Thursday, February 12, 2009

"Share Renting" strategy - a great income earner for Bull Markets

What is "Share Renting"?

Share Renting is a term coined by Jamie McIntyre of 21st Century Academy to simplify an options strategy that can be used to generate extra income when you hold physical stocks or shares. Share renting is being used to form an analogy with owning a property and renting it out to a tenant, and making an income from rental. This is one of the strategies that are being taught in more depth by Planet Wealth. Basically, the strategy is this:

1.) Own the physical shares or stocks. If you're investing in the Australian market, you must hold at least 1,000 shares (or multiples of 1,000). In the US markets, you can go for at least 100 shares (or multiples of 100). This is so you can apply the options strategy on top of the stock or share that you purchased.

2.) Sell a Call Option - When selling a call option, you get a premium or "rental income" for agreeing to sell your stock at a certain date for a specified price. Choosing an option to sell will depend on the price level that you purchased the shares, and the expectations/views/predictions that you or the market have on the particular stock or share at a certain date.

The trick is, you should choose a call option at a higher price and with a price that you think it will not reach or hit at the expiry date. Each option has an expiry date, and you also need to look into this to work out if your view is for within the month or within the next 2 months, etc. This is one of the factors that will determine how much income you will make out of the premium.

For example:

You purchased 1,000 shares of Company XYZ @ $2.00
You foresee that this stock, based on existing market conditions, and based on previous movements, will not go up to $2.50 in the next month.

The $2.50 Call Options strike price for next month is paying 15 cents premium.
You can sell 1 call options contract for Company XYZ and earn $150.

If Company XYZ doesn't reach $2.50 at the expiry date, then you get to keep your shares, and you also get to keep the $150 premium! If you continue to have a bullish view of the stock or share in the long run, you might want to keep it. Hence, the strategy is to find a strike price that is more likely not to be hit or reached.

If it does hit the $2.50 strike price, then you would have to sell the shares for $2.50, which then means that you still made money on the stock or share ($500 in this instance, plus the $150 premium). Either way, you win!

Not a bad strategy for a Bull Market! You can still do this on a bear market, but you have to be bullish on the stock that you own and not make a loss on it if the call options are exercised.

I've learned all of this in more detail through Planet Wealth, and more details are on their e-book, so check them out! I hope you've learned another options strategy today.

Another Sharemarket Secret unveiled! Til the next post!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Options Trading on a Bear Market

Welcome to the first-ever post of Sharemarket Secrets!

Admittedly, times are tough at the moment when it comes to the stock market (or share market, as it is called here in Australia). However, you can still make money in the market if you know the right strategy to use and trade the market. I'd like to share with you one strategy that I've been doing recently which have generated me a 30% return in 10 days. I didn't have a lot of money to invest, but this strategy is not high-risk (i.e., as with other investment strategies, there is a risk, but it is limited and capped, and it can also be reduced if it's starting to go against your way).

I use Options to trade the markets and generate this kind of return. Now, OPTIONS?? Well, most people in the know would have their eyes wide open and look at you with absolute horror and turn away. BUT, it's not what you think it is. A lot of people use Options to make money in the market, however, they do not know how to apply them properly. They get into these options strategies without any protection, hence, they get into a lot of trouble in the marketplace!

For those of you who are not familiar with Options, it is an instrument traded in the marketplace which enables a buyer of the option the right to buy or sell a stock or share at a specified price (called strike price) and at a specific date (called expiry date). If you want to learn more about Options, you can look into getting this e-book offered by Planet Wealth, which I'm currently using: http://tinyurl.com/pwlifestyle


For those who know Options, there is a strategy called Bear Call Spread. It's a strategy wherein you sell or write a Call Option at a strike price where you foresee the stock or share would not reach at a certain point in time, and then to protect you from the possibility of the Call option being exercised, you then buy or take Call Options at a slightly higher strike price (preferrably the next higher strike price) from the level you sold the call Option. The difference between the premium you receive from the Sell Call Option and the amount that you paid for the Buy Call option is called a Credit. The Credit is what you make at the end of the trade if it all goes well. For example:

A company XYZ is currently trading $2.00, but with the current trend in the market, it is foreseen to further drop another 20%. Also, you notice that technically, the stock or share has been hitting a resistance level of $2.30.

You can then sell a Call Option for $2.50, and receive a premium of say 70cents. You then buy a Call Option to protect yourself in case the price doesn't go down to below $2.50 before expiry date. You buy, say, a Call Option at $2.75 for 20 cents.

So, 70 cents - 20 cents = 50 cents, which is the credit or the amount you receive from the trade. If you did 5 contracts of this (in Australia, a contract is 1,000 units), that would be 5,000 x 50 cents, giving you a profit of $2,500!

The maximum risk on the other hand (if this does not go to you way) is $2.75 - $2.50 = 25 cents x 5,000 (for the 5 contracts) = $1,250.

If you do this once a month, it's like getting 30-50% return on your money each month! And this is each month, not per annum! Better than having it sitting in the bank with only 5% per annum return (if you're lucky after tax!) .

You should check out the Planet Wealth e-books, as they are a great tool for learning various Options strategies in the marketplace. It's all a matter of applying the correct strategy at the right time and situation of the market and stock.

One Sharemarket Secret unveiled!