Looks like my SSO gambit paid out. I won’t be called as SSO closed slightly under the strike price. I’ll figure out what to do next week. If the rally continues then I’ll sell or write January strikes for additional profit. I will caution that the ETF-Cashinator is kicking out a large number of ETFs for options trading and this has been consistent with wild swings and volatility so be careful out there. Here are this weeks ETF-Cashinator picks.
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For the 12-21-07 table, some of your call list does not appear to be correct. For example: JAN 165 BBH is BBHLM not LHEAM as your table shows. Similar problems with other listings.
The options are straight from the options exchanges and what happens on occasion are dividends, splits or special non-standard options change the underlying symbol.
It is always important to double check. Writing code to filter out these occurrences would be too cumbersome. Here is a link of such examples:
http://www.optionsclearing.com/market/infomemos/2007/dec/23930.pdf
Also, some options are traded quarterly AND monthly so you’ll see two symbols for the same ETF under different option names.
This is very interesting information. I always wondered how capital gains adjustments were handled with options. The next question I have is how would I look up these options for quote. I tried looking up options for the symbols LHEAM, JLPAH, etc. on optionsXpress.com and other sites but they indicate the symbols are invalid. What gives?
Some brokers have strange ways of identifying symbols on other exchanges. For example, to look up quotes on Philadelphia exchange from TDAmeritrade you need to enter $SYMBOL.X instead of just “Symbol”.
Depending on what exchange and broker you’re talking about, the symbols will vary. I usually end up calling my brokerage when I can’t find something from one exchange to another.