A short straddle is an advanced options strategy used when a trader is seeking to profit from an underlying stock trading in a narrow range. Since it involves having to sell both a call and a put, the ...

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and ...

We recently published a performance review of at-the-money (ATM) NDX straddles with between one and five days left to expiration. One finding was that consistent sellers of 3-Day, 4-Day, and 5-Day NDX ...

When most traders think of making money in the markets, they picture buying low and selling high — or riding a trend. But what’s the best trade to make when a stock does absolutely nothing? That’s ...

James Chen, CMT is an expert trader, investment adviser, and global market strategist. Samantha (Sam) Silberstein, CFP®, CSLP®, EA, is an experienced financial consultant. She has a demonstrated ...

The straddle is an options trading strategy, so named for the shape it makes on a pricing chart; your position literally “straddles” the price of the underlying asset. With the straddle, you trade on ...

Options allow for greater flexibility when it comes to expressing a wide variety of market outlooks. Implied volatility tends to rise into earnings events, providing options sellers with potential ...

When traders first start using options, they often employ them either as a way to take a directional view on an asset (buying a call if they expect it to rise or a put if they expect it to fall) or as ...

Options sold as “volatility plays” hide a structural flaw—one retail traders often discover too late, after the market moves, premiums collapse, and the trade that seemed safe quietly turns costly.