| Credit Spread - The Foundation Of Monthly Option Income |
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| Written by Ten Nino |
| Thursday, 17 June 2010 17:19 |
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A favorite directionless investment method with option sellers is called the vertical spread or the credit spread. One reason it's so well-liked is because it's one of the easiest option strategies to understand. Another explanation for it's attractiveness is that once the trade is placed there can be very little attention needed to supervise it - allowing the credit spread trader to go out and spend their time doing other things rather than sitting in a dark room staring at a trading screen all day long.
A favorite directionless investment method with option sellers is called the vertical spread or the credit spread. One reason it's so well-liked is because it's one of the easiest option strategies to understand. Another explanation for it's attractiveness is that once the trade is placed there can be very little attention needed to supervise it - allowing the credit spread trader to go out and spend their time doing other things rather than sitting in a dark room staring at a trading screen all day long. The credit spread is a fundamental element to numerous other option spread strategies including the iron condor, the butterfly spread, the double diagonal and others. It if fairly common for beginning option traders to gravitate to this strategy soon after discovering options and once they have gotten their feet wet with the purchase of straight calls and puts, then covered calls, and debit spreads. Option traders love to trade this strategy because the way these trades are constructed can allow the trader to be wrong and still make money. If the trader creates a particular credit spread position, he or she can win if the stock or index being traded winds up doing three out of four possible scenarios. If the stock goes down, the trader makes money. If the stock goes nowhere the trader makes money. If the stock goes up a little, the trader makes money. The only way the trader can lose money if the stock goes up far enough to threaten the credit spread that has been sold. And even then, there are management and adjustment techniques that can be utilized to hedge against losses. For example let's say our trader is bearish on the stock XYZ. XYZ is trading at a recent high and our trader believes that the stock will not move any higher over the next 30 days. So, he sells a bear call spread - a call option credit spread that benefits in a neutral to bearish scenario. The only way this spread trade can lose money is if the stock winds up doing 1 out of 4 possible scenarios - giving our trader a three out of four likelihood of winning. If the stock moves down as our trader predicts he wins. If the stock stays stagnant and goes nowhere, he wins. In fact, even if the stock moves against our trader and heads upward he wins just so long as the underlying doesn't move so far as to breach the spread sold. The only our trader loses is if the underlying moves far enough upwards passing the option strike price that was sold - which if it does, our trader could still salvage the position through appropriate management and adjustment methods DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. While credit spread trading can be a great way to generate passive income, of course like any investment method there are potential pitfalls one should be aware of before jumping in. To learn more about how to properly trade this option strategy, including how to correctly place, manage, and most importantly how to ADJUST them, visit our free video training website at Credit Spreads |