Latest Stock Buy or Sell? Make More Informed Decisions!

What Call Options would you use? The easiest way is to buy the option that is closest to the current price of the underlying stock. It is currently at $149.56, so he would look at a $150 Call. A $150 Call is the option that is considered to be “at the money”, because the Strike price is basically at where the stock price is. The “at the money” options tend to act most like an options contract, so you will get the bang on the upside and the hedge a bit on the downside. It is the most liquid option of the basket that you could look at. If you want to get a little more sophisticated, try and ascertain in your mind what kind of move you think is reasonable for the company based on your forecast for what the iPhone 8 is going to do for the company.

An ETF representing the US defence industry? SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defence (XAR-N), iShares Aero & Def. (ITA-) or Power Shares Aerospace & Defence (PPA-N) all do the same thing.

Strike price and Call price when buying the VIX? An ETF that tracks the VIX and is actually an exchange traded note. It tracks short-term volatility on the S&P 500 index. The NASDAQ also has one (VXN-N) which tracks the NASDAQ 100 index. The chart shows a long downward path. You have to look at this as an instrument that you use to hedge a portfolio to offset a volatility spike where the market has fallen. Those Exchange Traded notes have options, so you are really getting an option on an option. Because Exchange Traded notes are 6X more volatile than the underlying S&P 500 Index, the premiums are 6 to 10 times what you would expect to get. Spikes are hard to pick, and that is the challenge with this.

A pure and simple Covered Call on the S&P 500 Index. You are getting dividends plus option premiums. It will be less volatile than the S&P 500. You are going to be subjected to withholding tax on the dividends. This is one you could hold for a long time.

*Covered Call*. The company suffered and took a hit after Amazon (AMZN-Q) announced their purchase of Whole Foods. He thinks it got hit too hard. When you have a stock that drops like that, you tend to get the option premiums bumped up a little because there is a perception of greater risk. You have to like Walmart if you are going to do this, and you have to believe that they can compete very effectively against Amazon. He thinks Amazon is challenged with the “last mile” of delivery, which is the most expensive mile.

*Covered Call*. The company had blowout numbers. Thinks the stock is going to go through $100 before the end of the year. He did a $97.50 Call.

How do you determine if an Option Bid/Ask is overpriced or not? If you have a very wide gap between the Bid and Ask price of the option, you may be better off avoiding the option, because you are going to have a challenge trying to exit the position later on.