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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (22902)	3/21/1998 9:36:00 PM
From: Mike Gordon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

<Have just down loaded a lot of the option expiration tables just to see how many expired worthless, and which ones made any money,> Jim: Options trading is a completely different strategy. If done right, it's more conservative than pure buying and selling of equities. It has been said on this thread and other periodicals that 85%+ loose money when buying calls or puts. If that's true, then 85% of the sellers of calls and puts make money. Unless I'm protecting a position, I never buy puts or calls. When I buy a stock, I will always sell a put. If the put is never exercised, I keep the premium. Not too proud of this, but I just bought 2k shares of CPQ through selling puts. Now I'm in a covered call strategy to make up for losses. Without going into depth, I've been doing this for five years and haven't had a bad year yet. Secret to success is not to be greedy and don't think you're smarter than the brokers and floor traders. You also mentioned that you charted options. Be careful. Charts are misleading due to premium deterioration and stock swings. Chart the stock, and implement the option with a fixed goal for rate of return. Mike