- Criteria for Successful Investing
- Risk Profile Charts
- The Definition of an Option
- The Valuation of Options
- Intrinsic and Time Value for Calls
- Intrinsic and Time Value for Puts
- The Seven Factors that Influence an Option's Premium
- Risk Profile Charts for Call Options
- Risk Profile Charts for Put Options
- Memory Tips for Long and Short Calls and Puts
- Basic Risk Profiles Summary
- Notation Standard for the Examples
- Chapter 1 Major Learning Points
Chapter 1 Major Learning Points
Remember the six major prerequisites:
- Patience
- Perseverance
- Knowledge
- Honesty
- Pre-planning
- Discipline
Start to build a plan. The plan should encompass the following:
- What stocks or other assets should I be considering for successful trading? Do what feels comfortable. I tend to stick with stocks, CFDs, and stock options.
- What direction do I feel comfortable trading in (up or down)? Could I consider trading put options if a stock or the market falls?
- Have I checked the news items for the particular asset I am trading? Are quarterly or other results out soon? Is there a major announcement from the government coming out soon? Could these announcements affect my trade? Can I use them to enhance my position, or shall I wait until the announcements are made?
- Do I want to check whether this company actually makes money and is growing its earnings?
- Have I checked the graphs and done any technical analysis? Am I missing something obvious like a basic double top chart pattern?
- What strategy and risk profile do I feel comfortable with trading?
- For each trade, what is my entry point and exit point?
- Do I know my risk, reward, and breakeven levels for my options trades?
- What price am I looking for to execute my trade?
- Where do I take my profits, and where is my STOP LOSS?
We’ll review this list as we go along every chapter. So far, the main questions you should start to consider are those in bold. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to answer all of them and begin to build your own plan.
You have now learned what the essential risk profiles look like and what they mean to you in terms of maximum risk and reward.
Profile |
Description |
Risk |
Reward |
Breakeven |
Buy stock |
Purchase price |
Unlimited |
Purchase price |
|
Sell stock |
Unlimited |
Short sale price |
Short sale price |
|
Buy call |
Call premium |
Unlimited |
Strike price plus call premium paid |
|
Sell call |
Unlimited |
Limited to the call premium received |
Strike price plus call premium paid |
|
Buy put |
Put premium |
Strike Price less put premium paid |
Strike price less put premium paid |
|
Sell put |
Strike price less put premium received |
Limited to the put premium received |
Strike price less put premium paid |
We can now progress to Chapter 2, “Into the Marketplace,” where we start to explore the reality of trading options with real numbers.