Posts Tagged ‘Options’

Stock Options Trading Course,Using Put Options as Insurance

Stock Options Trading, Put Options Safer Than Shorting Stock

In order to show you how using put options for speculation purposes I first want to quickly review how to short stock. Once you see the risks involved in shorting stock I will show you how you could limit your risk using put options the same basic way. Notice I said limit your risks, when investing you need to realize there is always some risk involved. In the following examples I am using ABC stock as a fictional stock that doesn’t exist for illustrative purposes only.

How to Short Stock

I am going to walk you through step by step how you would traditionally short stock hoping the market moves in your favor. In this example here ABC stock is currently worth . You believe it will drop by to or possibly even more. I am just throwing out even dollar amounts so you can visually see how it works. What would you do?

The first step for shorting stock would be to borrow ABC stock from your broker. There would be some restrictions your broker may place on this type of a transaction. The next step would be to immediately sell the stock for its current value of . No realize you are selling borrowed stock, this does carry with it some risks. Then you simply wait for the stock to begin dropping in price.

For this example you got lucky and the stock did indeed drop from to as you had hoped. In this instance then you would immediately buy back the stock for dollars and return the stock back over to your broker. You would then get to keep the , minus commissions charged by your broker. Because options are allotted in 100 share increments we are going to say for this example that you had borrowed 100 shares. So you made a nice 00 profit minus commissions.

This carries some big time risks. Because remember you borrowed the stock that you sold to someone else. What happens if the stock goes up by instead of down in value? Eventually you are going to have to return the stock to its original owner. You will have to purchase the stock back at the higher price of just to return the stock and you will have lost 0 plus commissions. But, because stocks can be volatile, what if the price of the stock goes up by , , or even ? Your risk when doing this can be unlimited.

Using the Put Option Instead

Now let me illustrate how you can do the same type of thing will less risk by using a put option instead. What is the first step? Well the first thing that we would do is go and look at the different put options for ABC stock. For this example we are going to purchase a put option that doesn’t expire for 60 days. The strike price for the option is going to be and the premium is going to be per share for a total of 0 per contract.

Let’s say, for this example, within 30 days the stock price on the option drops to like we were hoping. You then turn around and sell the put option contract for at least , because it has at least that much intrinsic value, so you collect a total of 0. After subtracting the 0 premium you would have made a total of 0 minus commissions. If you don’t know what intrinsic value is you can either Google the term or look it up online. For right now just realize because you have a put option which gives the holder of that option the right to sell this stock for and right now the stock on the market can only be traded for this option has at least worth of value in it.

The other advantage to this strategy is that if the value of the stock goes up you will only lose the 0 premium you paid for the put option contract. You know how much you have at risk going into the deal. Remember, it’s unlimited risk if you short the stock.

I want to point one thing out to you as well. What if you felt like you could risk up to 0 on this deal. You could simply purchase 5 contracts which would cost you 0. If the stock drops to like we hoped you would have made 00 because you have to subtract the premium from the put option and commissions. Remember that when you shorted the stock you would have only made 00 if the price had dropped to and you had unlimited risk. Here you could make 00 and your total risk would only be 0. That I believe is pretty cool. That is the power of stock options trading.

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Investing For Children – Which Options Are Best?

With the potential costs of a university education spiralling, house prices still being relatively high and the cost of weddings increasing, it has never been more important to begin a programme of savings for children and grandchildren.

Added to this the effective demise of the Child Trust Fund has left a gaping hole in effective provision.

In part 1 of this 2-part series, let’s examine some of the tax-efficient opportunities that remain.

Facts and Analysis

The economic downturn has had an important indirect impact on the finances of the younger person, typically people in the age group 18 to 25. As mentioned above, the financial needs of this group of people embrace three main areas.

The Costs of Higher Education

Because of the economic downturn, it is likely that more and more students will be encouraged to stay in higher education and go on to university. But this decision will have considerable financial implications. For example, many who graduate from university will begin their working lives wondering how they will ever repay their debts to large bank overdrafts, credit and store-card debts and money owed to the Student Loans Company.

Also, if their parents are also suffering financially they are likely to be less able to help.

Moreover, this financial burden is likely to increase.

Last year, the then Labour government was reported as planning a cut in the budget for higher education with a possible increase in tuition fees above the current 3,290 cap. As we’ve seen with the recent Parliamentary debate and vote, tuition fees are set to rise to 6,000 – 9,000 pa.

Inevitably greater financial pressure will be placed on universities and students alike and it seems certain that the costs of funding a university education will rise in the future.

Assistance With House Purchase

Although interest rates are comparatively low, the impact of the credit crunch is that mortgages are more difficult to obtain. Lenders will typically now expect a bigger deposit and base lending on a lower multiple of annual income making it much more difficult for the first- time buyer.

Moreover, although house prices may have dropped recently, residential property is still relatively expensive for the first- time buyer. The combination of these factors can make it very difficult for a young person to take the first step on the property ladder.

Wedding Costs

The expectation arising from a wedding is now much greater with the parties looking for a bigger and better reception and honeymoon. Costs can easily exceed 10,000 which can be very difficult to pay without some advance planning.

Who pays?

So what can be done to help these youngsters? Where a parent has excess capital or income, he/she could make effective advance provision for a child. However, this is undoubtedly becoming increasingly difficult.

Given the recent economic climate more and more parents will be concerned to protect their own future financial position rather than give assistance to their children. For those parents with insufficient income or capital and who may require help with funding the costs of a university education, it may be worth asking grandparents for assistance.

Frequently, grandparents will have capital available that they do not need and they may be prepared to invest on behalf of a grandchild who aspires to a university education or to get on the housing ladder.

This will particularly be the case if those grandparents have cash available, perhaps because they have benefited from the housing market by selling a private residence and downsizing and, in so doing, have realised cash that is now surplus to their anticipated future requirements.

Some may also be in receipt of a guaranteed pension from an occupational pension scheme.

So what can parents and grandparents do now to make children more financially secure in the future?

The answer here is to consider a programme of saving as soon as possible to provide those funds in a tax efficient way and in a structure which is acceptable to them. Let’s look at some of the options that are available.

The Child Trust Fund

This is one investment that is no longer available. It is being phased out which means that from 1 August 2010, for most, the initial government payment will reduce from 250 to 50. From 1 January 2011, there will be no initial payment.

Given the phased withdrawal of new Child Trust Funds, parents will need to give consideration to other tax-efficient savings plans for children / grandchildren, such as:

ISAs

It will make sense to consider tax-efficient investments, in particular the individual savings account (ISA). Currently, 10,200 per annum can be invested in an ISA – up to 5,100 into a cash ISA, with the balance into a stocks and shares ISA.

The benefit of the ISA is complete tax freedom on capital gains and virtually complete tax freedom on income. This means that investments have scope to increase in value at a faster pace and therefore the earlier a programme of ISA saving is established the better.

Unfortunately, a child cannot generally establish an ISA (although a 16 year old can effect a cash ISA if the money for the investment comes from the parent the 100 income tax rule will apply). Further as an ISA cannot be put in trust, this will mean that it is the parent / grandparent who will need to make the investment in his / her own name with a view to using the proceeds of the ISA for the benefit of a child when encashment occurs.

Personal Pension Plan

Another investment that a parent or grandparent could make for a child would be a personal pension plan. Here, a gross amount of 3,600 could be paid by the grandparent to a personal pension plan in the grandchild’s name – even though he was a minor.

The grandparent would make the payment net of 20% income tax and so 2,880 would be paid each year. The pension provider would reclaim the tax deducted from HM Revenue and Customs.

The benefits of this arrangement are:

- Basic rate tax relief at source on the contribution – Investments held in a highly tax efficient fund – Whilst contributions are gifts, the normal expenditure out of income exemption and annual 3,000 exemption would normally be available – Tax free cash of 25% of the fund from age 55 for the grandchild

The downside of this is no access to the grandchild until age 55.

So this won’t help with university costs, mortgage costs or the costs of a wedding – well at the very least it’s unlikely for the latter!

Children’s Bonus Bonds

This investment is available from National Savings and provides a return free of income tax and capital gains tax. The Bonds earn a guaranteed fixed rate of interest for five years, with a guaranteed bonus addition on the fifth anniversary. At the time of writing the current Issue 34 of the Bonds pays 2.5% per annum compound over the 5 year term.

This return is derived from compound interest at the rate of 1.85% per annum plus the bonus at the end of 5 years which is equal to 3.56% of the Bond purchase price. The maximum investment per child per Issue is 3,000 and the minimum 25. At each 5-year anniversary the Bond can be encashed or left to run to the next 5-year anniversary at the interest rates prevailing at that time. The Bond must mature at age 21 when a final bonus is added.

Although the Bonds are owned by the child they are issued to the child’s parent(s) or guardian(s) regardless of who the purchaser is.

Early encashment is possible, with penalties. As the controller(s) of the Bond the parent(s) or guardian(s) can encash the Bond up to the child’s sixteenth birthday; thereafter encashment rights lie with the child who is then in control of the Bond.

Before investing a check must be made to ensure that the proposed investment plus any amount already invested in the particular Issue for a particular child does not exceed 3,000.

The Financial Tips Bottom Line

As can be seen, there are various options (and we’ve not covered them all yet) available to invest and save for children. Take the time now to analyse how many of these strategies might be appropriate for your own situation.

Part 2 will follow next time where we’ll look at the use of Trust arrangements.

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Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:
San Francisco Wants to Tax Your Stock Options- All of Them.  —  Few people are aware the San Francisco has had a tax provision in its municipal code since 2004 that requires companies to pay a payroll tax on gains from employee stock options.  No one pays it, and San Francisco hasn’t enforced it to date …

personalized – Techmeme Search

Personal Stock Monitor Simplifies Tracking Stock Options

Charting, Portfolio Management and Trading Software for active investors.

College Park, MD (PRWEB) February 24, 2010

To eliminate confusion caused by the varying stock options ticker formats, DTLink Software has created a “neutral” ticker symbol format, supported by their Personal Stock Monitor software, which greatly simplifies reading and writing options ticker symbols, and allows a single ticker format to work with multiple data providers. This was done in response to the recent industry transition to new option symbology, which was initiated by the Options Clearing Corporation, that allows each stock market data provider to create their own internal options ticker symbol format.

“Since many of our customers trade options, we wanted to create an option symbol format that was easier and more convenient for our customers to use than the cryptic internal ticker formats the data services were using.”, said Anatoly Ivasyuk, CTO of DTLink Software. “So instead of something like MSQ100220P00030000, customers using Personal Stock Monitor can write MSQ Feb 20 2010 Put 30. The ticker symbol becomes an easy-to-read description of the option, instead of something you have to decipher.”

The new options ticker symbol support is available immediately, in the current release of Personal Stock Monitor Gold software.

About Personal Stock Monitor GOLD

In contrast to strictly web based solutions, Personal Stock Monitor GOLD is a Windows(tm) desktop application used by investors world-wide to automatically monitor their stock market portfolios, freeing them to explore more trading ideas in less time. Light weight enough to run in the background, PSM can monitor a portfolio, track it’s performance and alert the investor based on preset criteria. Built in trading allows the investor to act on events instantly. Personal Stock Monitor GOLD supports tracking stock market equities, options, mutual funds, ETFs and other securities all from the privacy of a dedicated desktop application. It features technical analysis charting, portfolio management calculations, reporting, an advanced alert system, scrolling ticker bar, integration with Microsoft Excel and a comprehensive scripting API for developing custom extensions.

Personal Stock Monitor GOLD works with all major version of the Windows(tm) desktop operating system including Win98 up through Windows 7, and requires a minimum of 512MB RAM, 50MB hard disk space, and an Internet connection.

Evaluation copies of Personal Stock Monitor GOLD are available for immediate download from:

http://www.personalstockmonitor.com/downloads.html

For additional information, contact:

DTLink Software

9608 48th Ave.

College Park, MD 20740

Phone: +1 (301) 441-3103 x1

Fax: +1 (301) 614-2974

On the web: http://www.personalstockmonitor.com/media_room.html

Personal Stock Monitor is a trademark of DTLink Software, L.L.C.

CollabInvest is a service mark of DTLink Software, L.L.C.

Excel, Money and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT).

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Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) September 8, 2007

With unrelenting market turmoil over the past few months, and NASDAQ’s entry into the market place in the fourth quarter of this year, more and more investors are aggressively seeking out option as a viable tool to protect their investments, reports Options University, an educational company that trains investors how to properly and safely trade options.

Options trading, often thought of as risky, is now being lauded as a way to protect investments and NASDAQ’s entry into the options market in the fourth quarter validates the importance of options trading. BusinessWeek (34, volume 4044) recently reported that during the waiting period of the acquisition for Dow Jones by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, stock holders had been increasingly buying options to protect themselves in the event that the deal didn’t go through and the stocks were to fall.

Amidst surging market volatility, such as the one experienced recently due to signs of trouble in the US credit market, many traders have missed opportunities to leverage profitability because of a lack of knowledge of options trading. “Unfortunately, many investors don’t take advantage of the protection options can provide. If investors had been properly protected by options, they would not have sustained huge losses and would be in a position to take advantage of a ‘buy low’ opportunity,” said Ron Ianieri, Chief Options Strategist for Options University.

But the tide is turning. Options trading is now enjoying its own renaissance. With NASDAQ entering into the options market, coupled with the current stock market volatility, the demand for options training has dramatically increased. In addition to supplementary webinars and seminars in America, Options University and Ianieri are currently conducting a series of trainings in both Singapore and Australia, as a result of overwhelming requests to learn options. People are finally able to learn nuts and bolts, as well in-depth techniques to successfully trade options. “The fact is, when taught and used properly, options are an investor’s best friend, as well as a safety tool. Options are the purest form of hedge,” said Ianieri.

Growing its reputation as an industry leader, Options University also notes it is experiencing record numbers of attendees in their live seminars and webinars as well as a threefold increase in students of their popular home study courses. Option University CEO, Brett Fogle, said, “We see enrollments skyrocketing, which tells us that investors are finally beginning to understand the importance and power of options. Mainstream investors are now actively seeking quality education on how to appropriately use options in their portfolios.”

About The Options University, LLC

The Options University is the leading source for options education for safer investing and better profits. Co-founder Ron Ianieri was a floor trader for 15 years on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and ‘The Specialist’ in DELL computer options for four years, one of the busiest books in history. While on the floor, Ron built a comprehensive training program to teach and train professional option floor traders. Today, he uses these same principals to teach individual investors how to trade options. Leveraging his experience, the educational company is uniquely qualified to teach investors how to make consistent profits while limiting risk. For more information on Options University, visit www.OptionsUniversity.com.

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