Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert who wrote (43412)	1/14/1999 6:28:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Robert, 1. I tend not to sell puts or calls until I have a quadruple. The frequent exception is when I am in the money and expiration is nearing. I don't like the chaos around expiration, so I tend to roll down and out early when I am in the money. A change in the story can also make me cut profits short, but that is a rare occurence. I can't remember the last time I did that. 2. There are two factors here, initial margin and maintenance margin. Maintenance margin, which you are asking about, tends to be about half of initial margin. So, you have a security where the requirements are changed, maintenance margin is not likely to be violated unless the owner has a huge loss. We know that isn't the case with the internuts. The profit they have made, on paper, goes toward fulfilling the maintenance requirement. So, it is possible for higher maintenance margins to cause a sell-off, the internuts don't seem to be in that position. MB