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A Random Walk In The Park On A Monday Morning. A Caution. Monday Mornings Are Often Not An Option Players Best Friend

Let's start with this. It's now 10:26 a.m. A bet on Caterpillar rebounding by the end of the week. There are no takers. Why have to watch the screen for the next four days in agony waiting for a rebound which if happens is just a "break even trade"? But Wait. I made a mistake. The market is actually now down 668 points. What else can we look at? Interactive Brokers. These kind of stocks always do poorly on days with the threat of margin calls. Yet there is something interesting about the printout I am about to show. It is that these options are "one-month-out" Calls. These longer term options trade differently than short term options. (these options trade in one month intervals). If the stock we are following stops it's freefall the value of the options will nudge up ten, fifteen or twenty percent. A seven dollar option Call might creep back up to $8.00 or $9.00 at which time it could be sold. In contrast with a five day option a slight reversal in ...
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Young People And Options

Let me spill out some information. Next-Generation Investors Are Different. An organization called "Finra" published this information. In a 2021 survey the Finra Investor Education Foundation found that 36% of respondents aged 18 t0 34 said they have traded options. That compares with 21% of respondents ages 35 to 54 and just 8% of respondents age 55 and older. Then there are crypto investors. According to something called a Pew Research survey based on Feb 2024 data, 42% of men aged 18-29 have invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency compared with 17% of women in the same age range. Interestly, just 17% of all adults say they have invested in, traded, or used a cryptocurrency, according to the same 2024 survey. When it comes to buying on margin,in 2021, just under of a quarter, or 23%, of investors ages 18 to 34 said they have made purcheses on margin, compared with 12% of respondents aged 34 to 54 and 3% of respondents age 55 and older. Opening accounts is now easier and there's an explosion of new sources of information and social networks that can encourage risky behaviors. Let's not forget the recent frenzy of meme stock trading. Robinhood knows all this and works in this space.
Look at how it's stock has traded in the last one year.
My point is that young people are experimenting with option trading and the trend is only going to continue. Pick twenty or thirty stocks and just watch them for a few months. Write down turning points you see happening and check out how much at that point in time a Call or a Put costs on any series you pick. Then check back later to see if you were correct in making such a call. Option trading, unfortunately is very much a self taught process.

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