How To Make Money On Options Using Theta Decay
For many market traders, looking for a trend or some other market anomaly in order to consistently make money is the financial holy grail. Though there are a number of market systems that claim to be consistent enough to make you money, the reality is that most strategies aren't as trustworthy as they could be, which can cause you to lose your hard earned capital.
Theta decay is one much-hailed example of such systems. The name itself is surely impressive. The fact is, though, that theta decay rests on a very fundamental concept in option trading the fact that options expire on a set date.
Because option trading instruments have a finite life span, their value would tend to change as they come closer to the strike date. In analyzing trends in trading of options, the spread of prices that exist between the issuance date and the strike date is shown to get smaller as the issue nears expiration.
The specific expiration date of options is that gives theta decay its edge. Unlike stocks, the options market has a constant and, to some, dizzying flow of information. For traders who are able to keep up with that flow, big gains await.
How does one benefit from theta decay in their stock option trading system? The answer is simple - you take advantage of the time value of money, and its tendency to change faster closer to the expiration date. Analysis shows that the time value of an option drops linearly until the last thirty or so trading days prior to expiration.
It is those last thirty days when theta decay techniques are most effective. During those last thirty days, the rate of descent for the time value becomes steeper. But you can profit from this accelerated loss by holding the right positions.
By holding a short position in an option that is close to expiration while selling an inverse call option, you can capitalize on the vale loss in a couple of ways. You can make money by selling the call at a premium to what the actual value is, and can make money on the short position so long as the option fails to finish in the money on the positive side.
If you get your timing right and keep an eagle eye out for option information, theta decay is a useful tool to employ with your stock options trading. As with any system, there is always the possibility of losing your principal through incautious application of the technique. However, if you are attuned to the market and carefully scrutinize expiration dates, you can easily find yourself making money with this effective and under-utilized strategy.
Theta decay is one much-hailed example of such systems. The name itself is surely impressive. The fact is, though, that theta decay rests on a very fundamental concept in option trading the fact that options expire on a set date.
Because option trading instruments have a finite life span, their value would tend to change as they come closer to the strike date. In analyzing trends in trading of options, the spread of prices that exist between the issuance date and the strike date is shown to get smaller as the issue nears expiration.
The specific expiration date of options is that gives theta decay its edge. Unlike stocks, the options market has a constant and, to some, dizzying flow of information. For traders who are able to keep up with that flow, big gains await.
How does one benefit from theta decay in their stock option trading system? The answer is simple - you take advantage of the time value of money, and its tendency to change faster closer to the expiration date. Analysis shows that the time value of an option drops linearly until the last thirty or so trading days prior to expiration.
It is those last thirty days when theta decay techniques are most effective. During those last thirty days, the rate of descent for the time value becomes steeper. But you can profit from this accelerated loss by holding the right positions.
By holding a short position in an option that is close to expiration while selling an inverse call option, you can capitalize on the vale loss in a couple of ways. You can make money by selling the call at a premium to what the actual value is, and can make money on the short position so long as the option fails to finish in the money on the positive side.
If you get your timing right and keep an eagle eye out for option information, theta decay is a useful tool to employ with your stock options trading. As with any system, there is always the possibility of losing your principal through incautious application of the technique. However, if you are attuned to the market and carefully scrutinize expiration dates, you can easily find yourself making money with this effective and under-utilized strategy.
About the Author:
TheScienceOfTrading.com provides 90 free minutes of videos on option trading systems and provides a complete and detailed stock trading course for beginners to experts.
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