The Option Alpha Podcast

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show173We're excited and honored to have a very special guest this week on the podcast, Richard Hudson, co-founder of the London and Brussels-based Science Business Publishing Ltd. He's the co-author of The (mis)Behavior of Markets: A fractal view of risk, ruin & reward which he wrote with famed Yale/IBM mathematician Mandelbrot. Our discussion frankly should be required listening for any investor and was recorded in January of 2020 immediately preceding the market crash that occurred just weeks later.

Show Notes: http://optionalpha.com/show172This week on the podcast we're doing something a little different and turning this podcast episode into a full-blown audiobook. Today I'm recording the newest book we released entitled "Mastering Covered Calls". I encourage you to pick up your copy now, did we mention it's 100% free, and follow along as you listen to this audiobook. We've included dozens of charts, tables, and graphs to help as part of this new book and we hope you enjoy listening or reading your copy.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show171Today on the show we welcome special guest, Rob, who's the co-author on our recent research report on Covered Calls. On the show this week we go over the top three performance insights we learned from our massive study on Covered Call Performance. If you trade covered calls right now or plan on using them at any point when dealing with assigned stock, then this show should be required listening.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show170Factor-based strategies and trading systems are all the rage these days. We've been promoting these for many years now but it seems that more and more investors are catching on. As a result, we wanted to cover the 5 critical factors that your trading strategy should have. To us, these serve as the foundational elements for choosing which investing vehicles, indicators, or systems most appropriately fit your portfolio.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show169This week we're very excited to share our exclusive interview with Kevin Davitt, a special guest with tons of experience not only as a former market maker, but as the Senior Instructor for The Options Institute at CBOE. As many long time listener's know, we are highly selective with people we choose to bring on as guests for interview and Kevin raises the bar yet again for us with an amazing discussion. During the show we'll touch on everything from his time as a market maker, transitioning to the retail side of trading, though processes on managing positions and controlling risk, and so much more. You're going to love this candid and wide-ranging discussion as much as we enjoyed the time with Kevin.

Show notes: https://optionalpha.com/show168Did you know that fear has nothing to do with logical or cognitive reasoning? It's actually a completely physical response that originates in our body. We fear to be wrong because that might mean we will be alone and people will leave us, which means that we won't be part of a tribe or community, which means it'll be dangerous and we might die. Okay, that's extreme but taken to its logical conclusion we fear because of conditioning we've had as humans for thousands of years to survive on a physical level.As options traders, we have fears about trading that manifest in dozens and dozens of ways. Today, as we circle the Halloween season, I wanted to tackle the 27 biggest options trading fears that we hear in our community. And, more importantly, how to overcome and conquer these fears. Just saying them out loud and talking through them together might just be what you need to set yourself free and on the right path as a trader. 

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show167Oh, profit targets. The double edge sword of confusion for many traders. Take profits too early and you feel like you left money on the table. Too late and you kick yourself because the trade could have moved against you. And because we've been getting so many questions on when and why we've let positions go beyond traditional profit targets, we wanted to record today's show to talk about the top 3 market setups that would lead us to break profit-taking rules. Yes, you heard me right, and longtime members have known this for years, but we don't always take profits at 25% and 50%. Shocking? Shouldn't be because our Profit Matrix research 2 years ago laid the foundation for holding positions generally longer towards expiration. 

Show notes: https://optionalpha.com/show166When it comes to market signals and timing indicators, the Put Call Ratio is one that naturally jumps to the top of many lists. Because the indicator looks at volume in both put and call options, the logical conclusion is that we can interpret the ratio to signal us from an impending top or possible market bottom. But, is that really the case, and if so, how should we use Put Call Ratios moving forward in our analysis. All this and more on this week's podcast episode.

Show notes: https://optionalpha.com/show165Personally, I don't like rules. Mostly because I value freedom and flexibility so when someone says that I have to follow the rules I naturally push back. Things that confine me or tell me what to do don't fly well with me. But that only applies to things outside of trading and investing. In the world of investing, and specifically trading options, you need to live by certain rules. Rules that keep you safe and protected from the unknown of the market. I imagine that the 11 "Golden Rules" I'm going to present in this podcast will cause many of you to push back and challenge their usefulness. Mostly because they'll cause you to trade different than you have in the past, and being different means being uncomfortable. I'm okay with that and I welcome the discussion around them. But don't misinterpret this level of understanding in adoption to also represent flexibility when it comes to these rules. These are "unbreakable" rules for me and should be for you as well.

Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show164Since we are option sellers and our edge comes from selling overpriced options out into maturity it's natural to assume that if we want to sell options when IV is high that buying options during low IV markets is a way to make money in the other direction. We get it and understand the rationale argument. When IV is low, and option premiums are cheap, you can and should buy options because they are cheap right? Not so fast bargain-buyer. This type of thought process and strategy, low IV option buying, has two major problems. And we don't use the word "major" lightly here. Each problem with option buying systems is so important that the probability of getting both problems right or solved is for all intensive purposes, impossible on a long timeline. Curious to know what these major issues are? Let's dive into today's show and find out.