WEEKLY OPTIONS TRADING QUESTIONS

"I'm fairly new to trading options but am interested in your service because I'm busy and literally just want to be told what to do. I have a few questions about how the information comes in because I travel to different time zones and I'm guessing the alerts can be any time, but I'm not always available like that. I would love your advice on what to expect and also how to exit automatically (instead of missing out or holding on too long and losing the profit)."

Ian Harvey's answer on July 3, 2021:

Thank you for your interest in our options trading service.

Our recommendations are sent via email through our provider, AWeber.

All trades are sent before the market opens in the morning. Many of them will be on Monday, or even over the weekend. As information emerges throughout the week further trades will be sent, but always before opening of the stock market.

Each recommendation is very easy to follow - it comes with an approximate entry price for the option - this could easily be executed using "market price" if you are not available to enter the trade personally - set early and let it happen.

You are provided with an exit price, "pre-determined sell," which is usually based on 100% profit. However, to make certain of your exit I would suggest less - maybe 50% of what is suggested, as you may not be able to watch the market throughout the day. At times the trade may be a bit shy of 100% and many members exit at best. Obviously this will need to be executed after you have purchased the option.

Also, a stop-loss is suggested, usually based on a loss of 60%, except when trades are less than $0.70. Again you may prefer to have a tighter stop-loss.

"Loving your options recommendations. I have had some success with them. 

I could have even greater success if some of the recommendations wouldn't

take off from the opening bell and not pull back to anywhere near the entry level.

Just wondering if you had any suggestions as to how to play run away options

prices. What are some workable strategies used to enter gapped up options?"

Ian Harvey's answer on June 25, 2021:

In many cases, if the stock is going to run after the market opens, at some point it will pull-back to allow an entry, but often-times this will be higher than that recommended.

For myself, at the start of the market, if I think an option is going to be excellent I try to predict a figure just in-front of the bid price, or even take the bid-price that is showing if quick enough.

An alternative is to take the market price - I must confess I never do this - I love to control my own destiny - but this makes sure you enter the trade.

In most cases the stock will pull-back during the day, to some extent. An example of that is Palantir - one that I wrote about in the blog page.

However, you do get those that keep running higher without much of a breather - such as this week with FedEx and Nike.

Remember, all this is good because that is what we are after - stocks that are on the run.

Another way around the price increase, if you are worried about the increased cost, is to take a strike price that is higher than the one recommended.

If all else fails, tomorrow is another day, and there are plenty more trades coming your way!