Publications

BK, PANW: NorCal Finance

Bank stocks look like their price momentum can continue while some tech appears to be topping out. No video this week due to travel schedule…. Read More

What are the differences between Jim Fink’s Velocity Trader and Options for Income services?

OFI is a conservative trading service based on out-of-the-money (OTM) put credit spreads that can generate maximum potential profit in the 20% to 40% range by time-value decay alone (i.e., no directional movement is required) with an 85%-90% probability of success. Average trade duration is two months. VT is a more aggressive service based on […]… Read More

Why is my options account balance not going up?

There are several reasons for this phenomena when you first start trading option spreads with our services. For starters, in the first six months of using our services, you will be building your portfolio. As such, you will have more open trades than closed trades. And while almost all of Jim Fink’s closed trades are […]… Read More

What’s a call debit spread?

The great majority of Options for Income trades use the put credit spread strategy, yet occasionally Jim Fink recommends a new or rolled trade as a call debit spread instead. How does he decide which strategy to use? Every time Jim contemplates trading a vertical option spread, he looks at both strategies for the same […]… Read More

What happens in a bear market?

Market timing is a fool’s game, so Jim doesn’t play it. He favors bullish put credit spreads generally because the stock market rises two-thirds of the time and has averaged an annual real gain of 7% for more than 100 years. In the October 4, 2011 market briefing Jim discussed the long-term equity returns of […]… Read More

What if I can’t monitor my trades?

Jim’s advice for people in these circumstances is to close out any vulnerable positions until you are able to pay attention and trade again. For example, if you are traveling without internet access at the beginning of August, prior to leaving you should consider closing out your option positions expiring in June. Upon your return, […]… Read More

As a new member, should I enter old trades or wait for new ones?

Most new members wait for new Trade Alerts. Options for Income (OFI) trades come out every Thursday and Velocity Trader (VT) trades come out every Tuesday except for on major holidays. When looking at the homepage, please note that each trade is labeled as either New Trades or Rolls next to the Alert date. New […]… Read More

Should I close a winning trade early?

Jim Fink never closes out winning trades early, but some members do if they need margin buying power for other trades, are unable to monitor their trades for a period of time, or simply get nervous that the stock may pull back. If you do choose to close a trade early, note that you will […]… Read More

Am I going to get assigned?

How can I tell if I’m at risk of getting assigned early? For puts, early assignment is unlikely until the option’s expiration is three weeks or less from the current date, so Jim doesn’t start analyzing short puts for assignment risk until the last three weeks. The risk of early assignment becomes significant if the […]… Read More

I got assigned–what do I do now?

I got assigned on the put option that I initially sold. What do I do? What if I don’t have the cash to cover the cost of purchasing 100 shares of the stock? How large is my maximum potential loss? Stock assignment is not usually what we want to happen when trading spreads. But every […]… Read More