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To: William L. Oppenheim who wrote (10878)	2/6/1998 4:04:00 PM
From: Big Dog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

The people that lose money on options are those that BUY options. If you SELL options you can not lose money on the option. The only thing you can lose is some of the upside on the underlying stock. This is a huge difference (between buying and selling options) and it seems that most of the recent option talk has been focused on SELLING or writing options. I think you make the case for what I am saying. If 90% of option buyers lose money then who is making money on the other side of those trades? The sellers.

To: William L. Oppenheim who wrote (10878)	2/6/1998 4:26:00 PM
From: SJS	Respond to of 95453

Bill, I don't win everytime I play either. BUT I have been MORE successful selling covered calls than buying calls. I don't loose 9 times out of every 10 times I play. Here's the real statement: There is a Wall Street axiom that says "90% of all the options that are bought expire worthless". This means that 90% of the time the people who 'write' the option and collect the premium, never get their stock 'called' from them or get stock 'put' to them. This has also been called the theory of maximum pain. There has been some analysis of this hypothesis in the Silicon Investor, Trading IOMEGA based on technical analysis , thread.

To: William L. Oppenheim who wrote (10878)	2/6/1998 4:28:00 PM
From: Lazlo Pierce	Respond to of 95453

William, I play options, and there definitely is a learning curve. On the whole I'm up some (Intel LEAPS last year helped especially), and have been doing better in the last 3 months. For me one of the keys is minimizing the loss amount, and catching a few homeruns. Generally, I've been playing these guys after big drops, and buying calls a month out, and vica versa after the bounces. I haven;t done many with the drillers during this time frame (about 10 plays) but have been profitable on 8 of em (to varying degrees). I did lose a shitload on my first foray into the sector in Oct though, and am getting close to even on these guys now. My last play of buying the SLB Feb 72.5s @ 2 (stock @ 69 3/4), and selling @ 6 helped alot :-) Message 3243785 Dave