Webinars
Occasionally I record a video as a stand alone lesson.
Those are collected here, under the general heading: Webinars.
Links
Aug 21, 2012. Intro to TWS (Interactive Brokers)
Jul 17, 2012. Appropriate Trades.
Jul 11, 2012. The Low Ratio Backspread
Jul 6, 2012. Putting It all together II. This was originally published as a blog post, but contains enough important information to deserve a listing on this page. The idea is that you do not want to learn one strategy as a standalone concept. So much of what you learn about options is transferable to other topics.
Oct 11, 2011. Basic Rookie Questions. This webinar consists of two previously published videos:
- Negative Gamma. How much is too much?
- Which is the best adjustment for a given situation?
Sep 25, 2011. Risk and the Greeks
Sep 10, 2011. Broken-Wing Butterflys and Iron Condors
Aug 19, 2011. Adjustments: Conversation for the New Trader; and The Kite Spread as an Adjustment. This 50-minute webinar covers the idea of using the kite spread to adjust an iron condor position. It also has an important discussion of adjustments in general and guidance for the new trader.
Aug 17, 2011. Can You Earn A Steady Income with Options? The Career Plan
July 30, 2011. Position Size
July 26, 2011 Master Plan for Traders
Aug 2011. Ratio Condors. There is annoying background noise.
June 2011 Adjusting option positions. Introduction: Philosophy of adjusting. 31 minutes
May 2011 I sold puts; now what?
Great video Your philosophy is a little bit different from what I learned I always try to stay in the trade longer and I’m not sure I could spend more on my adjustment than I received, that might be tough. You’re use of risk graphs was insightful do you pay much attention to how you your greeks change after the adjustment?
ThanksMark
Mark,
I admit that y philosophy is different in several key areas. But I am not out to convert you. By considering alternatives, you can decide which makes more (dollars and) sense to you.
I do look at the greeks before and after adjusting. That may convince me that I require a larger adjustment. But most of the time the adjustment chosen serves its purpose.
Regards
W04. July 26, 2011 Master Plan for Traders
Both videos cut @ ~13 mins.
Thanks for the alert.
Will look at it asap
FIXED.
Videos are now complete
Regarding WO4 Master Plan for Traders, you mention you normally do not consider a condor less than $2. Well, unless I am trading NDX or one of the other high octane indexes, it is quite difficult to find a $2 condor in SPY or DIA when I am looking at 7 to 10 Delta. Therefore, should I consider twice as many $1, condors. I have the time to manage them daily, and probably would be more comfortable. I did run into trouble on my paper account with NDX, and found it to be very expensive to adjust, and with lack of experience ended up in a position on NDX that exposed me to $75,000 maximum loss. I did buy some puts because it looked like NDX was going to touch resistance and come down – which it did. So, I got lucky and made out OK. Had it decided to break through, I would have “fried” my paper account. A great lesson – don’t just adjust to adjust. Look at the whole picture.
Sorry I missed the 2 sessions last week, but they were too late for me. I did watch them both, and really liked the second one. It touched on lots of things that were new to me, and I found very informative.
Best regards, Vern
By the way, when your mike gets too far away from your mouth, the sound breaks up. When you periodically adjust it, the sound improves drastically.
o
Hi Vern,
There is not much I can do about the time of the live sessions. I will be sure that you get the chance to attend ‘live’ some of the time, but after the market closes in NY is the most popular time – even other European Members.
Thanks for the ‘sound’ advice. That has been an issue, and no one has mentioned this solution. Merci.
Glad you found new material to think about. If you want additional clarification on anything, just ask. The forum is a good place to ask. I cannot speak at the knowledge level of each member at the same time and I am always happy to provide more details when needed.
You are correct. When I collect $2 or $3 for iron condors, I am referring to one of those high octane indexes. I apologize for not making that clear. One SPY option is essentially 1/10 of an SPX option. Thus, to get the same $2 premium using SPY, you trade 10 iron condors, collecting 20 cents for each. For many traders, that 20 cents seems to be too little, so they chose to trade $2 wide spreads instead.
Similarly, 10 IWM contracts is the same as one RUT option and 10 QQQQ options equals one NDX option.
Definition: “$1 iron condor”
To me, that term refers to an iron condor in which the strike prices of the calls (and the puts) are $1 apart. It is NOT an iron condor for which you collected a premium of $1.
Regards
You speak of Delta neutral in making adjustments.
Is the actual delta neutral mean creating enough Delta to
match the original Delta when you put on the trade?
Your view on risk management should be required
reading by every trader.
Kamerling,
‘Delta neutral’ refers to a position with zero delta. That’s not very practical, so delta neutral simple means that the position has no market bias and the delta is very near zero.
The ‘original delta’ is supposed to be dear zero – but once again, when choosing the strike prices that we want to trade, we may not be exactly at zero delta. Also, as skew changes, IV for each option changes and thus delta changes. Thus, don’t think much about that ‘original delta’ other than this: Is this position ‘neutral enough’ or would you prefer to begin the trade with fewer positive or negative delta?
What can I say? I agree with your final paragraph.
Mark, referring to the Putting it all together,
It was a very good eye opener. Most of the points mentioned were already clarified elsewhere but it is a
good explanation putting it all together. Thanks
Ilan
ilango,
This is truly a crucial topic.
Your query on the low-ratio backspread is a perfect example.
Mark,
Seems like the Master Plan for Traders does not play. I tried two browsers and still no luck. Is it just me?
sharpC,
There have been problems with the website.
Let me ask you: Do you have to login more than once?
If yes, go the the page with the video. Then in same browser (another tab) login in again. They immediately go to the other page and try to play the video. That worked for me. If not I will make it accessible.
I am working with several people trying to resolve this issue.
Mark,
My question is regarding the first webinar here: “Aug 21, 2012. Intro to TWS (Interactive Brokers)”
This is a dumb question, but I must still ask. From the very beginning, how do you even get to a blank page, as when your tutorial began you had assumed that I have already reached there (i.e. timer at 0:00). Do I need to select “Optiontrader” under the “Trading Tools” menu on top, or select “Portfolio window” under the “Account” menu, or somewhere else? Whichever one I selected, then where to go next to get to a blank page? Thanks.
I will make a quick video. Probably take until end of day (Feb 21) to get it posted. Or you call call IB and ask.
Thanks a lot Mark!
I have also been viewing the video tutorial on entering combo order, but I”m still not completely clear. Did also ask a few reps about my need. .
Also, to get real-time streaming quotes for RUT, I cannot simply subscribe to “US Options”; rather I need to get “Russel indices”, right?
The video is available It includes how to enter an order.
They charge about $2 per month for RUT data. I believe you are correct in needing to subscribe to Russell Indexes, but am not positive.