Options Playbook Radio

In this episode, Brian is joined by Mark to take on listener questions.

They discuss:

• What indexes or products work best for synthetic covered calls?

That brings up:

• Fig leaf
• Greeks
• How to roll

In this episode, Brian is joined by Bill Ryan, Managing Director at the NYSE.

They discuss:

• What are ByRDs?
• What about pricing?
• Is time on your side?
• Probabilities and their relative factors
• VWAP matters: find out more at nyse.com/byrds
• What products have ByRDs?
• What type of expirations are there?
• Can you sell ByRDs to bring in a credit?
• Can retail customers trade ByRDs?

Mark and Brian are taking your questions.

• Question from Jim Duggan: FOMC and Brexit are approaching. What are some good ways to use options to play Brexit or FOMC?
• Question from Vegan: For an options newbie, how would I construct a trade with most possibilities to win? I understand that the potential profit might be small. What time frame is good as well?

This week, we are continuing the conversation about long butterfly spreads with puts that started last time. You can find this information on page 104 of the Options Playbook, or on OptionsPlaybook.com.

In this episode, Brian discusses:

• A review of last week.
• What was the plan?
• Does the plan need to be revised?
• Can we still make a profit?
• How to manipulate the legs to create a new, profitable positions.
• What is the new plan?
• What is the maximum risk? Reward?
• What do we want to happen?

Today we're looking at a strategy based on the overall market, a long butterfly with puts. You can find this on page 104 of the Options Playbook, or you can always find it on OptionsPlaybook.com

Specifically:

• Looking at the overall market: where is the S&P 500?
• Will there be a new all-time high, or will there be a pullback?
• European verus American style options
• Weekly versus monthly options
• Setting up the trade
• Maximum risk & profit
• What will happen to implied volatilities?
• Contingency plans

Coming to you live (to tape) from the Options Industry Conference, Mark and Brian are back and they have more listener questions to address. This week, they are taking on:

• Do the remaining specialists/DPMs do a good job of making markets, or are there too few of them?
• Are there too many strikes? Expirations?
• Why have the more exotic stratgies become more popular?

Huddle up, listeners. We're taking listener questions.

Vega: Do puts and calls become more expensive ahead of events due to risk premium? If so, how do I avoid that?

• When do you want implied volatility to increase?
• How to avoid swings around earnings

Critter: Is selling premium less risky than buying premium?

• Build your strategy around your forecast
• Common misconceptions

Huddle Up: Listener questions and comments

• Bean bag: Could you discuss the put/call ratio, its use, and metrics as a tool?
• Reid: Do options stats or unusual activity predict stock movements accurately?

You can find information on iron condors in the Options Playbook on page 126. You can also always find all of this information on OptionsPlaybook.com. In this episode, Brian discusses

• The AMZN iron condor from last week
• General guidelines for earnings trades
• A review of the GOOG trade from a few weeks ago
• A deep look at TSLA
• What is the ATM straddle for the nearest expiration?
• Picking the strikes
• Determining the over/under so you can stay away from that
• What is the upside? Downside?
• Understanding the odds. Remember that you CAN lose.
• Rationale for the expiration date

With it being earnings season, let's take a look at a strategy around AMZN earnings. You can always find information on iron condors on OptionsPlaybook.com.

Today Brian discusses:

• A review of the GOOG skip-strike butterfly from last week
• Taking a look at AMZN going into earnings
• Where is the long straddle of the nearest-term expiration?
• Why a skip-strike butterfly didn't work in this case.
• Why was this the case?
• How to make the most of the high implied volatility?
• How to get way out-of-the-money?
• Setting up the iron condor
• What is the maximum risk? Gain?