Jeff
I can pick the right stocks, but I get clobbered on exits. I wait too long or sell too soon. Any help?

I was wondering what the Mini Indexes were and how you trade them. Thanks Jeff!

Jeff,

I have two questions. First, when trading a spread you know your maximum gain and loss if you let it go to expiration. However, I've noticed that if you choose to close the spread early for whatever reason, you can actually find yourself in a worse loss position due to IV impact on each of the options. How should you build this into the equation when planning a spread?

2nd, if you trade based on an expected bounce off a trendline and that move doesn't happen, lets say it just moves sideways but also doesn't break support. Do you just trust the support as long as it holds up or do you eventually bail since it didn't act as expected within a day or two? (Lets use GOOG) as a current example.

MikeH

Jeff -

Position Sizing and Risk to Reward. Although I only risk 1% of my portfolio on any trade, I realized that I was not maximizing position sizing and how I set my stops. This is especially challenging on breakouts and the buying of options where we need to allow the stock to re-test support and risk the breakdown of the pattern. Your thoughts on this would be great!

Lina

I mentioned this one earlier but its worth a repeat. If you missed the fist flag, a 2nd is in play and appears like it will break up today on nice volume.

SNDA

MikeH

Funny you should ask! We were wondering what determines when you would add to a position. And when you add to the position, do you go farther out of the money (considering your first trade was a success or why would you add to a position in the first place?) Thanks, Jeff.

-- Teri Mitchum

Jeff,

Any new tools on TOS that we should be aware of to help us trade options better?

John

1. Are there certain market conditions in which price patterns are not as reliable, or do they work even in choppy or sideways markets just as well?

2. Under what circumstances would you exit a trade if it has not hit your stop or your price target? I find many don't quite make it to the target, and in waiting for it to bounce back up and hit the target, it ends up never going back up to the target. Or it crashes through the target, and I want to stay in, but my rules tell me to get out. I guess the question is, is it ever okay to break your rules in order to lock in a profit or let a winner keep running past the projected target?

jeff, can you explain what short
interest is, and how it can be
used. where can short interest be
found. thanks, kim

Jeff,

My question is similar to Mike H's. It is easy to figure max gain/max loss on a spread. The difficulty is that nebulous time from entering the trade to expiration. It is especially frustrating if the trade is going against you but hasn't violated break even points (which actually becomes a loss if you bail early) or the daily fluctuations of the options show you in a losing position, yet still within the boundaries of the original trade. In the case of google you can be 2-3 strike prices OTM and by the time the stock makes it to ITM you've taken it in the shorts.
Is there a way to determine early exits based on the greeks (delta perhaps?) or another component of the option other than a percentage of max loss?

Stan K

Hola All!

My ATI and TIE positions have been firing lately, YES!

1. When setting a contingency BTO or STC do you use the last, ask, or bid price?

2. Enlighten us on the psychological levels of round number pricing, and what to expect when a stock exceeds that level, i.e. GS breaking above $200.

Cheers!