Started By
Message

re: Anyone trade these LEAP calls before?

Posted on 6/30/16 at 1:57 pm to
Posted by cokebottleag
I’m a Santos Republican
Member since Aug 2011
24028 posts
Posted on 6/30/16 at 1:57 pm to
After reading a bit more, I think I understand. To summarize in my admittedly 5 year old comprehension:

If I see that Chevron stock is trading at $100 a share right now, and I want to make a bet that it is going to rise in the future, but I don't actually want to own stock, I can buy a call option.

I look on my broker's website, and I see a call option (for 100 shares) for $100 strike price with an expiry of 19JAN18 has an ask price of $10. I assume that's per share, because the alternative is crazy.

So by purchasing this option, I have limited my loss to a certain loss of $1000, but to break even (before taxes), all I have to do is do either one of the following before the option expires:

- Exercise my option and purchase the stock. Sell the stock at $110.01 a share (.01 gain per share)
- Resell my option if the price of the option rises above $10, but this is a highly unlikely event as options decrease in value as the expiry date approaches, unless the stock rises significantly, in which case, its better to just exercise the option.

Can Golfer or someone who knows confirm the above is the correct understanding? Basically in this scenario, I limit my potential losses to $1000, but I have the potential to gain 'bigly'.
This post was edited on 6/30/16 at 2:02 pm
Posted by Iowa Golfer
Heaven
Member since Dec 2013
10234 posts
Posted on 6/30/16 at 4:32 pm to
I think you basically have it. Buying a put or call, is called a long put, or long call. Your maximum loss is the costs associated with the acquisition, including price.

I'm going to speak briefly to two items in your post I'll quote below:

quote:

Resell my option if the price of the option rises above $10, but this is a highly unlikely event as options decrease in value as the expiry date approaches, unless the stock rises significantly, in which case, its better to just exercise the option.


The price doesn't always logically decrease closer to expiry, especially with respect to leaps, as they are so far out. Your CVX long leap call could very well be worth more than $10, even while the price of CVX might be below your strike price in the example you gave. Options are very rarely exercised, they are sold to close in the examples you gave, both long call and put. Sell it, either at a gain, or at a loss. Plenty of liquidity (for the most part) in CVX options, less so in their leaps if you look at the open interest.

quote:

gain 'bigly'.


Buying and selling options is work. Spread trades, certainly more work (buy one call or put, sell one call or put). Naked and exotic trades even more so. Long calls and puts, and covered calls are the least work, but still work. I'd suggest it had better be work, becuase when viewed as work, there is less failure involved. Failure in this instance is losing money. It's gone when you fail. Work is sometimes not fun, and losing money is never fun. Better to take on the not fun part of this on the front end rather than the back end.

"Bigly" is Big League. I think you know this. Some on PT know this as well, but troll with it, and some are willfully ignorant about it. For whatever reason, it's a pet peeve of mine. Once a year, in the winter, I go fishing in the North Georgia mountains. They talk differently than I do in Iowa. Unless there is a compelling reason, I don't make fun of their accents. Nor do I make fun of a New York City accent. It drives me nuts that some very educated persons over on PT make fun of some guy's accent. Now I'm not trying to be a prick, and my statement could come across that way. I just felt compelled to explain "bigly". I hope both of us win at some level of "bigly". The Cubs are winning. Even the Hawkeyes won last year. I think the Rangers are winning. As part of my due diligence, when sports teams like this win, I think I'll win also. We all get lucky.
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 1Next pagelast page
refresh

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitterInstagram