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     7 years ago 

    Sure, thanks for asking. I'm about a year into option trading so I'm not sure other's expertise or what sorts of trading they've looked at. In other things I've come across condescending when I thought it was just explaining. Also, writing wasn't really my major, so I'm still getting up to speed. LOL

    Table Definitions (If these are too abbreviated, please ask for more):

    • Symbol: The underlying ticker symbol, usually stock or mutual fund, occasionally a full blow index. Like usually I'll trade SPY, the fund, as it is very liquid. I have traded SPX, the index, as it is larger but it isn't as liquid in trading. (I tend to use Google for ticker link but if you know of a more open-source feed I would use that?)
    • Exp: Expiration in month and day. I tend to trade the standard monthly contracts. Others will often trade weekly contracts. If there is big volume on weeklies I might consider those in the future.
    • DTE: Days 'till Expiration. I look more at this on entry. I get in with no shorter than 40 DTE or then look to the next month out.
    • Name: The type of position. Unfortunately, I've found there are several synonymous names for some positions. Outside of my statistical analysis, it seems to me we're in a bull('ish) market. (I'll make a post of short definitions on these.)
    • Strikes: The strike prices in the position. (For DIA above, I am long the 214 and short the 219, as a matched set)
    • Size: (S)mall, (M)edium, (L)arge. (From the DIA example, I have enough sets to put around 2.5%, 5%, or 10% of the portfolio at risk). Eventually, I'd rather get this down to 1%, 2% and 4%. The goal being Trade Small, Trade Often. I've found rolling the dice a lot gets me closer to the statistical model than just a few big trades.
    • Theta: Ya got me... This one is technical for sure. Theta is how much money will come out of an option for the day if the price didn't move. Tastytrade's Theta definition have some good videos below the prose. (Looks like this could be a separate post as well.)
    • Cost: What I paid for the position(per set). Plus being a credit, negative being a debit. Again, this is per share so it could be expressed 100x on some systems.
    • NetLiq: Net Liquidity. What the current quotes would give if I closed immediately. Also, per set and not 100x.
    • P/L Open: Profit/Loss on the position (Cost - NetLiq).
    • P/L Day: Profit/Loss on the day. (Maybe if I'm posting weekly this isn't that helpful.)
    • O/R/C: Open/Roll/Close or no change in the week.

    Thanks again for helping me fill in the blanks. I'll make a couple of posts at least on two things that could use a bit more definition.

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    • Past Payouts $0.11
    • - Author $0.08
    • - Curators $0.03
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    [-]
     7 years ago 

    Not condescending at all. The name field is referring to what must be common terms for the type of trade so I need to do my homework there. The long and short description i am pretty hazy on too.

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     7 years ago 

    Long and short are the same in options as in stocks. Being long means you buy the thing and sell later. Being short means you sell it first (go negative) and then buy it back later.

    For short, think of the US Congress. One bet on the national debt is that the economy will grow and dollars will be worth less later. Just like the price of a house from 1987 price vs today.

    As for options, selling them lets you collect the premium over time. I'm working on a separate post about how I use Short Put spreads/verticals to make money.

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       7 years ago 

      OK i always sell the option to collect the premium. I rarely buy it back before it expires unless the cost has gone to less than $0.1 ie $1 to buy it back. Fidelity will do that trade for free. I only generally do it if i need to release the funds to be able to do another option sooner. But life usually gets in the way and the options expire more often than i buy them back early.

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       7 years ago 

      Please check out the next post, [HIT 003] Position Types-Short Put Vertical. It explains why I use it instead of just a short put. There are 3 quick reasons:

      • IRA's require it.
      • It limits risk so one can have several positions per amount of risk.
      • Exiting at 50% of Max Profit allows for more than monthly turn-around and thus a fair bit more profit over time.
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      • Past Payouts $0.03
      • - Author $0.02
      • - Curators $0.01
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      [-]
       7 years ago 

      Crumb! It looks like Steemit is only showing through NetLiq in columns! What do you see? If so, I'm going to have to figure something else out instead of the markdown tables. :(

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         7 years ago 

        I see up to P/L Open and the format is weird
        looks like this:

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           7 years ago 

          I might have to snapshot spreadsheet images instead next time.

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             7 years ago 

            Yeah i was going to suggest that you did, since that is what i did to show you how it looked. I often do that professionally anyway as it avoids the chance of inadvertently inserting you underlying spreadsheet and giving the house away.

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             7 years ago 

            This table isn't all that. I've tried to keep it just per contact set in size to keep perspective for each individual's account. Others have posted actual trade sizes.

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