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To: IceShark who wrote (164661)	4/10/2001 9:08:37 AM
From: OLDTRADER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

ICE:You can sell covered options in an IRA.

To: IceShark who wrote (164661)	4/10/2001 12:23:52 PM
From: hlsjones	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Selling Options in IRA "...Selling them can't be done..." Totally untrue. Suppose you want to sell puts to acquire stock and you have the cash in the account to cover the stock? No margin involved at except in the broker's mind (or lack thereof). Almost without exception a broker will tell you that selling the put is bad (and illegal - that's a lie) but buying the stock is OK. When I say something like "Ok, the stock is at 26 and you say I can buy that, right?" Broker says "yes". All right, I ask "if I buy the stock, what is my ultimate downside?" Broker says "what do you mean?". I say "what is my total exposure - how much can I lose?" Broker says "what do you mean?". I say "if I buy the stock and the company goes out of business, how much can I lose?" Broker says "26'. "OK" says I. "So if I sell the 25 put for say 2, and I'm exercised, my ultimate downside is 23, right?" The broker says something like "well sorta". Then I explode. The broker is trying to tell me that a downside of 26 is safer than a downside of 23. I'm not stupid, he is! I can do simple math. Brokers, in general, think that we are all stupid and they are brilliant. We need to put these people out of business. We pay for the service and we should not need to put with this kind of junk!!! HJ