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To: Tim Wash who wrote (23926)	4/5/1998 11:31:00 AM
From: Windseye	Respond to of 97611

McMillan's book, "Options as a Strategic Investment" (the shadow of hpeace lingers) discusses this bps candidly and exhaustively. Today Dreyfus says that the premiums are 24 and 11, so the spread is now 13, not 12.625. Answers to your questions: Yes it's doable. McMillan, the author, and hpeace recommend it in a bull market. I don't know about the stock being put prior... from the seller's perspective there is little to gain unless the stock drops, so perhaps that's when the probability of being put to increases. And I believe you're correct, the only damage done if you have to re-sell is the commission expense and current bid-ask price dif. The "experts" say to only get into this when the credit spread is 7 or 8. Otherwise there is not much to gain. Thanks for doing the arithmetic... it looks like a classic long term win, at least in a bull market. Luck, Doug

To: Tim Wash who wrote (23926)	4/5/1998 1:07:00 PM
From: Jan Crawley	Respond to of 97611

Great post, it is definitively an eye-opener for me. Sorry that I am not able to add any valuable thoughts to your bull put spread strategy; I do have one simple question: Is it a good idea to focus the BPS to more than one stock? Let's say 2 or no more than 3? Spread/maximize the opportunity b/c the risk is minimized here. Thanks and regards, Jan p.s. Thanks to Windseye's reply to your post too.

To: Tim Wash who wrote (23926)	4/5/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: Gerald Drews	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Tim - Try this Buy the cpq 2000 30 calls long and sell the cpq 2000 50 calls short. At the current market cpq 30 calls are about 6.25 and cpq 50 are 2.25 You can execute this spread through your broker for about $400 per contract. You can short the cpq 50 calls using the equity in the cpq 30 calls but the broker has to execute the transaction as a spread order. You need cpq above 34 by Jan 2000 to break even and if its 50 by Jan 2000 you have a 5 bagger! $400 ==> $2000. I'm doing this with lkpad and lkpaf shorting with lkpaj. I use Charles Schwab to do these orders Jerry