E’Twaun Moore reaches milestones in ‘Boilers upset of Buckeyes

February 20, 2011 · Posted in commodity trading · Comment 
Sam Klemet – AHN Sports Correspondent

West Lafayette, Indiana, United States (AHN Sports) – Top ten teams beware, Purdue means business.

The No. 11 Boilermakers beat their second top-ten opponent in less than a week, Sunday, dropping number three Ohio State, 76-63, at Mackey Arena.

E’Twaun Moore was the catalyst. The Boilermakers senior guard scored a career-high 38 points, including tying a career-best seven three-pointers, to give the Buckeyes just their second loss of the season.

“I think, probably, late in the [first] half I hit a three off a pin down and was like ‘dang, ok this feels good,’” he said. “I knew I should have been aggressive and if I (was) aggressive, I’d help my team win.”

Moore scored 13-straight points for the Boilermakers over the final four minutes of the first half to give his team a four point lead into the break. They would never give it back.

Purdue held the Buckeyes to just six field goals and 27-percent shooting in the second half. Ohio State also turned the ball over 18-times in the game compared to just nine assists.

“We didn’t want them to sit out there and play Horse game with us,” said Purdue head coach Matt Painter. “We just didn’t want to let John Diebler, and William Bufford, and those guys to just sit there and shoot open shots.”

Diebler did hit two three-pointers and became the Big Ten’s all-time leader in triples made with 333, passing Penn State’s Pete Lisicky.

“I think anytime you see a kid work as had as he has, when he achieves something like that, it’s just a tremendous honor” said Ohio State head coach Thad Matta of Dieblers record.

Moore also achieved a couple of milestones. He became Purdue’s fifth player to score 2,000 points and just the fourth player in Big Ten history with 2,000-points, 500 rebounds, and 350 assists.

“Right now it’s just numbers to me. I’ve still got to play, still have a career and we still have games to play, “he said. “But later I might look back on it and really say ‘dang that was wild.’”

Moore’s big night helped Purdue (22-5, 11-3) get within a game of the Buckeyes for the conference’s top spot. Purdue goes on the road for three of its final four games, starting Wednesday at Indiana.

Ohio State (25-2, 12-2) will try to rebound against Illinois, Tuesday, in Columbus.

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Charlie Sheen, Brooke Mueller Finally File For Divorce

November 2, 2010 · Posted in futures trading · Comment 
Anne Lu – AHN Entertainment Contributor

Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller have finally filed for divorce Monday after almost a year of separation. The estranged couple listed their date of separation as December 25, 2009, the day when Charlie was arrested in Aspen for domestic violence concerning Brooke.

The 45-year-old “Two and a Half Men” star is seeking joint physical and legal custody of their 1.5-year-old twin boys, while Brooke is seeking primary physical custody with visitation for Charlie. They both cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split.

People magazine first reported the story.

Both signed a 43-page property settlement document in May, which divided all their assets and agreed on child custody. The document states that they get joint legal custody of Bob and Max, but Brooke gets primary custody and Charlie gets visitation.

The papers, obtained by TMZ, said that “Under no circumstances shall the child support paid by Charlie for Bob and Max be less than the child support paid by Charlie to Denise Richards for Sam and Lola,” thus giving Brooke $55,000 a month in child support.

She also gets cash from several income sources, as well as a lump sum of $757,689.70. Charlie gets their family house, but Brooke will be paid around $1 million. The actor also gets to keep his $5.45 million watch collection.

They were married March 2008.

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Options Trading: Complete Handbook

November 1, 2010 · Posted in forex trading · Comment 

Product Description
An option is a contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. An option, just like a stock or bond, is a security. It is also a binding contract with strictly defined terms and properties. In this book, Sam Anwar clearly outlines every option strategy in easy-to-understand language and includes detailed examples that show exactly how they work. You?ll find out how e… More >>

Options Trading: Complete Handbook

Stock Option Trading Tips and Tricks

August 19, 2010 · Posted in options trading · Comment 

Option trading provides a really awesome opportunity for you to make a profit in the stock market. The use of stock options in the market is quite often misunderstood and is not as difficult as many people would like you to believe it is. Some of the basics of trading should be known by you so that you can be on the road to trading successfully.


There are different levels of risk associated with trading and the level of risk comes with different types of positions. There are basically two risks – the amount in capital (money) that you are risking in a particular trade and the probability of obtaining a profit from the trade.


When choosing stock options to trade, you should make the choice provided you have leverage and limited risk. If you purchase a debit spread for $1,000 then no matter what you do or what the stock market does, you can only lose the $1,000 in capital that you invested. Options are known as a decaying asset, which means that the it has an expiry date, or time value. The time value lessens as the option moves closer to it’s expiry date – and it is because of this time value that many of them expire worthless (and you’ve lost your $1,000). These are examples of the two types of risk associated with this type of trading – the capital that you have invested ($1,000) and the time value of your stock options expiring worthless (choosing the probability of profit within a time frame).


The time value and expiry date of an option means that you have to be accurate when you are choosing a direction for your position instead of just purchasing stock. If you purchase a call with a four month expiry date, you are limiting yourself to make a profit in only four months whereas if you owned the stock itself, you have ‘limitless’ time to turn a profit unless the company itself goes obsolete.


While it may seem more risky to purchase an option that simply the stock itself, you can gain quite a bit more money in less time with this type of trading. It allows you to control 100 shares for a fraction of the price, less out of pocket money for you and the chance for better profit per dollar for you. However the amount of money that you can make in profit is more limited than if you owned the stock outright. You can increase your level of profitability by researching the stock, the company and the flow of the stock in the market.

Sam Perdue has been actively trading the markets for over 13 years. He has written a computer program that helps traders analyze the stock, Forex, commodities and options markets using Fibonacci ratios, Elliott Wave, option pricing and nonlinear programming algorithms. For more information, please see our option trading software.

How to Get Started in Stock Option Trading

August 17, 2010 · Posted in options trading · Comment 

The first thing that you have to do when you are looking to begin trading in stock options is to read everything that you can find on the topic. Stock options are not stocks, and trading in stocks does not qualify you to trade in options by default. If you want to be successful, see what others have to say about the subject and learn as much as you can from as many diverse sources as you can.


This means doing internet research, talking to people who trade in stock options, reading books on the topic, and possibly even buying software that is designed for stock options traders to see what they are using and what they need to know. Next you will want to build up your experience by ‘trading on paper’ for a while.


Go through the motions of making trades without actually doing so and see if you are making money or if you are losing out. If you have been losing out on your imaginary deals, you will not do much better in the real market. Get a feel for how things move before you jump in with both feet. Once you feel like you have a good background in information, you can set up an options account.


Contact a broker or discount broker who specializes in stock options, and set up an account with him or her. You will do your trading through your broker, at least at first, so make sure that you are comfortable with the broker, what he or she has to offer, what that broker does not offer, and what their requirements for opening an account are.


Invest a small amount of money to begin with, and focus on safe trades and following recommendations to keep the risks low. Once you have really started to get into things, you can ease your investments and your risks up a little higher in the quest for greater profits, but starting small will help keep you from digging yourself into a hole too early in the game.


Stock option trading can be a fun and profitable adventure, but you should go into it fully prepared and with the knowledge that you could lose money just as easily as you can make it, especially at first. Keep that in mind and study hard, though, and you will soon be trading options like a pro on the market.

Sam Perdue has been actively trading the markets for over 13 years. He has written a computer program that helps traders analyze the stock, Forex, commodities and options markets using Fibonacci ratios, Elliott Wave, option pricing and nonlinear programming algorithms. For more information, please see our option trading software.

Combining Options Trading in Technical Analysis for Higher Profits

July 29, 2010 · Posted in options trading · Comment 

Combining technical analysis with options trading is not a typical course of study when learning how to trade options. Option traders who want to maximize the return need to understand how to combine their options analysis with certain market conditions. In this article, I will wade through the reasons why a trader would prefer to incorporate this genre of analysis into their option trading.

Certain elements of risk can be derived through an options pricing model which helps the advanced trader. But, the risks associated with options trading are sometimes mitigated by correctly determining the market?s direction. If the trader decides to use calls and his spread, the delta of the call could increase if the security makes a bullish move. So, a good understanding of technical analysis can help the trader better position himself for the current market conditions.

The type of technical analysis that a trader needs to perform when trading options usually falls under the category of chart patterns. This can sometimes include topics like wedge patterns, flags, pennants or head and shoulders patterns. Patterns like the Gartley 222 and Elliott Wave can also fall under this heading. This can genuinely grant a benefit to those involved in option trading. Because these patterns can assist the trader determined the current mode of the market they can be quite helpful.

Understanding the direction that a market may take can help the options trader in determining which strategy will be most profitable. Therefore, a bearish option strategy can be more profitable if the trader is observing a chart that has a bearish bias. But, time decay could cause the options trader to experience losses if the spread is placed for a net debit and the market does not move in his anticipated direction.

The usefulness of this type of chart formation can be derived by the fact that it helps a trader visually identify areas of support and resistance. If the trader has a spread with a break even that corresponds to an area of support or resistance, it can help the trader as he compares this spread against other candidates that might have lower or higher break even values.

When learning how to trade options effectively, traders may wish to also understand how they can effectively combine their new knowledge with technical analysis. While new traders may find this type of technical analysis to be very complex while learning to trade options, the long-term benefits of going to this exercise could help them understand why some trades are more successful than others. Trading in this way the trader may find that he is able to trade with more consistency was he is derived this level understanding about his results. In the end, the trader has a more holistic landscape which permits him to associate option stratagies with intricate aid for his option trading.

Sam Perdue has been actively trading the markets for over 13 years. He has written a computer program that helps traders analyze the stock, Forex, commodities and options markets using Fibonacci ratios, Elliott Wave, option pricing and nonlinear programming algorithms. For more information, please see our option trading software.

How To Get An Edge In Stock Option Trading

June 8, 2010 · Posted in options trading · Comment 

A good understanding of volatility is important to option trading. A misunderstanding of this topic could leave a trader with losses and frustration as to why their trades that and go as planned. In this article, I am going to discuss the two primary types of volatility that an options trader may want to consider before placing their trade.


There are two types of volatility that should be considered before placing an option trade. The first type is called implied volatility and is more closely tied to the options price. The second type is called statistical volatility and is more closely tied to the price of the underlying security.


Statistical volatility is sometimes referred to as historical volatility. It’s a measure of how volatile and market is and reflects the day-to-day fluctuations of the prices for that market. So, a market with a statistical volatility of .90 will be more volatile than one with a measurement of .25.


Implied volatility is derived from an option pricing model. It’s the volatility that is implied in the price of the option. If traders who are involved in option trading are expecting some future event to radically move prices of the underlying security, they may want the buyer to pay more for the option that they are selling. When this happens the implied volatility increases. However, if the option seller is not very excited about what could happen in the future, options prices may reflect very little implied volatility.


So, how is all of this useful? When options traders compare statistical and implied volatility they can determine whether or not the option’s price is over or undervalued based on the difference between these two values. If the implied volatility is higher than the statistical volatility, the option’s prices would be more expensive than if the option’s pricing model reflected the implied volatility closer to the statistical. If the statistical volatility value is higher than the implied, it would mean that the option prices are cheap because the daily fluctuations are greater than the anticipated future price movements of the underlying security.


Some traders fine option trading very rewarding. And, a good understanding of these two topics will go a long way in the education and trading results of options trader. This is especially true if the option trader buys options or options spreads for a net debit.

Sam Perdue has been actively trading the markets for over 13 years. He has written a computer program that helps traders analyze the stock, Forex, commodities and options markets using Fibonacci ratios, Elliott Wave, option pricing and nonlinear programming algorithms. For more information, please see our option trading software.

Making Money From Option Trading With Implied Volatility – Part 2

May 16, 2010 · Posted in options trading · Comment 

Option trading remains a mystery to many new traders. There are elements to option trading that traders should know about to make trading easier. In this article, I give an example of how an options trader might use implied volatility in his trading. Then, I discuss implied volatility charts and how they are created.


There is a definite connection between time value and volatility. As an option moves further away from its strike price time value decreases. Since the option has less time value, it will also have lower implied volatility. In making this observation, we can see the link between the volatility and time value. Once we understand this relationship, we can use this to our advantage in our option trading. So, let’s look at an example of how this might be useful.


Let’s suppose that we have a calendar spread on XYZ stock. To create the spread, we sold the December 50 call for $2.00 and purchased the March 50 call for $4.50 when the stock was at $50. The net result is a debit of $2.50 to our account. Typically, traders like to place his type of trade when the volatility in the options sold is higher than the volatility of the options purchased. All things being equal, this lets them know that they are selling more time value than they are purchasing. Traders sometimes refer to this as volatility skew.


Now, let’s say that after we place our calendar spread the stock begins to move up. As it does, the intrinsic value of our options increase and the time value of our options decrease. So, let’s say that we have about two weeks left before the December 50 call options expire and the stock has moved up to $55. The December 50 call options are trading for $5.75. This means that the time value of this option has decreased by $1.25 while the intrinsic value has increased five dollars.


If we allow the December 50 call option to remain in the money, it is likely that we will be exercised at options expiration. Also, as the option’s time value continues to decrease, it also increases the likelihood that the option will be exercised. In order to prevent this from happening, the trader could purchase the December 50 call option initially sold while selling an option with more time value.


Suppose the trader purchases the December 50 call option for $5.75 and sells the February 55 call option for $5.70. The result is a net debit to the account of five cents. So, we collected $1.25 of time value on the December 50 calls and sold an additional $5.70 worth of time premium when we sold the February 55 call options. This means that we collected a total of $6.95 of time premium. As with the options example from last week, this was accomplished by covering the option after its time value and volatility had decreased due to market movement and selling an option that has more time value and higher volatility.


Implied Volatility charts


Novice traders sometimes look at implied volatility charts without really understanding how they are created. This usually comes to light as they begin to realize that volatility can be calculated for any option. And, the volatility value will likely be different for each option. So, if this is the case, where does the implied volatility value come from that is used to create these charts?


Typically, implied volatility charts are created by using options which are at the money and will expire within the next 30 days. So if we look at the last point on a implied volatility chart, the volatility value would be derived from the option that was at the money as of the close of the trading day.


For example, let’s suppose that we are looking at an volatility chart for XYZ Company. Today XYZ Company closed at $25. If we use and options pricing model on the $25 option, we can derive the volatility. If we do this every day, we can create a chart of daily implied volatility.


A good understanding of volatility is important to option trading. Seasoned options traders understand how to use implied volatility to consistently make money. Once you understand what it is and how to use in option trading, you can take steps to place the odds of making money in your favor.

Sam Perdue has been actively trading the markets for over 13 years. He has written a computer program that helps traders analyze the stock, Forex, commodities and options markets using Fibonacci ratios, Elliott Wave, option pricing and nonlinear programming algorithms. For more information, please see our option trading software.

What’s So Exciting About Stock Option Trading?

January 24, 2010 · Posted in options trading · Comment 

Option Trading seems to be more popular now than ever before. We all know that options can help leverage the money that you trade or invest. But, for the beginning stock trader, the concept of options trading can be a little confusing. In this article, I will to talk about what options are and the different types of options. I will also show the advantage that the options trader could have over people who do not trade options.

Options can be broken down into two broad and general categories. There are call options and put options. The decision as to whether or not you want to use call or put options in your option trading depends on your opinion about where the market will go and how you want to make money based on that opinion.

One of the initial concepts that traders seem to find confusing is how options are priced. Usually, when people see the price of an option, it can be anywhere from a few cents to a couple of dollars. But, since a stock option represents 100 shares of the stock, the actual price that the trader will pay for an option has to be multiplied by 100. So, in option trading, a stock option that is priced at $.25 will actually cost $25 to purchase.

A call option is the right but not the obligation to purchase a specific stock at a certain price for specific duration of time. This allows a trader to purchase the right to buy 100 shares at the strike price of the option before the option expires. So, if you purchased an XYZ $50 call option that expires next month, you have purchase the right to buy 100 shares of XYZ stock at $50 before the option expires next month. These expiration cycles are normal to option trading.

Some traders don’t see the advantages that others do in option trading until they do the math. Let’s suppose you purchase the above option for $.50. Since you purchase the stock option for $.50 and have the right to buy the stock and $50, you need the stock to trade above $50.50 in order to make money. This is called your breakeven price.

Let’s suppose that you check the stock price of XYZ stock and it’s trading at $52. In order to calculate how much profit we would have on this trade at this price, you simply subtract the current stock price from the breakeven price. So, in this case you, would have profited $1.50. And, since options are traded in hundred share lots, this would translate to $150 profit. While this may not seem like a lot of money, keep in mind that in order to initiate this trade you only had to purchase the option for $50.

In the above scenario, the trader made money when the stock went up. Can we employ our option trading skills when the market goes down? You bet we can. If you are just looking to purchase options, this type of option trading strategy would employ put options.

A put option is the right but not the obligation to sell a stock to someone at a specific price before a definite period in time. So, traders speculating that a stock may go down would purchase a put option. Let’s clarify this with an example.

Let’s say that you expect that ABC stock will go down. With this in mind, you purchase the ABC $25 put option for $.75. Now, remember that the stock will need to be below our breakeven price in order for us to make money. In order to calculate the breakeven for this trade we would need to subtract $.75 from $25. So, once the stock begins trading below $24.25 you will be making money.

Option trading is not as confusing as some traders make it out to be. The concept of purchasing calls and puts are relatively straightforward and simple. As we have seen, the leverage potential and limited risk features found in trading options can be very attractive. For some traders, these are the two reasons that they get excited about stock option trading.

Author: Sam Perdue
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Times

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