Finance & Investment, Trading Options: An Opportunity For Leverage And Predictability


by TOM CROMLENTO - Date: 2008-07-31 - Word Count: 579 Share This!

Because sufficient curiosity and interest are vital, taking the time to learn about and comprehend "trading options" is neither too difficult nor too time-consuming to undertake. First off, options are a type of contract that provides the buyer the ability to sell or purchase a certain product like stocks at a previously established cost in a specified time frame. A number of stock exchanges facilitate trading of stock options.

Trading is by far the investment type that yields the highest benefit. Options trading allows the investor enormous flexibility. He or she can analyze market analysis perspectives and let that guide the bets that they place. For example, placing a bet six months from now will mean that a stock will be valued above or below a lower price. If, in six months, the stock actually trades between those two prices, you will be out a certain amount of money. This option strategy is usually called the Long Strangle.

Option contracts also provide traders with an enormous amount of power. One option contract could represents more than 100 underlying shares. Therefore, with a relatively small amount of money an option trader can control a very large underlying stock position. Because of this very same leverage, option trading can also be a very risky business if you are just a beginner or not an experienced one. At the same time, this type of business can make you very large returns in small amount of time if are careful and knowledgeable enough.

For the beginners, there are extensive number of online tutorials and manuals out there on the subject; you will even be able to find some completely free of charge materials and Excel spreadsheets online that help you calculate the contract options.

Once you have become more familiar with the basics of option trading, you will be considering other option trade strategies that professional investors use. There are various option strategies all of which could not be explained here in a row. If one is determined to run his/her business in this type of investment, he/she needs to spend time enough to understand the market value, analysis, and the option trading strategy available.

Most option traders use options as part of a larger strategy based on a selection of stocks, but because trading options is very different from trading stocks, stock traders who want to switch to it should take the time to learn and understand the concepts of options before trading them as very high risks are involved in such dealings.

To have a good idea of what you are dealing with in trading options, expect the following: 1) to calculate your maximum loss figures beforehand, and 2) to even estimate your expected profits based on buying or selling by the trade's expiration date.

Trading options are contracts giving buyers the right to purchase or sell certain items at a preset price within a specific time. Options allow more flexibility to bet on certain markets. This option strategy is called the Long Strangle. This can be risky. If it works out, you can receive huge returns in little time. Just be careful Many online tutorials and manuals assist novices for free. There are various strategies which cannot be explained here. One needs to spend time to understand the market value, analysis, and the option trading strategy available. Option trading allows investors to determine the maximum loss beforehand, and even calculate how much one would make by the expiration date.


Related Tags: finance, option trading strategy, trading options, option strategy

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