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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

Options trading might sound complex, but there are basic strategies that most investors can use to improve returns, bet on the market's movement, or hedge existing positions. Covered calls, collars, ...