What You Should Know Before Trading Options
Today we'll be discussing the differences between investing with stocks and options. Let's first tackle the less complex investing vehicle, stocks. Most of the world already knows, but in case you don't, stocks are directional trading vehicles. If we are long the stock, then we make money when the prices of the asset rises, and we lose capital as the underlying asset drops in price. We can also sell a stock short in which the profit comes when the stock falls. In any case when investing with stocks, the direction is what matters. We don't need to worry about market volatility or time.
Options, however, involve these other two dimensions just mentioned, plus the dimension of price as well. So options are actually three-dimensional trading vehicles based on price, time and volatility. To compare stock and options in a practical sense, let's consider this scenario:
What if Google moves up 25% in 2 years? Well, those stock owners would have just made 25% by holding on to their investment all that time. However, if an option trader held on to his Call options for 2 years, most likely there would be very little if any gain on the trade.
We know why the stock holder made money, but why would the option buyer lose money? Everyone thinks there is leverage in options, and it's true, but in this case, the leverage didn't work out for 2 reasons. One, the asset took too long to move, so the option time value decayed. Secondly, the asset moved up, causing its volatility level to fall, and this also helped the option price to move down.
This is why we need to be educated in order to trade options. Simply buying Calls and Puts makes option trading very difficult because of the elements of time and volatility. Remember, options are three-dimensional vehicles, and if we don't understand how to manage these 3 complexities, we shouldn't trade them. After we understand options more in depth, these investment vehicles can make money in any type of market. Options are very adaptable and allow investors to be very creative once the understanding is there.
Article Source: FxTradingStock.com
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Our motto is Max Safety, Max Reward Option Trading. Learn the option trading strategies that are changing the lives of others. Visit www.SJOptions.com and Receive a FREE Option Trading Video Now!
by: Johnny M Junior
Total views: 36
Word Count: 359
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010
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