How much money should I put into each of your trade recommendations?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Let’s start the answer to that question with the obligatory disclaimer…<\/p>\n
The answer depends on how you are as a trader\/investor. Your age, net worth, risk tolerance, financial goals, income, and many more factors need to be considered. What’s right for one may not be right for another. So, you need to trade in amounts that are comfortable for you.<\/p>\n
Now, having said all of that, let me share a few thoughts…<\/p>\n
Remember, the purpose of options is to reduce risk<\/em> – not increase it. So, as a simple rule of thumb, you can trade one option contract for every 100 shares of stock you would normally trade.<\/p>\n If you normally buy 1,000 shares of stock, then buy 10 option contracts (or sell 10 uncovered options<\/a> as per the recommendation). If you normally trade in lots of 500 shares, then five option contracts will do. Even if you start with just one option contract, that’s perfectly fine as well.<\/p>\n This is an ultra-conservative option strategy. It’s what I would tell my mother to do if she were new to option trading. You’ll never overleverage a trade this way, and you’ll never have one losing position blow up your account.<\/p>\n Now, if you’ve been trading options for a while – and are comfortable with them, can handle a more aggressive form of trading, and can be disciplined with your position sizes – then let me share with you how I basically trade my own portfolio.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Let’s say you have $100,000 in your trading account (you may have more or less, but using $100,000 makes the math simple).<\/p>\n Take $80,000 and set it aside for conservative trades like selling uncovered put options. (Delta Report<\/em> subscribers can access my full report on this strategy right here<\/strong><\/a>). The other $20,000 can be used for speculative option buying.<\/p>\n The basic idea here is to attempt to make enough money on the $80,000 conservative side of the portfolio to pay for any possible losses on the $20,000 speculative side. And, if you do well speculating, then you’ll add a nice windfall profit to your account.<\/p>\n Selling uncovered put options is a low-risk, conservative strategy. You get paid cash up front for agreeing to buy shares of stock you already like and at a discount. It’s one of my absolute favorite options strategies.<\/p>\n So, let’s first look at how to allocate the $80,000 in conservative uncovered put option trades…<\/p>\n Take the $80,000, divide it by 10, and you get $8,000. <\/p>\n That’s the most you will allocate to any one conservative trade.<\/strong><\/p>\n I can’t ever recall a time when I had more than 10 uncovered put option positions at work at the same time. Usually, I have maybe four or five trades at work.<\/p>\n So, I almost always carry a large cash position. That comes in handy on those rare occasions – once or twice each year – when stocks reach truly extreme conditions, and I have lots of trading opportunities in front of me.<\/p>\n For the purpose of this example, I’ll allocate AT MOST $8,000 (10% of the money I’ve set aside for this strategy) for each uncovered put position.<\/p>\n For example, one time I recommended selling the Citigroup (C) September 18 $50 uncovered put options for $1.65. The margin requirement<\/a> for each option contract was $1,000 (that’s 20% of the purchase obligation to buy 100 shares of C at $50). If we divide $8,000 by $1,000, we get 8.<\/p>\n So, in this instance, I would be comfortable selling 8 of the C puts. Of course, that means I have to be comfortable buying 800 shares of C – which I am. Your risk tolerance may be different, and you might choose a smaller position.<\/p>\n But, most folks SHOULD NOT take a larger position than this.<\/p>\n By selling 8 of the C uncovered put options at the recommended price of $1.65, I’ll collect $1,320. And, if the option expires worthless – which is always the best outcome on an uncovered put trade – I’ll record a nice $1,320 profit on the trade.<\/p>\n So, if you’re not taking advantage of this strategy, then you’re missing out on some tremendous returns.<\/p>\n And, it’s those returns that help to fund the speculative side of the account…<\/p>\nThe Conservative Option Trader’s Portfolio<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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