It’s that time of year again, where investors thoughts turn to RRSP and TFSA contributions and taking advantage of growing their portfolio in a tax-sheltered or tax-free way. There are many ways to approach portfolio management. Often, when you ask a cross section of self-directed investors their answers will vary. Some...
Owning an income property has its pros and cons. As a landlord, it gives you the right to collect monthly rent. You can also offset your rental income from the property’s related expenses. Plus, the property has potential value growth. Owning a rental property is a winning strategy on many levels. But there are also some...
If you’ve been trading stocks, you should have a pretty good understanding of the mechanics of buying and selling. Getting started with options trading is fairly simple. Here are a few things to know to get started. Step 1: Setting up an options account with your broker The options account can be in a margin or...
Traders are very opinionated and have their own view on everything. This is why we have a market of buyers and sellers. Otherwise, everyone would be on the same side of the trade. This behaviour is built over time from experience and knowledge. You can do it too. For example, you are able to tell if the stock is trending up or...
One day I was driving home after work and I received a call from an old friend, Alex. We started talking about the kids and the wife but, eventually, we ended up talking about the markets. Alex has some knowledge of options, but there was one thing that he didn’t understand. He asked me, “How do you know which strike price...
Bill Gates once said, “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” There is some argument as to which nation created the first exchange....
For those readers who are just beginning their options education journey, I am sure you have been presented with many opinions from other investors and investment professionals alike, regarding the value and risk that options bring to a portfolio. Unfortunately, many myths and misconceptions have arisen due to a lack of...
In a previous posting, “Bull Call and Bear Put Spreads, Pairing Option Strategies with Forecasts” we learned how to implement a debit spread for both calls and puts. This week we will examine another form of vertical spreads: credit spreads and how they can be used. Recall that debit spreads are a limited risk transaction,...
What better way to wrap up the 2017 year than with a market forecast. As a trader, I always look at a forecast as establishing a baseline from which to build investment themes for the upcoming year. The obstacle however, lies in that there is substantial herding in economic forecasting and rarely does an analyst stick their...
Prior to understanding Vega, we need to quickly review option-pricing models. The options pricing models are mathematical formulas that help investors and traders remove the guesswork from determining an options price. The models make some assumptions, primarily that stock prices are random and that only one of the option...