Yes, according to the OCC, during 2013 only 7% of option holders exercised their options prior to the expiration date, 20.5% were held and auto-assigned and the rest were closed out prior to expiration.
However, one reason to exercise a call option early is to ensure you capture the dividend. I.e. you would exercise the call prior to the ex-dividend date, take delivery of the stock and get paid the dividend.
With borrow, no, I don't imagine many would go out and "borrow" the money. However, many brokerage accounts will have the capacity for a certain amount of "margin" in them that will allow you to take delivery of stock if your funds are too low. Alternatively, if you needed to borrow stock to sell due to a short call, then as said, your broker will borrow the shares for you automatically and charge you the borrow rate.
For retail brokers in UK...I'm not sure to be honest. But I do think you should check out Interactive Brokers - you can choose what currency your account is in i.e. GBP and only trade UK if you prefer. The forms, yes, are tedious to fill out - but their market coverage is excellent and their platform is free and full of great functionality.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
GBJanuary 6th, 2015 at 9:57pm
Hi Peter
Thanks for your speedy reply regarding puts.
Am I right in thinking most holders of options want to avoid exercising options due to the extra potential costs and risk associated with holding the actual share? Also I believe writers of put options do not want exercised options (assignment) for the same reason. (Or do they hold the shares they are writing the option on anyway?). Sorry, I am really at the beginning stage.
It seems then, apart from selling the option in time, and expiry out of the money - the other choices are only exercising.
In your opinion do many people exercise and actually borrow the shares? I cannot imagine many do? I think most traders must sell or expire out of the money?
With regard to a Broker - I am desperately looking for an easy to use online platform. I am UK based and am having trouble finding a platform that is conventionally laid out and deals with individual company equity options from all countries. (Most here seem only to list indices or commodity options). The US platforms are great but I am reluctant to sign up for a US based platform given the complexities of signing up and revenue forms for non US residents.
If you know of a good UK based platform please suggest it (prefereably cheap to use or free).
Thanks for your continued help.
PeterJanuary 6th, 2015 at 4:50am
Hi GB,
Yes, you are correct on 1 and 2.
If the option is in-the-money at expiration the option will be automatically exercised. In the case of a long put, your broker will borrow the shares on your behalf, which will then be sold to the option seller at the strike price.
You will be charged interest on the stock, which is called "stock borrow".
For exercising options, the broker I use (Interactive Brokers) has this available via the main menu;
What broker are you using? You might want to check with them if a similar feature is available in the platform that they provide you.
GBJanuary 5th, 2015 at 7:16pm
Hello Peter
Great Q and A section.
I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction? I am new to options trading and am interested in 'Put' options at the moment. The part I cannot quite work out is what happens on trading out of options deals. This information does not seem available in simple form anywhere?
For example, in a given put option in the money, I as the option buyer (not the writer), has the choice of:
1 Selling the put back to the market before the expiry date - If GEC shares are currently 18.95 and the strike price is 20 then I could immediately sell my option back to the options market for a profit of 1.05 x100 = 105. (I know it would not sell for exactly 20 because the new buyer would offer slightly less).
2 Exercise the option - I could Invoke the right to sell the underlying 100 shares at 20. This would mean I would go to the market now and buy 100 shares at 18.95 and then sell them to the option writer (he has agreed to buy them) for 20 each. making a profit of 1.05 per share and 105 overall.
3 Expiry - I know if you expire out of the money that is the end of matters (I would lose my premium) What happens if you expire in the money?
Are the above correct?
Finally, in scenario 2 above, how does this actually work? Do I actually have to buy the shares and deliver them to the option writer? Or does the broker handle all this? I note on many of the platforms where dealing is without a hands on broker there seems to be no facility for excercising options (or expiry). There seems to be only an ability to buy and sell options. Is this normal?
PeterDecember 7th, 2014 at 5:49pm
Hi Irfan,
I don't know of any plugins for Ninja Trader that calculates option theoreticals. But, you could take a look at OptionVue - it isn't free, but it does have a free trial.
Alternatively, many brokers will provide you with a trading interface that inculdes option functionality. I use Interactive Brokers and I also hear that Think or Swim has great option functionality too. Both of these brokers provide paper trading capabilities too.
irfanDecember 6th, 2014 at 2:15am
hi , i am new to options i downloaded ninja trader platform for trading in options as demo user from where i get greeks in detail like individual and portfolio greeks, analysis of portfolio p&l , calculate implied volatility real time etc can you recommend any software for these calculation and attatch with ninja trader for real time analysis so i can practice it .
VAApril 11th, 2014 at 10:09am
Mailed you the modified file - please check & let me know if you still have issues.
Thanks, VA
PeterApril 9th, 2014 at 11:05pm
Oh that'd be great, thanks! Just send it to admin at this domain. I'll make it avaialble for others to download on the site if that's ok with you?
VAApril 9th, 2014 at 9:47am
Peter,
This is what I did to make it work. With such a qualification, only the relevant macro part is validated on the machine. Tried it on different OS/Office combinations & it seems to work on all of them. Do let me know, if you would prefer that i send it to you. I can contact you via your webpage > contact > email.. if you prefer.
Cheers, VA ---------------------------------- Code (Sample) Approach Below ---------------------------- #If VBA7 Then
Public Declare PtrSafe Function URLDownloadToFile... Public Declare PtrSafe Function GetTempFileName ... Public Declare PtrSafe Function GetTempPath ...
#Else `````````````` Public Declare Function URLDownloadToFile Public Declare Function GetTempFileName Public Declare Function GetTempPath #End If
PeterApril 9th, 2014 at 7:43am
Hi VA,
Does it compile ok for you? When I add the PtrSafe attribute the VBA code won't compile - says "Expected: Sub or Function".
I've tried on XP 32 bit and Windows 7 64 bit.
PeterApril 8th, 2014 at 6:59am
Hi VA, many thanks for looking into this, really appreciate it! I'll have a go at the changes you suggest and make sure it works on a 32bit machine too.
Let me know if you find any other issues.
VAApril 7th, 2014 at 10:48am
The change to be made is in module mdlWin32API - a PtrSafe keyword needs to be added between every Declare Function declaration. Example:
Before Change: Declare Function After Change: Declare PtrSafe Function
This is required for 64-bit Systems per Microsoft - Link - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg251723%28v=office.15%29.aspx
I will test during the week for any other issues & update if any. Perhaps, you can make it conditional to adapt it to 32-bit or 64-bit upon invocation automatically.
Please let me know if you would like me to email you a modified version of the file.
Would you mind doing the debug compile on your machine please?
VAApril 4th, 2014 at 6:30pm
Recommendation is to 'Unprotect' the VBProject and do a Debug > Compile ... I believe the Macro is protected .. hence cannot debug! Thanks
VAApril 4th, 2014 at 6:26pm
Tried out the recommendation, but still get the same error. Please allow me to add more detail to the error received:
Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API: This error commonly occurs when code is incompatible with the version platform or architecture of this application. Click "Help" for information on how to correct this error.
"Help" takes you to the Excel website ...
PeterApril 2nd, 2014 at 11:09pm
Mmm, I don't have Windows 8 to test myself - would you mind checking a solution proposed here;
Any suggestions or overcome this error the error in the volatility spreadsheet - ' Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API error'. Thanks for your help.
VAApril 1st, 2014 at 8:47pm
The 'Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API error' when opening file in Office 2013 on Windows 8.1 occurs in the volatility spreadsheet. Thx
VAApril 1st, 2014 at 8:34pm
This in the volatility spreadsheet. Per this link http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-excel/compile-error-in-hidden-module-win32api-windows-8/7507d274-8a46-4583-a8de-d7e12ac712ed, the issue seems to be related to API declarations made in a 32 bit but bein invoked in 64 bit (Windows 8.1) . Thanks for your help.
PeterApril 1st, 2014 at 12:35am
Is this the pricing or volatility spreadsheet?
VAApril 1st, 2014 at 12:02am
Getting 'Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API error' when opening file in Office 2013 on Windows 8.1 - can this be corrected? Thx
PeterFebruary 27th, 2014 at 4:15am
Hi Mary,
No, I've not seen this error before. What version of Office/Mac are you using? Do other Macro enabled spreadsheets work for you?
MaryFebruary 26th, 2014 at 4:32pm
Hi - I'm trying to use the volatility calculated on a Mac. I've received the error "File not Found: Kernel32" Are you familiar with this? Any way I can get around it? Thanks!
PeterFebruary 11th, 2014 at 3:34am
Hi Arun, the Historical Volatility spreadsheet is used to download prices from Yahoo and then calculate the volatility of the stock.
What is the underlying stock of your options?
ArunFebruary 6th, 2014 at 9:54am
how do i use your historical volotality calculator if i have employee stock option granted with 25% vest on the grant date, 25% on the first anniversay, 25% on the second anniversary and the last 25% on the third anniversary. Options are exercisable within 5 years from the grant date
PeterDecember 3rd, 2013 at 2:58am
Hi Upendra Shah,
3 - 5% per annum is not a very good return - a buy and hold would most likely do better ;-) Do you mean per month?
AnonymousDecember 3rd, 2013 at 2:56am
Thanks Vaibhav!
If you're building a Historical Calculator, make sure you check out my spreadsheet;
You might be able to use what I have created as a starting point for yours.
Let me know how you go.
VaibhavNovember 21st, 2013 at 5:03am
Hi Peter,
Thanks for doing a gr8 job by providing Option Trading Workbook to users like me. I am trying to create a volatility calculator so that it can reflect IV based on desired price and it will help in making trading decisions and triggers for strategies.
Vaibhav
upendra shahOctober 29th, 2013 at 7:39am
Sir,
I know one fellow who is earning not less than 8% per month in option market for last eight years.
He is offering me 3% per month irrespective whether he earned or not.
Can you suggest stategy for making proftis upto 3-5% per annum?
Upendra Shah
PeterFebruary 11th, 2013 at 3:16pm
Hi RB,
I only have experience with Interactive Brokers - but they are great and I recommend them to anyone.
I would prefer to trade European options as it removes the risk of being assigned a position when short but many attractive assets (i.e. US stock options) only list American styled options.
RBFebruary 11th, 2013 at 8:03am
Do you recommend any brokers and whether it is better to trade European v American options
MLD comes with inbuilt symbol lists for all markets and will download historical data for all symbols from Yahoo!.
MatthewJanuary 11th, 2013 at 3:38pm
Hi Peter,
I wish to download a lot of historical data from yahoo! - around 5,000 different stocks across different countries, and for about 2 years worth of data for each stock.
I wish to do it in a format similar to what you have done with your historical data i.e. a separate text file for each different stock.
Can you recommend a time efficient way / method to do this?
Due to the sheer number of stocks that I am downloading, doing them one by one is a method I would prefer to avoid!
Kind Regards Matthew
NitishDecember 27th, 2012 at 8:54am
I am new here. what does BTO and STO mean and what is the definition of a short call? Can you give an example?
PeterSeptember 5th, 2012 at 6:31pm
Hi Eli,
Are you running a non-English version of Windows/Excel? This was the problem Oswald had - he was on a Chinese version. For some reason the symbol sent when using the Macros appends or changes the data and characters sent. We didn't get to the bottom of it as Oswald switched to an English version and it worked.
I'm not sure what it could be at this point. I'd need to re-write the Macro to enable logging and have a user on a non-English version run it in order to investigate. Unless there is a setting somewhere that you know of that could be causing data to be amended before sending?
EliSeptember 5th, 2012 at 10:01am
Good day: seem to be having a similar issue to Peter - extracting data, error message comes back saying cannot find symbol.
AAPL, HAL, XOM
Thanks Eli
PeterAugust 31st, 2012 at 10:49pm
Hi Oswald,
Does the symbol have historical data on the Yahoo site or only latest quotes? What is the symbol?
OswaldAugust 31st, 2012 at 4:58am
I am having trouble trying out your volatility calculator. It returns a warning saying "symbol invalid". Kindly help, thanks!
PeterApril 9th, 2012 at 5:55pm
Hi DoSSlar$,
1. To roll your long position to the next expiration you would need to sell to close your front month position and buy to open the back month. The cost will be brokerage on both sides.
2. Sell to close only. You will no longer have a position and cannot profit from any future market movements.
3. If you exercise you will need enough capital to handle the assignment of the stock, which will be quite high given APPL's current share price!
DoSSlar$April 4th, 2012 at 9:58pm
Peter, Thank you for your education, i had mentioned in my earlier post that i have few more options like Carole, for May and June and feel that AAPL will have a very good reporting season and probability yo potential to upside out weighs the down side. As you mentioned to Carole, we have three options. 1.Rollover the say May Call to next month (ie expiring in June), can you please explain in simple terms what are my cost of doing that and what happens from to the existing option I hold for May.? 2. Close out. 3. Exercise the Option (Buy the underlying).
I am more interested in understanding the Option-1.
Sir....Can you give me VBA COde of data download through Yahoo ???
PeterMarch 26th, 2012 at 7:45pm
Hi Carole,
It all depends on your opinion of AAPL - if you're view is that there a lot more upside, then rolling your long call into a higher strike seems a fair play. However, if you're happy with the gains so far and unsure of future price direction then best to exit completely and look for the next trading opportunity.
PeterMarch 26th, 2012 at 7:40pm
Hi Matt,
I'm not 100% sure on that one, but seems sensible to use the floating price as the basis for your hedge.
caroleMarch 16th, 2012 at 12:34am
Hi Peter I have a few Apple options that are well in the money expire April and May. Assuming Apple goes extremely high in the next few days, woudl you suggest holding them on selling on the spike and rebuying at a higher strike?
MattMarch 15th, 2012 at 9:06am
Hi Peter,
I'm buying monthly fuel oil contracts based on a floating index. Unless i hedge through purchasing swaps for the monthly index (which price basis average of the month) i will only know the settlement price of my contract at the end of the month.
I would like to work with options on my contrats. When taking into account some of your strategies e.g. long synthetic, do i consider my floating price contracts as being long an "underlying" or will the options i trade in be purely independent paper trasnactions? Im particularly interested in a zero-cost collar which i can not see listed here.
Thank you.
PeterFebruary 14th, 2012 at 4:07pm
No worries. Just to note though that I do get the data from Yahoo! except I back adjust all prices (open, high, low and close) by the dividends/splits and don't limit the rounding to two decimal places.
For longer data this makes a big difference.
BillFebruary 13th, 2012 at 5:32am
Thanks for the historical data on the US exchanges. Your data is "cleaner" than Google or Yahoo, which helps me to test my ideas rather than spending most of my time chasing anomalies in the the data.
PeterFebruary 2nd, 2012 at 5:35pm
I don't know of any standalone software that does this on a Mac - but you're welcome to use my spreadsheet for graphing option positions;
Does anyone of you know a bout a software which can show the option trade in graphics? If it is a Mac Software even better.
I would not mind to enter the values, but if it works with actual quotes even better
Joe
PeterSeptember 8th, 2011 at 5:59pm
Hi Tim,
BTO and STO are terms used within some online trading platforms to describe the type of order placed. BTO = Buy to Open and STO = Sell to Open.
Open means a new position as opposed to BTC, which is Buy to Close. A BTC is used when placing a buy order for an amount that offsets a previously opened sell (or short) position.
A short call is where you have sold a call option without first owning it and hence your position is short. Read the page on short call option for more.
TimSeptember 8th, 2011 at 5:48pm
Peter I am new here. what does BTO and STO mean and what is the definiton of a short call? Can you give an example?
PeterApril 13th, 2011 at 12:42am
It depends on what market you want to trade. You might want to check out VOptions [link removed as the product no longer exists] - you can download data for all US option markets.
Once the data is loaded you can analyze different strategies and then paper trade each position.
ElbowApril 12th, 2011 at 8:28am
Peter, I'm at the point now that I want to test theories and practice trading. What is the best avenue to do paper trades? I've not got an account with a broker, so I'm not sure how to best get price data. Is there a way to get price data in bulk without an account? Thanks.
PeterFebruary 15th, 2011 at 2:47am
Hi Young, the format is;
Date, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume
YoungFebruary 15th, 2011 at 12:29am
Borrowed your historical S&P 100. I can guess at the format, except the last column: Open, low,high,close, something?
If I'm close, good enough, is it simply research on statistical methods. If you want, email the right format: (email removed)
PeterOctober 31st, 2010 at 3:47am
Hi Alan, yes, you can buy the March 2011 call options at the lower strike price, no problem. $995 is correct.
You cannot sell the options for a profit AND take ownership of the shares.
If you sell the options for a profit then you forfeight your right to "exercise" the options to take ownership.
You can exercise the options, take ownership and then sell the shares that you just took delivery off to realize the profit - or just hold the shares.
AlanOctober 30th, 2010 at 3:08pm
Hi Peter: I'm new to options and appreciate your thoughts
I would like to buy a call option for Co. ABC - present share price is $57.00 Can I buy a long call option for a mid March 2011 expiry at a lower strike price at $50.00? the cost to purchase would be $9.95 ea contract so I presume 1 x $995.00 + comms is my cost.
my Q is if the share prIce beteen now and March 2011 rises i can sell at a profit and take ownership of the 100 shares and sell at a profit however if the share price tanks below $50.00 i let the option expire and walk away? so my loss is limited to $995.00 + comms?
PeterJanuary 7th, 2015 at 12:22am
Hi GB,
Yes, according to the OCC, during 2013 only 7% of option holders exercised their options prior to the expiration date, 20.5% were held and auto-assigned and the rest were closed out prior to expiration.
However, one reason to exercise a call option early is to ensure you capture the dividend. I.e. you would exercise the call prior to the ex-dividend date, take delivery of the stock and get paid the dividend.
With borrow, no, I don't imagine many would go out and "borrow" the money. However, many brokerage accounts will have the capacity for a certain amount of "margin" in them that will allow you to take delivery of stock if your funds are too low. Alternatively, if you needed to borrow stock to sell due to a short call, then as said, your broker will borrow the shares for you automatically and charge you the borrow rate.
For retail brokers in UK...I'm not sure to be honest. But I do think you should check out Interactive Brokers - you can choose what currency your account is in i.e. GBP and only trade UK if you prefer. The forms, yes, are tedious to fill out - but their market coverage is excellent and their platform is free and full of great functionality.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
GBJanuary 6th, 2015 at 9:57pm
Hi Peter
Thanks for your speedy reply regarding puts.
Am I right in thinking most holders of options want to avoid exercising options due to the extra potential costs and risk associated with holding the actual share? Also I believe writers of put options do not want exercised options (assignment) for the same reason. (Or do they hold the shares they are writing the option on anyway?). Sorry, I am really at the beginning stage.
It seems then, apart from selling the option in time, and expiry out of the money - the other choices are only exercising.
In your opinion do many people exercise and actually borrow the shares? I cannot imagine many do? I think most traders must sell or expire out of the money?
With regard to a Broker - I am desperately looking for an easy to use online platform. I am UK based and am having trouble finding a platform that is conventionally laid out and deals with individual company equity options from all countries. (Most here seem only to list indices or commodity options). The US platforms are great but I am reluctant to sign up for a US based platform given the complexities of signing up and revenue forms for non US residents.
If you know of a good UK based platform please suggest it (prefereably cheap to use or free).
Thanks for your continued help.
PeterJanuary 6th, 2015 at 4:50am
Hi GB,
Yes, you are correct on 1 and 2.
If the option is in-the-money at expiration the option will be automatically exercised. In the case of a long put, your broker will borrow the shares on your behalf, which will then be sold to the option seller at the strike price.
You will be charged interest on the stock, which is called "stock borrow".
For exercising options, the broker I use (Interactive Brokers) has this available via the main menu;
What broker are you using? You might want to check with them if a similar feature is available in the platform that they provide you.
GBJanuary 5th, 2015 at 7:16pm
Hello Peter
Great Q and A section.
I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction? I am new to options trading and am interested in 'Put' options at the moment. The part I cannot quite work out is what happens on trading out of options deals. This information does not seem available in simple form anywhere?
For example, in a given put option in the money, I as the option buyer (not the writer), has the choice of:
1
Selling the put back to the market before the expiry date - If GEC shares are currently 18.95 and the strike price is 20 then I could immediately sell my option back to the options market for a profit of 1.05 x100 = 105. (I know it would not sell for exactly 20 because the new buyer would offer slightly less).
2
Exercise the option - I could Invoke the right to sell the underlying 100 shares at 20. This would mean I would go to the market now and buy 100 shares at 18.95 and then sell them to the option writer (he has agreed to buy them) for 20 each.
making a profit of 1.05 per share and 105 overall.
3
Expiry - I know if you expire out of the money that is the end of matters (I would lose my premium) What happens if you expire in the money?
Are the above correct?
Finally, in scenario 2 above, how does this actually work? Do I actually have to buy the shares and deliver them to the option writer? Or does the broker handle all this? I note on many of the platforms where dealing is without a hands on broker there seems to be no facility for excercising options (or expiry). There seems to be only an ability to buy and sell options. Is this normal?
PeterDecember 7th, 2014 at 5:49pm
Hi Irfan,
I don't know of any plugins for Ninja Trader that calculates option theoreticals. But, you could take a look at OptionVue - it isn't free, but it does have a free trial.
Alternatively, many brokers will provide you with a trading interface that inculdes option functionality. I use Interactive Brokers and I also hear that Think or Swim has great option functionality too. Both of these brokers provide paper trading capabilities too.
irfanDecember 6th, 2014 at 2:15am
hi ,
i am new to options i downloaded ninja trader platform for trading in options as demo user from where i get greeks in detail like individual and portfolio greeks, analysis of portfolio p&l , calculate implied volatility real time etc can you recommend any software for these calculation and attatch with ninja trader for real time analysis so i can practice it .
VAApril 11th, 2014 at 10:09am
Mailed you the modified file - please check & let me know if you still have issues.
Thanks, VA
PeterApril 9th, 2014 at 11:05pm
Oh that'd be great, thanks! Just send it to admin at this domain. I'll make it avaialble for others to download on the site if that's ok with you?
VAApril 9th, 2014 at 9:47am
Peter,
This is what I did to make it work. With such a qualification, only the relevant macro part is validated on the machine. Tried it on different OS/Office combinations & it seems to work on all of them. Do let me know, if you would prefer that i send it to you. I can contact you via your webpage > contact > email.. if you prefer.
Cheers,
VA
---------------------------------- Code (Sample) Approach Below ----------------------------
#If VBA7 Then
Public Declare PtrSafe Function URLDownloadToFile...
Public Declare PtrSafe Function GetTempFileName ...
Public Declare PtrSafe Function GetTempPath ...
#Else
``````````````
Public Declare Function URLDownloadToFile
Public Declare Function GetTempFileName
Public Declare Function GetTempPath
#End If
PeterApril 9th, 2014 at 7:43am
Hi VA,
Does it compile ok for you? When I add the PtrSafe attribute the VBA code won't compile - says "Expected: Sub or Function".
I've tried on XP 32 bit and Windows 7 64 bit.
PeterApril 8th, 2014 at 6:59am
Hi VA, many thanks for looking into this, really appreciate it! I'll have a go at the changes you suggest and make sure it works on a 32bit machine too.
Let me know if you find any other issues.
VAApril 7th, 2014 at 10:48am
The change to be made is in module mdlWin32API - a PtrSafe keyword needs to be added between every Declare Function declaration. Example:
Before Change: Declare Function
After Change: Declare PtrSafe Function
This is required for 64-bit Systems per Microsoft - Link - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg251723%28v=office.15%29.aspx
I will test during the week for any other issues & update if any. Perhaps, you can make it conditional to adapt it to 32-bit or 64-bit upon invocation automatically.
Please let me know if you would like me to email you a modified version of the file.
Many thanks for your help.
PeterApril 7th, 2014 at 6:48am
Oh right, here is the unlocked version;
Historical Volatility No Password
Would you mind doing the debug compile on your machine please?
VAApril 4th, 2014 at 6:30pm
Recommendation is to 'Unprotect' the VBProject and do a Debug > Compile ...
I believe the Macro is protected .. hence cannot debug! Thanks
VAApril 4th, 2014 at 6:26pm
Tried out the recommendation, but still get the same error. Please allow me to add more detail to the error received:
Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API: This error commonly occurs when code is incompatible with the version platform or architecture of this application. Click "Help" for information on how to correct this error.
"Help" takes you to the Excel website ...
PeterApril 2nd, 2014 at 11:09pm
Mmm, I don't have Windows 8 to test myself - would you mind checking a solution proposed here;
Compile error in hidden module.
VAApril 2nd, 2014 at 9:43pm
Any suggestions or overcome this error the error in the volatility spreadsheet - ' Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API error'. Thanks for your help.
VAApril 1st, 2014 at 8:47pm
The 'Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API error' when opening file in Office 2013 on Windows 8.1 occurs in the volatility spreadsheet. Thx
VAApril 1st, 2014 at 8:34pm
This in the volatility spreadsheet. Per this link http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-excel/compile-error-in-hidden-module-win32api-windows-8/7507d274-8a46-4583-a8de-d7e12ac712ed, the issue seems to be related to API declarations made in a 32 bit but bein invoked in 64 bit (Windows 8.1) . Thanks for your help.
PeterApril 1st, 2014 at 12:35am
Is this the pricing or volatility spreadsheet?
VAApril 1st, 2014 at 12:02am
Getting 'Compile error in hidden module: mdlWin32API error' when opening file in Office 2013 on Windows 8.1 - can this be corrected? Thx
PeterFebruary 27th, 2014 at 4:15am
Hi Mary,
No, I've not seen this error before. What version of Office/Mac are you using? Do other Macro enabled spreadsheets work for you?
MaryFebruary 26th, 2014 at 4:32pm
Hi - I'm trying to use the volatility calculated on a Mac. I've received the error "File not Found: Kernel32" Are you familiar with this? Any way I can get around it?
Thanks!
PeterFebruary 11th, 2014 at 3:34am
Hi Arun, the Historical Volatility spreadsheet is used to download prices from Yahoo and then calculate the volatility of the stock.
What is the underlying stock of your options?
ArunFebruary 6th, 2014 at 9:54am
how do i use your historical volotality calculator if i have employee stock option granted with 25% vest on the grant date, 25% on the first anniversay, 25% on the second anniversary and the last 25% on the third anniversary. Options are exercisable within 5 years from the grant date
PeterDecember 3rd, 2013 at 2:58am
Hi Upendra Shah,
3 - 5% per annum is not a very good return - a buy and hold would most likely do better ;-) Do you mean per month?
AnonymousDecember 3rd, 2013 at 2:56am
Thanks Vaibhav!
If you're building a Historical Calculator, make sure you check out my spreadsheet;
Historical Volatility Calculator
You might be able to use what I have created as a starting point for yours.
Let me know how you go.
VaibhavNovember 21st, 2013 at 5:03am
Hi Peter,
Thanks for doing a gr8 job by providing Option Trading Workbook to users like me.
I am trying to create a volatility calculator so that it can reflect IV based on desired price and it will help in making trading decisions and triggers for strategies.
Vaibhav
upendra shahOctober 29th, 2013 at 7:39am
Sir,
I know one fellow who is earning not less than 8% per month in option market for last eight years.
He is offering me 3% per month irrespective whether he earned or not.
Can you suggest stategy for making proftis upto 3-5% per annum?
Upendra Shah
PeterFebruary 11th, 2013 at 3:16pm
Hi RB,
I only have experience with Interactive Brokers - but they are great and I recommend them to anyone.
I would prefer to trade European options as it removes the risk of being assigned a position when short but many attractive assets (i.e. US stock options) only list American styled options.
RBFebruary 11th, 2013 at 8:03am
Do you recommend any brokers and whether it is better to trade European v American options
PeterJanuary 11th, 2013 at 3:47pm
Hi Matthew,
;
I use ML Downloader
MLD comes with inbuilt symbol lists for all markets and will download historical data for all symbols from Yahoo!.
MatthewJanuary 11th, 2013 at 3:38pm
Hi Peter,
I wish to download a lot of historical data from yahoo! - around 5,000 different stocks across different countries, and for about 2 years worth of data for each stock.
I wish to do it in a format similar to what you have done with your historical data i.e. a separate text file for each different stock.
Can you recommend a time efficient way / method to do this?
Due to the sheer number of stocks that I am downloading, doing them one by one is a method I would prefer to avoid!
Kind Regards
Matthew
NitishDecember 27th, 2012 at 8:54am
I am new here. what does BTO and STO mean and what is the definition of a short call? Can you give an example?
PeterSeptember 5th, 2012 at 6:31pm
Hi Eli,
Are you running a non-English version of Windows/Excel? This was the problem Oswald had - he was on a Chinese version. For some reason the symbol sent when using the Macros appends or changes the data and characters sent. We didn't get to the bottom of it as Oswald switched to an English version and it worked.
I'm not sure what it could be at this point. I'd need to re-write the Macro to enable logging and have a user on a non-English version run it in order to investigate. Unless there is a setting somewhere that you know of that could be causing data to be amended before sending?
EliSeptember 5th, 2012 at 10:01am
Good day: seem to be having a similar issue to Peter - extracting data, error message comes back saying cannot find symbol.
AAPL, HAL, XOM
Thanks
Eli
PeterAugust 31st, 2012 at 10:49pm
Hi Oswald,
Does the symbol have historical data on the Yahoo site or only latest quotes? What is the symbol?
OswaldAugust 31st, 2012 at 4:58am
I am having trouble trying out your volatility calculator. It returns a warning saying "symbol invalid". Kindly help, thanks!
PeterApril 9th, 2012 at 5:55pm
Hi DoSSlar$,
1. To roll your long position to the next expiration you would need to sell to close your front month position and buy to open the back month. The cost will be brokerage on both sides.
2. Sell to close only. You will no longer have a position and cannot profit from any future market movements.
3. If you exercise you will need enough capital to handle the assignment of the stock, which will be quite high given APPL's current share price!
DoSSlar$April 4th, 2012 at 9:58pm
Peter, Thank you for your education, i had mentioned in my earlier post that i have few more options like Carole, for May and June and feel that AAPL will have a very good reporting season and probability yo potential to upside out weighs the down side. As you mentioned to Carole, we have three options.
1.Rollover the say May Call to next month (ie expiring in June), can you please explain in simple terms what are my cost of doing that and what happens from to the existing option I hold for May.?
2. Close out.
3. Exercise the Option (Buy the underlying).
I am more interested in understanding the Option-1.
PeterMarch 27th, 2012 at 5:01pm
Hi Vivek,
See Willow Solutions for the VBA code to do this.
VivekMarch 27th, 2012 at 4:00am
Sir....Can you give me VBA COde of data download through Yahoo ???
PeterMarch 26th, 2012 at 7:45pm
Hi Carole,
It all depends on your opinion of AAPL - if you're view is that there a lot more upside, then rolling your long call into a higher strike seems a fair play. However, if you're happy with the gains so far and unsure of future price direction then best to exit completely and look for the next trading opportunity.
PeterMarch 26th, 2012 at 7:40pm
Hi Matt,
I'm not 100% sure on that one, but seems sensible to use the floating price as the basis for your hedge.
caroleMarch 16th, 2012 at 12:34am
Hi Peter
I have a few Apple options that are well in the money expire April and May. Assuming Apple goes extremely high in the next few days, woudl you suggest holding them on selling on the spike and rebuying at a higher strike?
MattMarch 15th, 2012 at 9:06am
Hi Peter,
I'm buying monthly fuel oil contracts based on a floating index. Unless i hedge through purchasing swaps for the monthly index (which price basis average of the month) i will only know the settlement price of my contract at the end of the month.
I would like to work with options on my contrats. When taking into account some of your strategies e.g. long synthetic, do i consider my floating price contracts as being long an "underlying" or will the options i trade in be purely independent paper trasnactions? Im particularly interested in a zero-cost collar which i can not see listed here.
Thank you.
PeterFebruary 14th, 2012 at 4:07pm
No worries. Just to note though that I do get the data from Yahoo! except I back adjust all prices (open, high, low and close) by the dividends/splits and don't limit the rounding to two decimal places.
For longer data this makes a big difference.
BillFebruary 13th, 2012 at 5:32am
Thanks for the historical data on the US exchanges. Your data is "cleaner" than Google or Yahoo, which helps me to test my ideas rather than spending most of my time chasing anomalies in the the data.
PeterFebruary 2nd, 2012 at 5:35pm
I don't know of any standalone software that does this on a Mac - but you're welcome to use my spreadsheet for graphing option positions;
Option Trading Workbook
Alternatively, you can view an online version here;
Online Option Calculator
JoeFebruary 2nd, 2012 at 9:30am
Hi from Germany,
thank you for this great site!!!!
Does anyone of you know a bout a software which can show the option trade in graphics? If it is a Mac Software even better.
I would not mind to enter the values, but if it works with actual quotes even better
Joe
PeterSeptember 8th, 2011 at 5:59pm
Hi Tim,
BTO and STO are terms used within some online trading platforms to describe the type of order placed. BTO = Buy to Open and STO = Sell to Open.
Open means a new position as opposed to BTC, which is Buy to Close. A BTC is used when placing a buy order for an amount that offsets a previously opened sell (or short) position.
A short call is where you have sold a call option without first owning it and hence your position is short. Read the page on short call option for more.
TimSeptember 8th, 2011 at 5:48pm
Peter
I am new here. what does BTO and STO mean and what is the definiton of a short call? Can you give an example?
PeterApril 13th, 2011 at 12:42am
It depends on what market you want to trade. You might want to check out VOptions [link removed as the product no longer exists] - you can download data for all US option markets. Once the data is loaded you can analyze different strategies and then paper trade each position.
ElbowApril 12th, 2011 at 8:28am
Peter,
I'm at the point now that I want to test theories and practice trading. What is the best avenue to do paper trades? I've not got an account with a broker, so I'm not sure how to best get price data. Is there a way to get price data in bulk without an account?
Thanks.
PeterFebruary 15th, 2011 at 2:47am
Hi Young, the format is;
Date, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume
YoungFebruary 15th, 2011 at 12:29am
Borrowed your historical S&P 100. I can guess at the format, except the last column:
Open, low,high,close, something?
If I'm close, good enough, is it simply research on statistical methods. If you want, email the right format:
(email removed)
PeterOctober 31st, 2010 at 3:47am
Hi Alan, yes, you can buy the March 2011 call options at the lower strike price, no problem. $995 is correct.
You cannot sell the options for a profit AND take ownership of the shares.
If you sell the options for a profit then you forfeight your right to "exercise" the options to take ownership.
You can exercise the options, take ownership and then sell the shares that you just took delivery off to realize the profit - or just hold the shares.
AlanOctober 30th, 2010 at 3:08pm
Hi Peter:
I'm new to options and appreciate your thoughts
I would like to buy a call option for Co. ABC - present share price is $57.00 Can I buy a long call option for a mid March 2011 expiry at a lower strike price at $50.00?
the cost to purchase would be $9.95 ea contract so I presume 1 x $995.00 + comms is my cost.
my Q is if the share prIce beteen now and March 2011 rises i can sell at a profit and take ownership of the 100 shares and sell at a profit however if the share price tanks below $50.00 i let the option expire and walk away? so my loss is limited to $995.00 + comms?
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