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Strategies & Market Trends : Options for Newbies -(Help Me Obi-Wan-Kenobe)
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To: Peter Church who wrote (1450)6/16/1999 11:29:00 PM
From: Jon Tara  Read Replies (1) of 2241
 
Peter, you seem clear that the mistake was yours. You are lucky that you have a minimal loss - eat it, and chalk it up to education.

When you give an option order over the phone, there is a definate protocol that you SHOULD follow, and your broker will be much appreciative if you follow it. (But he SHOULD have asked you to confirm the name of the company, and any online system SHOULD have confirmed with a pre-order screen that has the name of the company as well...)

The right way to enter an order:

"I'd like to place an order for account #123456. I'd like to buy 5 contracts of Wind River Systems July 20 calls - option symbol QVWGD - at market (or at a limit price of whatever) to open."

Your broker should then quote this back:

"To confirm, you want to buy 5 contracts of Wind River System July 20 calls, QVWGD, at market to open. Is that correct?"

Here's how NOT to place your order:

"I'd like to buy 5 QVWGD" (Give the name as well, and you must state if you are opening or closing a position. Price? Newbies often don't realize that you can buy to close - because you might have been short the contract.)

If you did this, though, your broker should either ask you the company name, or quote back the order as above, with both the symbol and the company name.
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