Author: ivtrades

Options Ratio is basically the number of puts traded divided by the number of calls. It can be applied to an individual stock, a sector, an index, or an entire market. Put/call ratios are generally used in contrary manner. For example, when ratios reach extremely high levels, put buying is unusually high and it could…

Parity is basically a set of rules of equality that exist in the options market. For example, long stock and long puts is the as owning long calls. Parity generally holds, but (all else being equal) puts will often trade at lower prices than calls due to the impact of dividends and interest rates.

These are options contract with no intrinsic value. A Call option is OTM when the strike price is above the current market price. A Put option is out-of-the-money when their strike price is below the current market price of the current market price. You should also check out In The Money Options & At the…

This is basically the amount of intrinsic value that an options contract has. In other words, it is the relationship between the strike price of the option and the price of the underlying asset. See at-the-money and Deep in-the-money.

This is the idea that says that the price of the underlying asset will gravitate towards the point where the most options expire worthless. Some option traders will “trade around” or “trade off of” these levels by Selling Puts or Calls against it.

This is when you enter into a position by purchasing one part of the spread at a time rather than buying it all at once. Legging can improve the risk-reward of the trade if the underlying stock moves in the right direction. If not, it can reduce the potential loss.

This is the combination of a Bull Put Spread and a Bear Call Spread. The trade is created by selling a Put and buying a lower strike price Put and also selling a Call and buying a Call with a higher strike price. The short options have consecutive strike prices (short strangle).

This is basically a big change in Implied Volatility [IV]. IV gaps higher when the market expects the underlying Stock/ETF to make a big move in the short term. IV can gap lower when an important event, like an earnings report, has passed. The big gap up in the IV can cause the premium of…