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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: w0z who wrote (33804)	1/15/2000 1:05:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Respond to of 70976

Bill, The specialists that trade options keep a neutral position. They're neither long nor short the underlying for more than a few nanoseconds; and they don't take any market risk. There are a variety of ways they can achieve this: through puts vs calls in balance, through long/short positions in the underlying; etc. McMillan goes through this in depth. I don't remember all the mechanics. But I guarantee you one thing. The specialists always make money on each trade done. They are anything but philanthropists. Next time you're near a bookstore, scan through the first chapter of one of McMillans books for a better description. Or you could probably get good information from one of the many option related threads here at SI. Best wishes, Ian.