Options Trading
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OPTIONS TRADING: THE HIDDEN REALITY RI$K DOCTOR GUIDE TO POSITION ADJUSTMENT AND HEDGING Charles M. Cottle ● OPTIONS: PERCEPTION AND DECEPTION and ● COULDA WOULDA SHOULDA revised and expanded www.RiskDoctor.com www.RiskIllustrated.com Chicago © Charles M. Cottle, 1996-2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, emailed, uploaded in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author or the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers. Published by RiskDoctor, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cottle, Charles M. Adapted from: Options: Perception and Deception Position Dissection, Risk Analysis and Defensive Trading Strategies / Charles M. Cottle p. cm. ISBN 1-55738-907-1 ©1996 1. Options (Finance) 2. Risk Management 1. Title HG6024.A3C68 1996 332.63’228__dc20 96-11870 and Coulda Woulda Shoulda ©2001 Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-9778691-72 First Edition: January 2006 To Sarah, JoJo, Austin and Mom Thanks again to Scott Snyder, Shelly Brown, Brian Schaer for the OptionVantage Software Graphics, Allan Wolff, Adam Frank, Tharma Rajenthiran, Ravindra Ramlakhan, Victor Brancale, Rudi Prenzlin, Roger Kilgore, PJ Scardino, Morgan Parker, Carl Knox and Sarah Williams the angel who revived the Appendix and Chapter 10. Extra Special thanks to Yehudah Grundman of The Kabbalah Centre International, for his support and guidance. Options Trading: The Hidden Reality v PRAISE "Having attended many options seminars I can honestly say that The Ri$k Doctor Webinars have been revolutionary to my options education. Unlike many other so called "options gurus" you do not try to attract people by promising them astronomical returns in fact you almost say the opposite...which is that if I am not prepared to put in the work to educate myself about the pitfalls in options trading it can be a very expensive mistake and I should better forget about trading options altogether. This was the first time I had heard anyone say this to me. The bottom line is that as an ex-market maker and trader you have practiced what you preach......unlike many people out there who have never traded but are more than happy to sell people courses on how to trade. .The way you examine, dissect and manage your risk in your trades has given my trading a significant edge. The weekly Webinars provide a great interactive platform to discuss and review new and old trades directly with you every week! I only wish I had found out about you sooner. In the past I have paid a lot more money to learn a lot less than what you have taught me.” THANK YOU! Tharma London, England “When I think back to my first discussion with Charles in 2001, I like to think that I had "Bambi Legs" as an options trader. I had worked as a clerk on an options floor, attended the expensive seminars, and had a decent grasp of the fundamentals. I had also gone nowhere in 2 years of trading my account and was getting frustrated. What followed for the next several years was a robust education in defining my trading self. From understanding the synthetic relationships inherent in options positions, to managing myself as a trader, Charles was critical in my development. The biggest takeaway for me to this day lies in the fact that Charles was the first teacher or coach who didn't set me up for failure by giving me unrealistic profit expectations. New traders need to define themselves, their risk tolerance, and what strategies mesh with those characteristics. If you've got baseless profit expectations, you'll never find these critical attributes. Charles always had me think about my positions and adjustments constantly in the present by asking: "If I had no position on right now, what would I want." Having a professional in my corner like Charles gave me the confidence to truly discover my trading personality and potential. I don't think I'd be trading for a hedge fund had I not worked with Charles. Don't find yourself asking Coulda Woulda Shoulda!” Justin California ©1996-2006 Charles M. Cottle [email protected] vi Praise “My goal this past year was to master and gain a deeper understanding of options. I am a practicing physician and a trader. It was a stroke of luck to come across the Ri$k Doctor, Charles Cottle, a true genius of options. RD’s approach to options brings to mind a series of analogies and similarities to the field of medicine as follows. As a medical doctor uses the CAT Scan or MRI to view potential human disease at the tissue or submicroscopic level, the Risk Doctor’s laser-like perception sees below the surface of an option strategy and reveals its true nature. “Primum non nocere” (first do no harm) is one of the most important dictums taught about patient management. Similarly, in his Webinars, the Ri$k Doctor teaches traders to first see and limit downside risks, while developing profitable option strategies, with and without an underlying stock or contract. He does this by teaching his followers to “card up” simple and complex options positions and then to use a variety of synthetic tools to see the true nature and position risks before entering a trade. Floor traders, whom RD has also instructed, sometimes use these very same valuable tools. Lastly, as a surgeon shows how to handle complications, so the RD teaches how to adjust to changing conditions in the real market on an ongoing basis. In the ongoing RD3 Webinar series, the Ri$k Doctor teaches by example, following the market real-time on a day-by-day basis and then posting his adjustments for each strategy as the market moves. He ultimately throws his followers into the fray and challenges each of them to construct an option strategy and make adjustments on their own that are appropriate for the perpetually changing market. In this unique scenario, his students have the opportunity of experiencing an almost real-live market trading experience, of putting their egos and emotions on the line, and then of learning from mistakes and oversights without risking hard-earned money. It’s as real as can be! For those who are serious about perfecting their option trading skills, RD’s Webinar series is like an exciting roller-coaster ride through the ups and downs of the options markets. I do not know of any other place that offers such a unique market ride. It is a sensational training experience!” Murph, MD New Jersey www.RiskDoctor.com www.RiskIllustrated.com Options Trading: The Hidden Reality vii PREFACE WHY ANOTHER OPTIONS BOOK? Dear Fellow Trader / Investor / Hedger, I wrote this book so that you will come to understand that options are either for you or they are not. For those beginners who understand basic options material, this is a good starting point. For those readers who are having problems trading options, this book will help you to determine where the problems lie, and whether you may be successful with options, or whether you should stay away from them. My mom, dad and most of my relatives don’t trade options because options are not for them. I have a cousin who trades options. He came to work for me when he left college. I am going to teach you the same way that I taught him. By learning how to avoid the pot holes and surviving long enough to put together a personal game plan, he has gone on to be one of the most exceptional options traders that the industry has ever known. Experience in the markets will teach you more than I will, just as it taught my cousin and thousands of other people who I have shared this content with over the last 25 years. It starts here and it can end here too, without losing a nickel because you will be able to answer the question, “Are options for me?” There is a lot of material in this book from my first book, “Options: Perception and Deception” (OPD), which was geared towards professional Market Makers who provide liquidity to the markets by bidding and offering every strike and month. My second book, “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” (CWS) kept a lot of OPD, but added content necessary for retail investors because it was given to clients of an electronic brokerage firm which I co-founded. “Options Trading: The Hidden Reality” merges the information in each of those books, because retail type traders, are now hungry for Market Maker techniques, and are much more sophisticated than industry leaders (exchanges and brokerage houses) give them credit for. Most of the people reading this book know something about puts and calls. To be able to trade puts and calls profitably, one needs a full grasp of the concepts. The market takes no prisoners. It simply deletes those who do not have enough knowledge and/or are hesitant to make decisions. You may be wondering how this book is different from other books on options trading. The essence of my educational work is to demonstrate where investors contradict themselves.