The Option Alpha Podcast

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show77

Options expiration week can be a scary time for some traders as they struggle with fears about short option contract assignment. And while the reality is that most options are not assigned, it still creates anxiety and confusion about what to do with short positions that are in-the-money. On today's podcast, I'll walk through the most recent OCC stats on options expiration including the #1 reason why you shouldn't be afraid to hold positions that go in-the-money even during expiration week.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show76

Our #1 core value here at Option Alpha is that options trading education comes first before anything else. I believe that you have to crawl before you can walk in this business and it's why all of our trading courses, guides, and checklists, podcasts, webinars, etc. are completely open and free. Still, I understand that options trading can be overwhelming and confusing at times with so much to review and consume. Recently, I found myself in the same situation with a development project for the website, and I thought that it would be a great discussion for the podcast and potentially help you in your options education journey.

About a month ago I was hitting a brick wall in rolling out some improvements and changes to the Option Alpha platform. There was so much to do, and I didn't know where to start first. We needed to update SEO stuff, website navigation menus, page layouts, servers, etc. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed with the workload and assumed it would take months to finish. On the recommendation of one of my coaches (yes I have coaches too!) I implemented a couple of deadline and phase strategies that I cover in the show.

The result is that my team and I finished all of our updates and enhancements much faster than I expected and are off to the next project for you all. And as simple as these strategies might sound during the show, I promise you that they made the world of difference for me in quickly educating myself and organizing my time and activities and I know it'll help you if you take action today.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show75

I've been trading publicly on Option Alpha for more than eight years now, and I'm still baffled by the number of investors who get absolutely shocked when option trading portfolio drawdowns occur. I'm talking ALL CAPS emails, mind blown, ripping their hair out shocked that a trading system wasn't a 100% probability of success. And while losing money is by no means "fun" or "exciting," it is, however, part of high probability trading systems.

In fact, you are guaranteed at some point to have a drawdown or streak of losing trades. It shouldn't come as a surprise, and it's why we are so big on balancing portfolios and trading small positions to minimize the impact on your account. Even though we know we'll have portfolio drawdowns from time to time, we also know that we'll end up generating above average returns if we stick with it long enough. 

The concept of trading in a positive expected outcome system and being persistent through drawdowns isn't based on my opinion or assumptions; it's backed by math and the 44,801 backtested option strategies I'm going to cover in today's show.

Many of you know that over the last year we've been building and developing options backtesting and optimizing software that is going to be a complete game changer for traders just like you. In this show, you'll finally start to see just a small glimpse of the power behind backtesting and modeling hundreds of thousands of option strategies. It was by far one of the most anticipated shows for me to record and I hope you find incredible value in listening.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show74

Most newbie option investors start trading with small brokerage accounts. Whether by choice or necessity, the average investor opens up their account with approx $10,000 according to most brokers. And while this isn't a small amount of money by any means, it does limit your ability to trade more aggressive options strategies like straddles and strangles.

In today's podcast, I want to help you understand how you can still trade these more aggressive and profitable options strategies (synthetically with small tweaks) even if you've got a small account or are trading in and IRA. Specifically, I'll answer a bunch of common questions I get from new PRO members including; What if I can't trade straddles and strangles? How do I adjust the trading alerts to fit my portfolio? Should I scale position sizes down or up (# contracts)? What about spread width - go wider or more narrow? What if the commissions are eating too much into the profit after closing at 50%?

Sure, it might take a little more time to grow and mature an account but don't jump ahead or try to "game" the system. Eventually, the math and probabilities always play out the way they should, and you've got to learn how to build profitable strategies today if you plan on still being around in five or ten years from now.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show73

What does great pricing look like when trading short strangles? Is it collecting a certain raw dollar amount? Or a certain percentage of the stock price? Without a doubt, these are tough questions to answer for newbie options traders and hard to answer without some context. And while comparing pricing on different risk defined option trades, like credit spreads and iron condors, is pretty straight-forward and easy, it can become difficult to recognize great pricing with undefined risk option strategies like short strangles.

In today's podcast, I examined eight different short strangles across a mix of ETFs and individual stocks. I recorded everything from the current stock price and implied volatility ranking to the premium collected and the margin required for each one lot strangle. My goal? Discover which option trades had the best pricing on a relative basis given that every short strangle we analyzed had the same 70% probability of success.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show72

You've entered a new option trade with a high probability of success - but you also know that a 70% chance of success doesn't mean it's a sure thing. As soon as your order fills the stock starts to move against your position - just your luck right? And each subsequent day the stock continues to trend closer and closer to your strike prices, threatening your position. At this point, you're starting to get pretty emotional about the whole thing and don't know what to do or how to adjust it. 

When do you pull the trigger and make an adjustment? Do you do it now or is it too soon? If you wait, what if you miss an opportunity? How much time is left until expiration? Are you taking in enough of a credit to reduce the overall risk? Is it worth it to even adjust at all right now? 

Believe me; I get it, and I know that these are just some of the questions circling in your head when presented with this situation. That's why in today's podcast episode I'm going to take you through three specific triggers you can implement right now to help you start making smarter, more unemotional option trade adjustments when a stock starts moving against you. You'll also hear why I favor trigger #1 over the others as it's a more mechanical and systematic.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show71

For years now I've talked about the concept of exiting option trades early and taking money off the table as a way to both improve your win rates and increase overall profitability. Still, I'll often get emails and questions about the legitimacy of exiting trades early vs. letting profitable trades go all the way to expiration and "milking it for all its worth" as some members have put it. Honestly, I can't blame anyone for questioning it because on paper it sounds crazy. Close a trade early for half the potential profit, and you'll make more money - who would believe that right?

Today, we'll present another case study that proves why the two biggest misconceptions about exiting trades early are completely wrong. Not only will you see why taking profits before expiration increases your win rate but you'll also hear how it helps reduce the magnitude of drawdowns and increase your average profit per trade. Once you see the results of these four backtested short strangles in TLT, a major bond ETF, I'm confident you'll quickly change your opinion and start implementing some of the automatic profit targets we suggest in your own portfolio.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show70

We’ve reached yet another options expiration week, which can sometimes cause many traders to freak out as they worry about positions that are still lingering in their portfolio. And with the deadline for expiration quickly approaching it's no wonder why many people are incorrectly managing trades with the fears of assignment knocking on their doorstep. Either rushing to close position that shouldn't be closed or waiting too long to act and putting them at risk of a massive "gamma move" in the underlying option's price.

Typically by the time we reach expiration week we've closed positions that hit our profit target and adjusted positions that have gone against us. But as we near the third Friday of every month, we have to come face to face with the realization that some trades just haven't worked out as we might have hoped. In today's episode, I want to help you create a checklist for deciding which positions to close or roll during options expiration week. In particular, I want to walk you through my thought process on which trades I focus on closing first and how I ultimately decide if a position should be rolled to the next expiration month.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show69

Regardless of your current account size or trading experience level, you should be putting some serious thought into how you plan on scaling your options strategy over the next few years. Especially if you’re looking to generate a consistent monthly income from options trading, you probably realize that having $10,000 in your account won’t be enough to generate profits to replace your current job or salary - or if this was a shock to you, sorry for the reality check but it’s true. Still, you need to plan ahead for the changes that will accompany having more cash.

In today’s show I’ll walk through the 3 biggest tips I have for anyone who’s looking to grow their 6-figure account. As with any regular business, the products and strategy for trading are going to change and shift as you grow. The core principles remain the same (i.e. selling options, taking advantage of high volatility, etc.) but the way you could about capturing profits and utilizing capital will need to be tweaked so that you’re always trading options as efficiently as possible.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show68

Naturally, if you’ve started trading options for any reasonable amount of time you’ll run across the VIX index. Or as it’s commonly referred to, the “Fear” Index. And while the concept of tracking and trading volatility with the VIX might sound intimidating at first, trust me, it’s not all that complicated and just requires a little common sense.

In today’s podcast, we’ve brought on a very special guest, Mark Sebastian, a former floor trader, hedge fund manager and the guy behind OptionPit.com. What’s great about Mark is that not only does he have a lot of experience as an options trader, but he’s also got a lot of specialized knowledge when it comes to the VIX and volatility products like VXX, UVXY, and VXZ that I know you’re going to love. 

During the show, we’ll talk about the history of the VIX, how the index is priced, how the VIX futures term structure accounts for mean reversion and some simple strategies you can use to trade volatility with a higher probability of success. So, don’t be afraid to dig into this podcast this Halloween - Mark and I have some yummy volatility treats waiting for you (okay I just had to throw that in there given the release date).