Not a problem, Glenn. I've pretty much stayed on the sidelines for the last few thousand posts, not caring to take part in the "tastes great vs. less filling" skirmishes. But, as you know, I'm not one to sit idle when blatant misstatments are made, particularly from people that I know know better.
In re naked puts vs. covered calls, I do both and it depends on the situation. I've made a good deal of money writing covered calls against Novellus, 3Com, SCI and others, and I've used naked puts as a way of initiating an intended long position at a discount. However, a lot of people don't have naked option writing privileges, even in non-qualified accounts.
As an aside, I expect more liquidity in the options markets as a result of the new 18 month holding period for long term capital gains treatment. More people will be using the options as a hedge to protect a long (term) position, which is more easily justified by the wider delta between long and short term rates. What do you think? |
