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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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3 years 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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3 years 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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3 years 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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3 years ago
Reduce the Risk Associated with Time Value Decay
March 02, 2020
Bearish Outlook

Reduce the Risk Associated with Time Value Decay

Martin Noël

Reduce the risk associated with time value decay In this article, we will examine how to reduce the risk associated with the time value decay of options in a directional position, as well as how this affects the strategy’s payoff profile. As can be seen in the following chart, the price of shares in BCE Inc. (BCE) have...

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4 years ago
Shares in Uranium Participation Corp are trading at a discount
February 20, 2020
Bullish Outlook

Shares in Uranium Participation Corp are trading at a discount

Patrick Ceresna

Uranium Participation Corporation (Symbol U on the TSX exchange) is a company that invests in uranium. Uranium presents an attractive investment opportunity at this time. The commodity itself is currently trading at below the cost of production for most miners, a situation that cannot continue indefinitely. Eventually companies...

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4 years ago
Currency Options University — Part 7
February 18, 2020
Concepts

Currency Options University — Part 7

Patrick Ceresna

Currency Hedging for US Dollar Investors For the past decade, Canadian investors of US dollar-based assets have had it good. No, they have had it great. Not only have American financial assets been the best performing assets in the major markets, but over that same period the value of the Canadian dollar has fallen...

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4 years ago
Currency Options University — Part 6
February 04, 2020
Concepts

Currency Options University — Part 6

Patrick Ceresna

Currency Hedging for Exporters In the previous post we examined the role that USX currency options can play in hedging a company’s import costs. In this instalment of Currency Options University, we will explore using Montréal Exchange USX currency options to mitigate the risk that Canadian exporters face when selling goods...

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4 years ago


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