Safe-Option-Trading-Income Blog

The Safe-Options-Trading-Income Blog keeps you up to date with new information, ideas, "paper trades" and changes to the Safe-Options-Trading-Income.com web site. You can subscribe by clicking the orange RSS button. Stay tuned to continued learning about options and related topics.

Only the last 15 blog entries are visible. Don't worry though, all important info will be included into webpages for further learning.

Aug 30, 2010, Corning: A covered call opportunity?

Have a look at Corning (GLW) on a daily chart. Over the last few months it's traded in a range from about $16/share to about $19/share. It's at the bottom end of its range now. If this type of issue fits your trading style and trading plan, it might be a good candidate for a covered-call or cash-secured-put trade. Also of interest, GLW options are valued a $1 increment strikes. This makes the versatility of options even more interesting. As always, this is not a recommendation but an idea for your consideration.

Aug 20, 2010, A GOOD STOCK SCREENER

How do you find covered call and cash-secured put candidates for trading? One method I use is computerized stock screening, preferably those that are freely available. If using stock screeners appeals to you, consider the one available at the NASDAQ website. One of the parameters you can screen for is "beta". Stocks with high beta values are more volatile than the average stock, and if they have associated options, the options can have relatively high premiums. Using stock screeners is part of my trading plan and the NASDAQ screener works for me. Oh, and by the way, it covers NYSE and AMEX as well as NASDAQ issues.

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Aug 19, 2010, Education Stocks

Friends, The for-profit education stocks (e.g. APOL, DV, COCO, LUPE, APEI) have really taken a monster hit over the past few days. Looks like a massive sell-off to me, driving these stocks down to some very low prices. The high volatility has made for some very attractive premiums in their calls and puts. Consider whether cash-secured puts or covered calls in these issues might make sense for you according to your own personal trading plan.

Aug 8, 2010, Great Covered Call Discussion

I have mentioned the "Just Covered Calls" Yahoo! Group on this site before. Once again, an excellent educational discussion has ensued about the finer points of selling out-of-the-money covered calls. Mant thanks to Jeff Partlow and other regulars at this site for their contributions. If you're new - or not so new to covered-call trading -it is worth your while to visit and learn.

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Aug 1, 2010, American's Credit Ratings are Falling

Debt is an issue to keep in mind when thinking about the Big Picture against which we conduct our trading. From the Seeking Alpha website: Although the debt rating of the US is still triple A, the debt rating of individual Americans is not so healthy. According to the article 25% of Americans have a credit score less than 600. This has real implications for sustained economic growth and it will be interesting to continue to monitor this trend.

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Jul 28, 2010, Napoleon Hill

An outline of the philosphy for success espoused by Napoleon Hill

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Jul 21, 2010, Great Market Visualization Tool

Folks, I enjoy visual depictions of the market. It helps me spot anomalies in the marketplace that I may be able to translate into a safe-option trade. Take a look at the link provided. The folks at FINVIZ, a great free site, have a "Bubble Map" of the market. It shows the deviations of most stocks and ETF's relative to the average market movement. It is great to spot "outliers", that is stocks which have moved quite a bit, either up or down, relative to others. You may find this information helpful in conjucntion with other screening criteria to help identify option-selling opportunities. Usually these big movers will have an increase in implied volatility and hence higher option premiums.

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Jul 14, 2010, Short Strangle Made Safer

How to make a short strangle safer

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Jul 12, 2010, Options Trading 201

The next step: options Trading 201

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Jul 11, 2010, Blue Chip Stocks

Obtain a portfolio of Blue Chip Stocks and get paid to do it.

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Jul 11, 2010, Brett Steenbarger

Dr. Brett Steenbarger: Contributions to Trading Excellence

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Jul 11, 2010, Mark Douglas

Trading wisdom from Mark Douglas

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Jul 8, 2010, Mortgages at a 5 decade low

Although this is a site about options, we look at all things financial. If you are in the market for a mortgage now may be the time to act. Take a look at the link provided. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now going for 4.57%.

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Jul 8, 2010, Great article on Implied Volatility

For an excellent discussion on Implied Volatility see the referenced link. This is good reading.

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Jul 6, 2010, Jack Schwager

Jack Schwager, author of Market Wizards

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