Details On The Trade

Options: A whole other level of risk/reward.

Buying an option, you have a ‘right’.

Selling (to open), you have an ‘obligation’.

There are plenty of horror stories selling options. A typical example, is this one.

However, when buying options (to open), as Dr. Elder has said, you have to jump through ‘three hoops at once‘; get it right on the stock, direction, and time.

He goes on to say, working the options market is counter intuitive. Traders naturally gravitate to long-dated, in-the-money options so the trade has time ‘work out’.

His method’s the opposite; short-dated, out-of-the-money.

So, what exactly does that look like?

The XBI, Short-Dated, Put

The situation on biotech, its reversal, first covered here, is a well-known topic on this site.

Using that information, especially this update and this one, probabilities were high for downside the next session.

With that, we have the following.

Biotech XBI, 1-minute

Time stamp on the entry from the broker states: 15:35:10, shown on the chart.

Time stamp on the exit is: 09:31:43, also shown.

Note: Entry was executed as the price of XBI was rising (for nine-minutes), with option value declining.

That rise does not look like much but we’re one day before expiration; option value is fluctuating significantly.

Perfection vs. Effectiveness

After the entry, we see later, there’s a 1-minute ‘blip’ higher before that blip was reversed.

Waiting for entry could have been better from a lower price standpoint.

That blip could have easily gone the other way, option value rising rapidly, low-risk (entry) opportunity gone.

Looking at the chart, one could say that ‘it’s not perfect’ and that’s true.

However, for being in the market just 29-trading minutes, gain of +160%, one could say, it was highly effective.

Stay Tuned

Charts by StockCharts

Note:  Posts on this site are for education purposes only.  They provide one firm’s insight on the markets.  Not investment advice.  See additional disclaimer here.

The Danger Point®, trade mark: No. 6,505,279