces represent Underlying and the remainder of the symbol is unchanged from Conversion Phase.

After Consolidation, the underlying identifier will convert to the stock symbol for the underlying; for example, MQF becomes MSFT, MSQ becomes MSFT, VMF becomes MSFT, and WMF becomes MSFT.

Adjusted options will be followed by an integer to indicate that the option is non-standard.

Adjusted Options

Adjusted options will be followed by an integer to indicate that the option is non-standard. This means it represents something other than the typical 100 share deliverable when an option is issued. The first adjustment will be designated by a number “1” after the underlying symbol. The second adjustment for the same option will be designated by a number “2” and so on, if applicable. See below for detailed information on the change.

Example: Microsoft goes through a 3/2 stock split:

• Old Symbology (Microsoft Jan. 22, 2011 25 Call — represents 150 shares): -MSZAE
• After Conversion (Microsoft Jan. 22, 2011 25 Call — represents 150 shares): -MSZ110122C25
• After Consolidation (Microsoft Jan. 22, 2011 25 Call — represents 150 shares): -MSFT1110122C25

Notice that after Consolidation the number “1” now follows MSFT. This additional designation indicates that this option has undergone an adjustment and is a non-standard option.

Note: A leading hyphen is used by Fidelity to identify the instrument as an option.

Examples and company trading symbols mentioned herein are provided for illustrative purposes only and should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for the security.

Option Symbols Are Changing is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com

Looks like a good movie.

Trailer #2

New Movie About Floor Trading is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com

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?

Getting Good Trade Execution is a post from Option Selling.
To learn how you too can earn 8-12% Monthly Returns Safely and Conservatively check out OptionGenius.com