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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (119722)	3/8/2001 4:30:24 PM
From: manalagi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Glenn: you are always looking for ways to make money. Here is one for you to consider: Buy Oracle and sell straddle. I am using an example for 100 shares. Buy 100 shares of ORCL at 17 1/2 . Cash outflow $ 1,750 Sell naked call Jan2003/17 1/2 - (VOCMW) at 5 1/4 and sell Covered Call Jan2003/17 1/2 -(VOCAW ) at 7 1/4. Receive cash 100 x $ 5.25 = $ 525 and plus 100 x $ 7.25 = $ 725, for a total of $ 1,250. Net cash outflow : $ 1,750 - $ 1,250 = $ 500. In Jan2003 Oracle sells for more than 17 1/2 : your stock is called, and you receive $ 1,750 giving you a gain of $ 1,250 on investment of $ 500 or 250% gain in 22 months. The gain is taxed as a Long Term Capital Gain!! Can any sane investment top that? NOW THE RISK (don't ever forget this): In Jan2003 Oracle sells below 17 1/2. The covered call becomes worthless. On your put you get an assignment of 100 shares at $ 17 1/2. Now you own 200 shares of Oracle with average price of ($ 500 plus $ 1,750) /200 = $ 11 1/4/share. As long as Oracle sells above $ 11 1/4, you make money. The absolute risk is that Oracle goes down to zero, then you are out $ 2,250. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Caveat: Does the above approach work for every stock? The answer is obviously a BIG NO. It would be a disaster to use this approach on CMGI when it was 120, or Amazon when it was 400, or Akamai when it was 300+, or even on Oracle when it was at 45. Right now Oracle is trading at a level where the risk is manageable. Even if it goes to zeroby Jan03 where the probability of that happening is close to zero, your risk is $ 2,250 for every 100 shares of Oracle purchased. Good Luck Manalagi