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JAL
Hello! Very new here, have a question on position size compared to account size – in other words, how much to devote to each recommendation given the total account size. Looking for a ratio, such as with OFI, if anyone in OFI, essentially have at least $20K (or more) in your account devoted to OFI to trade 1 contract of each recommendation
I see from the PC FAQ: "For trading Profit Catalyst Alert options, a typical straightforward put or call purchase averages $1.50 per contract. The price of each individual trade will differ but this is the average price. Each contract is for 100 shares so the cost of the entire contract is 100 x $1.50 or $1,500. Profit Catalyst Alert typically has three or four option trades live at one time so you would want to plan your account accordingly if you choose to act on all of the trades."
Question: Is the total $1500 per $1.50 recommendation because of margin? Because unless I am mistaken, we can buy a call and/or put for the straightforward cost of the contract. I totally get that each call/put option K is for control of 100 shares, but looking at the recent GPS recommendation, given the ask right now is $.36, the recommended limit is $.45, why would 1 contract cost $1500? OR, is the idea to trade sufficient contracts to more-or-less meet $1500 per recommendation?
THANK YOU! Happy to be here – and my apologies if this issue has been addressed, I did search the forum.
Rick
Jal,
No problem happy to give my perspective.
I am not sure where the quote is from but $150 is the right number not $1,500. Linda’s alerts are generally to buy stock or buy a put or call and so the risk is the purchase amount and no more. The OFI alerts are generally to trade a credit spread and so margin is required. With PCA, you make a choice each time how much you want to risk.
Those of us who do options when she offers that as an alternative, risk less and can lose it all on a small move but make a huge return on a large move. If capital preservation is important than we buy the stock. In my experience she recommends a sell before there is too much of a negative move.
So, this service is much less complicated in that you don’t need to manage margin on top of yur position. I personally, have most of my portfolio in tried and true dividend stocks, use OFI for income supplement and use PCA as one of the ways I take more risky plays for short term capital gains. All of the serviceson Investing Daily are a little different and I like the diversification in investment style of each.
I do believe you’ve found a typo in the manual! Thank you for pointing it out. The total amount for one contract would be $150 based on the $1.50 option price. Thanks to Rick for jumping in and giving an excellent recap of how most of my option trades work. As he noted, these trades are very straight forward, buy a call or a put based on my prediction of the stock heading higher (calls) or lower (puts).
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Rick: Thank you, totally helps. I copy-pasted the ” ” section in my initial post. Was confused at the $1,500 quote because I believe a straight call/pull option risk is only the value of the underlying contract. So it seems that $150 per contract, 4 trades open at a time = $600 total, so 1 rec per $600, on average, to trade PC is the ratio?
Stock Talk
JAL
Hello! Very new here, have a question on position size compared to account size – in other words, how much to devote to each recommendation given the total account size. Looking for a ratio, such as with OFI, if anyone in OFI, essentially have at least $20K (or more) in your account devoted to OFI to trade 1 contract of each recommendation
I see from the PC FAQ: "For trading Profit Catalyst Alert options, a typical straightforward put or call purchase averages $1.50 per contract. The price of each individual trade will differ but this is the average price. Each contract is for 100 shares so the cost of the entire contract is 100 x $1.50 or $1,500. Profit Catalyst Alert typically has three or four option trades live at one time so you would want to plan your account accordingly if you choose to act on all of the trades."
Question: Is the total $1500 per $1.50 recommendation because of margin? Because unless I am mistaken, we can buy a call and/or put for the straightforward cost of the contract. I totally get that each call/put option K is for control of 100 shares, but looking at the recent GPS recommendation, given the ask right now is $.36, the recommended limit is $.45, why would 1 contract cost $1500? OR, is the idea to trade sufficient contracts to more-or-less meet $1500 per recommendation?
THANK YOU! Happy to be here – and my apologies if this issue has been addressed, I did search the forum.
Rick
Jal,
No problem happy to give my perspective.
I am not sure where the quote is from but $150 is the right number not $1,500. Linda’s alerts are generally to buy stock or buy a put or call and so the risk is the purchase amount and no more. The OFI alerts are generally to trade a credit spread and so margin is required. With PCA, you make a choice each time how much you want to risk.
Those of us who do options when she offers that as an alternative, risk less and can lose it all on a small move but make a huge return on a large move. If capital preservation is important than we buy the stock. In my experience she recommends a sell before there is too much of a negative move.
So, this service is much less complicated in that you don’t need to manage margin on top of yur position. I personally, have most of my portfolio in tried and true dividend stocks, use OFI for income supplement and use PCA as one of the ways I take more risky plays for short term capital gains. All of the serviceson Investing Daily are a little different and I like the diversification in investment style of each.
I hope that helps.
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Linda McDonough
Hello,
I do believe you’ve found a typo in the manual! Thank you for pointing it out. The total amount for one contract would be $150 based on the $1.50 option price. Thanks to Rick for jumping in and giving an excellent recap of how most of my option trades work. As he noted, these trades are very straight forward, buy a call or a put based on my prediction of the stock heading higher (calls) or lower (puts).
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Best,
Linda
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JAL
Rick: Thank you, totally helps. I copy-pasted the ” ” section in my initial post. Was confused at the $1,500 quote because I believe a straight call/pull option risk is only the value of the underlying contract. So it seems that $150 per contract, 4 trades open at a time = $600 total, so 1 rec per $600, on average, to trade PC is the ratio?
JAL
Sorry, the ” ” is from PC FAQs.
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