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To: Dr. David Gleitman who wrote (26348)	5/19/1998 10:26:00 AM
From: Spots	Respond to of 97611

Send an email to Jill at webmistress@techstocks.com. Tell her your current SI name and what you want to change it to. It will change retroactively in all past posts. (Not in message text, of course.)

To: Dr. David Gleitman who wrote (26348)	5/19/1998 10:41:00 AM
From: Andreas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Dear Dr. Gleitman, Hope the following is helpful. I'll start with basics and hope that I'm going over the same ground. call = option to buy put = option to sell. I like writing covered calls. A covered call is an option granted to someone else to buy common stock that you already own. For this privilege the buyer of your option will pay you a premium. Here's an example: Let's assume I own 1000 shares of cpq and the price of cpq is currently $33.00. I decide to immediately write (sell) some calls. I can sell or write 10 contracts ( 1 contract = 100 shares). When I look up the call for June , 1998 at $32.50, I see that it selling at $2.50/shr. In other words the option to buy my stock at any time between now and June 17, 1998 (a mere 30 days) is going for $2.50 per share. In other words I will collect $2,500 on my ten contracts less commissions. When I sell the 10 contracts they are added to the open interest for that particular call and exercise price. Exercise price is also referred to as the strike price. Now, looking at the $2.50 premium for that particular call you can determine that $.50 is the intrinsic value and $2.00 is the time value. In other words the intrinsic value is that difference between the current price ($33.00) and the strike price ($32.50). Logically, the premium or price for the call cannot drop below this intrinsic value. The remaining price of the call is purely time premium. It's the fluff that gamblers are willing to pay for that right to buy your stock during a certain time period (hence time premium). The longer the option period the greater the time value (but not proportionately). If the stock is at or below $32.50 on June 17, 1998 (option expiration date) then I, as call writer, can keep my stock and obviously the premium of $2.50 I received when I wrote the option. The downside to all of this is? What if cpq stock goes through the roof and hits 40 within the 30 days. Then, someone has the option to buy your stock at $32.50. Your upside potential is maxed out at $32.50 plus the $2.50 you received on the option. There's a lot more to this. Such as rolling up and out. Selling puts rather than calls. Buying puts and calls (a gambler's game - may as well to Las Vegas). Straddles, Strangles, (combinations of various option positions). I recommend McMillan on options. Available at Border's Books. If you have questions feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer them.

To: Dr. David Gleitman who wrote (26348)	5/21/1998 12:47:00 PM
From: James H. Williams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

I know you don't need my opinion or voting on this, but I would suggest that if you've earned a title you can use it whenever you want, and nobody has the right to make you stop. Also, anyone who uses this forum to criticize you personally when you didn't do anything to them is probably in violation of some member agreement, and at the very least is a...let's see...hmmm....how about close-minded, bigoted, self-important jerk. They should not be rewarded by seeing you go to the trouble to change your name. Maybe a note to Jill the webmistress is in order, but not to change your name, rather to report on the source of unprovoked personal attacks encountered here. I know your title will probably prompt more humus-dwellers to creep into the daylight to give their much-needed opinion, but isn't it better to be able to identify them sooner rather than later, after you may have wasted time reading some of their posts. Just my humble opinion.