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Using options in times of market uncertainty
July 07, 2020
Bearish Outlook

Using options in times of market uncertainty

Martin Noël

In times of market uncertainty like we are seeing now, many investors turn to options for the protection they can provide. Although the markets have recouped a good portion of their losses of the past few months, we cannot rule out another plunge that could test the depths of the recent decline. The high volatility in today’s...

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1 year ago
Butterfly on Shopify
June 10, 2020
Concepts

Butterfly on Shopify

Patrick Ceresna

Recently the Royal Bank of Canada lost its title as our country’s most valuable company in terms of market capitalization. For two brief weeks, Shopify sat at the top of the heap.   Chart 1: Royal Bank vs. Shopify May 31, 2020 Source: Bloomberg   SHOP’s run has been a sight to behold.   Chart 2: Shopify...

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1 year ago
Simplifying Complex Orders
June 01, 2020
Other

Simplifying Complex Orders

Steve Sosnick

One of the best features of options is that they can facilitate a wide variety of strategies.  Are you bullish on a stock but don’t expect a rise in volatility?  Then a call or put spread might be for you.  Do you expect a big move in an ETF, but don’t know which direction is more likely?  Then a straddle may be the...

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1 year ago
Trading your First Option
May 26, 2020
Concepts

Trading your First Option

Martin Noël

As an investor, the first thing you need to know is how to choose which securities to buy. The second is when to sell them. That’s pretty easy, right? In this article, you will learn how to trade your first option. As you will see, you do not need to be an expert to start trading options. You just need to be familiar with...

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1 year ago
Profiting from the second-wave downturn
April 30, 2020
Bearish Outlook

Profiting from the second-wave downturn

Martin Noël

In a bear market, the lows of the first market downturn are often retested following a rally like the one we have just seen. This article examines how put options can be used to maximize the return on a bearish projection. As can be seen in the following chart, the unit price of the iShares S&P/TSX Capped Financials Index...

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1 year ago
Understand the “Rule of 16”
April 23, 2020
Concepts

Understand the “Rule of 16”

Steve Sosnick

Professional options traders are really good at dividing and multiplying by 16.  That seems like a weird skill, but it is a crucially important one for anyone who wants to fully understand the terminology used in options markets.  No matter how you utilize options, the “Rule of 16” is critical for analyzing volatility,...

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1 year ago
Put-Writing Strategies in the Canadian Market
April 13, 2020
Bullish Outlook

Put-Writing Strategies in the Canadian Market

Patrick Ceresna

The coronavirus crisis has caused massive sell-offs in global equity markets throughout the world.  Canada has not been immune, and our benchmark large-cap S&P TSX 60 Index has lost over 36% from its February high.   CHART 1 – S&P/TSX60 Source: Bloomberg   A move of this magnitude from new highs to a...

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1 year ago
Making the most of volatility in these uncertain times
March 26, 2020
Bearish Outlook

Making the most of volatility in these uncertain times

Martin Noël

In our last article we discussed how to reduce the risk associated with the time-value decay of options in a directional position. Now we will take advantage of the market meltdown to discuss the implied volatility in the price of an option, how it reflects the degree of market uncertainty over future price movements in the...

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1 year ago


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