For an options trader, one of the most remarkable aspects of the 2008 financial crisis was that it featured months in which many options closed in or near the money when, even weeks before, they were deep out-of-the-money (DOTM) and “worthless.” The lesson is that ostensibly overpriced options are totally devoid of value, until they aren’t. This is not a new lesson: academics have spent decades creating and testing different models (Hull and White, Heston, Dupire, etc.) to better accommodate…
In my last post on this topic, “Why Delta Hedging Matters,” I argued that an essential aspect of options trading is hedging away unwanted risks. For most traders, the unwanted risk is usually to directional price movement, or delta risk. We discuss this issue in the context of trading iron condors a fair amount on the members area of the site, but the principle is just as important whether you’re short one call contract or managing a book of…
Some traders use options to speculate on the price movement of an underlying asset; other traders use options to speculate on changes in the volatility, implied or realized, of that asset. Put a little differently: while no options trader can afford to ignore the role that volatility plays in the price of a contract, not all options traders are interested exclusively or even primarily in volatility. If you’re essentially a stock picker who likes to lever up by buying puts…
When the market is frustrating or weird or mostly untouchable, we find that’s usually the best time to geek out. The research linked below has, beyond its immediate educational value, the hidden benefit of also being difficult and long enough to keep you from overtrading and/or obsessing about day-to-day nonsense.
Emanuel Derman on models.
More on volatility as an asset class. We expressed our doubts about pursuing this notion qua retail traders here. Obviously, there are variance and…
Thursday, December 31, 2009
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