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Archive for the ‘Greeks’ Category

Discussion of Delta, Continued:

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Last week we discussed an interesting way to think about Delta (i.e., it is the percentage number that the market believes the option is likely to expire in the money).  Today we will talk about how delta varies depending on how many weeks or months of remaining life it has.

Discussion of Delta, Continued:

Just in case you missed last week’s newsletter, Delta tells us how much the price of the option will change if the underlying stock or ETF changes by $1.00. 

If you own a call option that carries a delta of 70, that means that if the stock goes up by $1.00, your option will increase in value by $.70 (if the stock falls by $1.00, your option will fall by a little less than $.70).  Since each option is good for 100 shares, a price change of $.70 in the option means that the total value of your option has gained $70.

If a call option is deep in the money (i.e., at a strike price which is much lower than the stock price) and there are only a few days until it expires, the option is highly likely to finish in the money (i.e., at a higher price than the strike price).  If SPY is trading at $140 with a week to go until expiration, a 130 call option would naturally have a very high delta (approaching 100).  The stock would have to fall by $10 before it was no longer in the money, and that size move is unlikely in just a few days.

Owning a deep in-the-money call with only a few days until expiration is almost like owning the stock.  If the stock goes up by a dollar tomorrow, the option is likely to go up by that amount ($1.00, or $100 since the option is for 100 shares of stock).

On the other hand, if the 130 option had six months of remaining life, a lot can happen over those six months.  The delta value of the 130 call might be closer to 70 than it is to 100 since the stock is far more likely to fall by $10 if it has such a long time over which to change.  If the stock goes up tomorrow and you own a call with six months of remaining life, you can only expect your option to gain about $70 in value.

The opposite occurs when the option is out of the money.  At today’s option prices (which are a little lower than the historical mean average), with SPY at $140, the 143 call with one month of remaining life is 30.  Owning that call is the equivalent of owning 30 shares of stock.

If the 143 option had six months of remaining life, the delta would be 45 at today’s option prices.  The market is saying that there is a higher likelihood of that option finishing in the money since it has so many more months to fluctuate.  Owning a 143 call with six months of remaining life is like owning 45 shares of stock.

Delta is one of the most important Greeks to understand about options.  Just like most everything about options, it is not simple, especially since it changes depending on how close to the stock price the strike price is, and how much time is remaining in the option’s life.

 

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A Useful Way to Think About Delta

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

This week we will start a discussion about the “Greeks” – the measures designed to predict how option prices will change when underlying stock prices change or time elapses. It is important to have a basic understanding of some of these measures before embarking on trading options.

I hope you enjoy this short discussion.

A Useful Way to Think About Delta

The first “Greek” that most people learn about when they get involved in options is Delta.  This important measure tells us how much the price of the option will change if the underlying stock or ETF changes by $1.00. 

If you own a call option that carries a delta of 50, that means that if the stock goes up by $1.00, your option will increase in value by $.50 (if the stock falls by $1.00, your option will fall by a little less than $.50).

The useful way to think about delta is to consider it the probability of that option finishing up (on expiration day) in the money.  If you own a call option at a strike price of 60 and the underlying stock is selling at $60, you have an at-the-money option, and the delta will likely be about 50.  In other words, the market is saying that your option has a 50-50 chance of expiring in the money (i.e., the stock is above $60 so your option would have some intrinsic value).

If your option were at the 55 strike, it would have a much higher delta value because the likelihood of its finishing up in the money (i.e., higher than $55) would be much higher.  The stock could fall by $4.90 or go up by any amount and it would end up being in the money, so the delta value would be quite high, maybe 70 or 75.  The market would be saying that there is a 70% or 75% chance of the stock ending up above $55 at expiration.

On the other hand, if your call option were at the 65 strike while the stock was selling at $60, it would carry a much lower delta because there would be a much lower likelihood of the stock going up $5 so that your option would expire in the money.

Of course, the amount of remaining life also has an effect on the delta value of an option.  We will talk about that phenomenon next week.

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A Useful Way to Think About Delta

Monday, December 5th, 2011

This week we will ignore the looming European debt crisis for a minute and talk a little about one of the “Greeks” – a measure designed to predict how option prices will change when underlying stock prices change or time elapses. It is important to have a basic understanding of some of these measures before embarking on trading options.

I hope you enjoy this short discussion.

A Useful Way to Think About Delta

The first “Greek” that most people learn about when they get involved in options is Delta.  This important measure tells us how much the price of the option will change if the underlying stock or ETF changes by $1.00. 

If you own a call option that carries a delta of 50, that means that if the stock goes up by $1.00, your option will increase in value by $.50 (if the stock falls by $1.00, your option will fall by a little less than $.50). 
The useful way to think about delta is to consider its value to be the probability of that option finishing up (on expiration day) in the money.  If you own a call option at a strike price of 60 and the underlying stock is selling at $60, you have an at-the-money option, and the delta will likely be about 50.  In other words, the market is saying that your option has a 50-50 chance of expiring in the money (i.e., the stock is above $60 so your option would have some intrinsic value).

If your option were at the 55 strike, it would have a much higher delta value because the likelihood of its finishing up in the money (i.e., higher than $55) would be much higher.  The 55 call might have a delta of 80 or 90 (or if the option is about to expire, it will approach 100).  With the stock at $60 and the strike at 55, the stock could fall by $4.99 or go up by any amount and it would end up being in the money, so the delta value would be quite high.

On the other hand, if your call option were at the 65 strike while the stock was selling at $60, it would carry a much lower delta (maybe 10 if expiration is near, or 30 if there are a few months to go until expiration) because there would be a much lower likelihood of the stock going up $5 so that your option would expire in the money.

Of course, the amount of remaining life also has an effect on the delta value of an option.  For in-the-money call options, the closer to expiration you are, the higher the delta value.  For out-of-the-money options, delta values are higher for further-out expirations.  As in many things concerning options, even the most simple measure, delta, is a little confusing.  Fortunately, most brokers (especially thinkorswim) show you the net delta value of your long and short options at all times (or the deltas of any options you are thinking of buying or selling).
In one Terry’s Tips portfolio, we have sold December call options for AAPL which expire on December 16th.  With the stock currently trading about $395, the Dec-11 395 call carries a delta of 50 (meaning the market is betting that there is a 50-50 chance of AAPL trading above $395 in two weeks, at expiration).  We are also short a Dec-11 405 call which carries a delta of 30.  The market figures that there is about a 30% chance that AAPL will be above $405 in two weeks.  And the Dec-11 415 call has a delta of only 14, so the expectation is that 14% of the time, the stock might rally by $20 over those two weeks.

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Posted in 10K Strategies, AAPL, Greeks, Stock Option Trading Idea Of The Week, Stock Options Strategies, Terry's Tips Portfolios | No Comments »

A Useful Way to Think About Delta

Monday, October 24th, 2011

This week we will talk a little about one of the “Greeks” – the variables designed to predict how option prices will change when underlying stock prices change or time elapses. It is important to have a basic understanding of some of these measures before embarking on trading options.

I hope you enjoy this short discussion.

A Useful Way to Think About Delta 


The first “Greek” that most people learn about when they get involved in options is Delta.  This important measure tells us how much the price of the option will change if the underlying stock or ETF changes by $1.00. 

If you own a call option that carries a delta of 50, that means that if the stock goes up by $1.00, your option will increase in value by $.50 (if the stock falls by $1.00, your option will fall by a little less than $.50).
The useful way to think about delta is to consider it the probability of that option finishing up (on expiration day) in the money.  If you own a call option at a strike price of 60 and the underlying stock is selling at $60, you have an at-the-money option, and the delta will likely be about 50.  In other words, the market is saying that your option has a 50-50 chance of expiring in the money (i.e., the stock is above $60 so your option would have some intrinsic value).

If your option were at the 55 strike, it would have a much higher delta value because the likelihood of its finishing up in the money (i.e., higher than $55) would be much higher.  The stock could fall by $4.90 or go up by any amount and it would end up being in the money, so the delta value would be quite high, maybe 70 or 75.  The market would be saying that there is a 70% or 75% chance of the stock ending up above $55 at expiration.

On the other hand, if your call option were at the 65 strike while the stock was selling at $60, it would carry a much lower delta because there would be a much lower likelihood of the stock going up $5 so that your option would expire in the money.

Of course, the amount of remaining life also has an effect on the delta value of an option.  We will talk about that phenomenon next week.

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Using Options to Prosper in Down Markets

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Last week was the worst week for the market for almost three years.  The S&P 500 fell by a whopping 6.6%.  Investors seem to be dumping everything.  Usually, when stock markets crash, gold moves higher, but last week, gold fell $100 in a single day, the worst one-day drop in its history.  Silver and other commodities were crushed as well.  Billions of dollars are going into treasuries even though over half the S&P 500 companies have higher yields. 

What do you in times like these?  Would you be surprised if I said that a well-designed options portfolio might be the perfect solution?

Using Options to Prosper in Down Markets

At Terry’s Tips, we conduct an actual portfolio which we call the 10K Bear.  We believe that this portfolio offers a better alternative than any other as a downside hedge vehicle.  Even better, the market does not have to go down for you to make a gain.  A flat or slightly higher market also makes weekly gains most of the time

Here is the current risk profile graph for our 10K Bear portfolio.  It shows the loss or gain that should result from a $5200 investment in SPY put options on September 30 when the Weeklys expire in a few days.  Last Friday, SPY closed at $113.54  (This graph assumes that today’s option prices – VIX – will remain unchanged – if VIX falls significantly over the next 4 days, the gains would be less than the graph indicates.)

The graph shows that about an 18% gain would be made if the stock stays flat, and a higher gain would result if SPY fell up to $3 (if it fell that far, we would make an adjustment to extend the downside potential).  Commissions would reduce results somewhat as well. The stock could go up as high as $116.50 before a loss would occur on the upside.  Clearly, this is an excellent hedge against a market drop, and it has the added advantage of also making gains if the market is flat or slightly higher.

How do we create an options portfolio like this?  It is the strategy we use when we want to bet on the direction of the market.  Most of the portfolios at Terry’s Tips make the assumption that we have no idea of which direction the market will take in the short run.

The 10K Bear portfolio involves buying put options with several months of remaining life and selling short-term (Weekly) puts to someone else.  The puts we sell are mostly at lower strikes than those we own.  Rather than trying to sell short-term puts which maximize the amount of short-term decay we could collect, we aim to sell just enough short-term decay to cover the decay of the longer-term puts we own.

In Greek terms (pardon me for using Greeks if you are not familiar with them), we seek to maximize the negative net delta of the portfolio while maintaining a positive theta.  As the stock fluctuates during the month, adjustments are often required to maintain these two goals.  (Adjustments we made in the August expiration month enabled the 10K Bear  portfolio to gain 55% while the original positions at the beginning of the month projected a gain of less than half that amount).

While this may seem to be a little complicated right now, if you become a Terry’s Tips subscriber, it should all become quite clear.  You can follow how the 10K Bear operates over time (as well as several other bullish-leaning portfolios) so that you can do it on your own if you wish.  (Most of our subscribers don’t do it on their own, but sign up for the Auto-Trade program at thinkorswim and have them execute the trades automatically for them).

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