Statistical Volatility

A delayed start option is an option that does not have an exercise price when first introduced for trading but instead has an exercise price setting formula pursuant to which the exercise price will be fixed on a specified future date. 

When the price of the underlying stock is equal to the strike price of the option, the contract is At The Money. In the image below you can see that the current price of APPL is 139 and the red rectangles are highlighting the fact that the JUL 15th 139.00 Calls & Puts are currently…

Are Call Sweeps Bullish? The short answer is not always. I have been tracking and trading Unusual Options Activity for many years and I have seen both Bullish & Bearish sweeps on the Call side. What this means is that you can have a sweep order to sell Calls which is essentially taking a bearish…

This is when you sell a call and buy a call with a higher strike price. A Bear Call Spread is used when you have a bearish outlook on a stock and you want to bet against it by going short but you don’t want to shirt the stock because it theoretically has unlimited risk….

No.  Investors look to the confirmations and statements that they receive from their brokerage firms to confirm their positions as option holders or writers. An option holder looks to the system created by OCC’s rules, rather than to any particular option writer, for performance of the option he owns. Similarly, option writers must perform their…

With the recent move by top brokers like TD Ameritrade to eliminate commissions there have been lots of new traders opening new accounts there. A lot of these traders are coming from using apps like Robinhood which are popular for their simplicity so starting to use a new platform like TOS can be quite a challenge….