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Strategies & Market Trends : Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: voop who wrote (76)	12/26/1999 10:53:00 PM
From: Jill	Respond to of 8096

Fidelity. Originally when I started selling puts I was with Schwab and they let me sell some but then rescinded it because I hadn't had my account enabled. This inspired me to move instantly to Fidelity. Taxman, who promised he'd come over & visit this thread, is very smart about buying puts to protect enormous gains. You might PM him and ask him to post his thoughts. Jill

To: voop who wrote (76)	12/26/1999 11:11:00 PM
From: steve mamus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8096

Depending upon market conditions, I think that selling puts does accomplish several goals (a) generate income and by so doing may decrease the overall volitility of your portfolio. From a psychological point of view I find that I am less likely to bail out of a long term position if there is significant cushion provided by cash provided by selling puts. I tend to sell mass quantities of way out of the money puts for QCOM (in the amounts sold I feel best when the puts are 100 dollars out of the money or more). From a personal point of view given the disproportionate amount of QCOM in my portfolio I feel most comfortable with this approach. IMHO I would probably buy puts when I felt there existed the overwhelming probability of a large macro event from which there would exist no safe harbors. If there was a fundamental, major deterioration in my perception of QCOM I would dump my entire position and ask questions later. At that point buying puts would presumably be utilized for a different reason.

To: voop who wrote (76)	12/27/1999 8:47:00 AM
From: Poet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8096

Hi voop, Your question about protecting gains is at the top of my list and, other than the strategies Jill has listed, I'm fresh outta ideas. I'll try to pull in someone who has more experience to give all some ideas. On brokers and the various options levels necessary for writing naked puts, I've just upgraded to level 4 at Waterhouse. You'll need to call your broker and have them send you another options application, filling out how often you trade options and "upping" the level of risk you're willing to take. This process looks pretty pro forma to me. By the way, if you haven't subsribed to Option Investor ($40/mo.) it's a very good newsletter. They suggest that frequent options traders consider a brokerage called Preferred Trade, which specializes in options. I've looked at it closely and will move my options trading there in a few weeks, as they route orders to the exchange with the best price and (a great boon to those like me who are mathematically-challenged) take limit orders based on the STOCK price. Something to keep in mind, anyway.