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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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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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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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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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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When a new trader hears the term “broken wing butterfly” it tends to send shivers down his or her spine. The term sounds really complicated. It does not have to be. If you break down the components of a bwf, you will see that it is simply buying one vertical spread and selling a narrower […]
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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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Shares of Ulta Beauty tanked more than 20% after the company reported earnings after the bell Thursday that missed analysts’ expectations and slashed its outlook for the fiscal year. The company said that the cosmetics industry has struggled as a whole this cycle, because there haven’t been innovative beauty routines that drive consumers to purchase products as […]
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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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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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