Hi Mike. I can probably answer number's two and three. I'll leave number one to the other guys.
Number 2: The best place I have found is my broker's tele-broker line. They gave me a chart that showed how to convert the underlying stock symbol into a options symbol. However, this only worked for stocks with 3 lettered symbols or less (i.e., SEG, KO, etc.). For 4 letters or more, you need to ask a broker....or...you can go to CBS Market Watch:
cbs.marketwatch.com
Near the bottom of the page Click on options. You can find the chart for almost all options there, and the site will also give you delayed quotes for options too. I like it for evening research. I use the telebroker for real time during the day. I would see what your broker has to offer. I am sure there are some other sites, other than Marketwatch, but, it's the one that I use.
Number 3: The answer to that is usually, if the it's good for stocks when they split, then it's good for options too. From what I can tell there is no added advantage to having the option versus the stock when it splits. For example a $100 stock that you have 5 contracts of, at a $100 strike price that are selling for $3 a contract, becomes a $50 stock that you have 10 contracts of at a $50 strike price, that are selling for $1.50 a contract. IMO, it is good to buy options and stocks pre-split. Usually, best a little bit past the announcement, to get past the initial euphoria that comes with a split announcement.
Hope this helps.
Rob. |
