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Copyright © 2015 by Robert J. Seifert. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Seifert, Robert J.
Profiting from weekly options: how to earn consistent income trading weekly option serials / Robert J. Seifert.
pages cm. –(Wiley trading series)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-118-98058-3 (Hardcover) – ISBN 978-1-118-98095-8 (ePDF)–ISBN 978-1-118-98094-1 (ePub) 1. Options (Finance) I. Title.
HG6024.A3S437 2015
332.64′53–dc23
2014037475
Todd “Bubba” Horwitz
I first walked onto a trading floor at the CBOE in September of 1982. I was 24 years old and I knew that I wanted to be involved in the option market. I was one of the original market makers in the SPX, and it was quite a thrill. When you trade for a living, every day is a new adventure; you never know what is going to happen next but you know that it will be interesting. Over 30 years later, I still can't wait for the opening bell!
So much has changed since I started to trade that it isn't the same business anymore. Now there is really no open outcry, the markets have shifted upstairs to the electronic platforms, and the trading pits are almost empty. When I started to trade, the option markets only had four expirations per year. Gradually, the powers that be figured out that if you had an expiration each month, that would bring more customers into the markets and provide greater liquidity. Another major policy change was to narrow the bid–offer spreads to $1, and that brought even more business into the market. All of the changes made it better for the retail customer.
In 2010, the SEC decided that it would allow customers to trade options on a weekly basis, bringing the expiration total to 52 times a year. Finally, three years ago, the exchanges were approved to list weekly options that would fill out the rest of the month so that they could be used for calendar spreading and rolling positions back one week instead of one month. The weekly option market has grown so much in the last year or so, it is now liquid enough to allow the retail trader to compete with the giants of Wall Street.
