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    July 27, 2020

    What is Option Put-Call Parity?

    Put–call parity defines a relationship between the price of a European call option and European put option, both with the identical strike price and expiry, namely that a portfolio of a long call option and a short put option is equivalent to (and hence has the same value as) a single forward contract at this strike price and expiry. This is […]

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    June 10, 2020

    Helping You Understand Option Gamma

    An option’s gamma is a measure of the rate of change of its delta. The gamma of an option reflects the change in the delta in response to a one-point movement of the underlying stock price. Like the delta, the gamma is not a static measure.  It is constantly changing, even with tiny movements of the […]

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    June 10, 2020

    What Is Option Margin?

    Option margin is the cash or securities an investor must deposit in his account as collateral before writing – or selling – options. Margin requirements are established by the Federal Reserve Board in Regulation T. Option margin differs from other types of margin that you may associate with stock or futures trading.  These types of margin allow a trader to employ leverage in […]

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    June 9, 2020

    The Difference Between Implied Volatility and Vega

    Implied Volatility (IV) and Vega are very much related but are by no means the same thing. Implied volatility has no direct correlation to actual past historical or statistical volatility; rather it is a measure of predicted future movement. Implied volatility tends to increase when there is uncertainty or anticipated news, while it tends to […]

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    June 9, 2020

    What Is the PFE and How Do We Use It in Our Trading Methodologies

    The Polarized Fractal Efficiency (PFE) is a technical indicator that was developed by Hans Hannula to determine price efficiency over a user-defined period. This indicator fluctuates between -100 and +100, with 0 as the centerline. Securities with a PFE greater than zero are deemed to be trending up, while a reading of less than zero indicates […]

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    June 8, 2020

    How We Use Implied Volatility To Calculate the Expected Move

    Remember, we trade in the world of probabilities, not possibilities.  But how do we know what is reasonable or probable?  Implied volatility gives us the answer. Click the video below to find out how Follow me on Twitter @MikeShorrCBOT

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    June 8, 2020

    When To Use A Credit Spread?

    There are many ways to approach a trade using options.  There are dozens of strategies that you can utilize as well.  Do I buy a call?  Do I buy a put?  Is there an option spread that I can construct?  Should that spread be a debit or credit spread?  Click the video below to see […]

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    June 2, 2020

    What Is A Confidence Interval?

    We talk a lot about price distributions, standard deviations, confidence intervals, etc. in our rooms. What are we talking about? We throw these terms around like it’s “2+2=4” and that is not fair. Here is what we are talking aboutFor example, a 95% confidence interval is a range of values that you can be 95% […]

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    June 2, 2020

    How To Enter A Butterfly Order On ThinkOrSwim

    A butterfly spread is an options strategy combining bull and bear spreads, with a fixed risk and capped profit. These spreads, involving either four calls or four puts are intended as a market-neutral strategy and pay off the most if the underlying does not move prior to option expiration. Click the video below to see more detail. Grab a free day pass to […]

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    June 1, 2020

    Why Don’t VIX Options Move In Step With the Underlying Futures?

    Today is a great day to talk about the VIX.  It can be confusing. The VIX index and futures are connected by a statistical relationship that depends on how fast the VIX tends to move toward its average level, the volatility of the index and how much time is left until expiration. Near expiration, the […]

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