OptionSIZZLE's  Instablog

Supervalu Inc (SVU) has been seeing some bullish stock option buyers coming in the last several days with July $3.5 calls seeing interested today. In this video I will cover the activity and my analysis on how you should trade it.

http://www.optionsizzle.com/wheres-the-trade/

Or watch on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A97pMa_fT3E

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in SVU over the next 72 hours.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (AMTD) option trading was 20x the normal 22 day average with over 49,000 calls traded. The volume today shows a bullish bias due to calls being bought. In the video I break down the action and explain how to trade it.

http://www.optionsizzle.com/wheres-the-trade/

Or watch on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2Z4OtqVrM

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in AMTD over the next 72 hours.

Option traders, start your engines … a brand new game starts on March 18, 2013 ready, set, go!!!

For years, the only options contracts available to retail investors were contracts that expired on a monthly or an annual basis.

In 2010, a new type of option was introduced with a weekly expiration date. Every Thursday, new contracts are available that expire in eight days on the following Friday. Traders adept at evaluating time decay can utilize these weekly contracts to their advantage independently or in conjunction with their monthly counterpart. Currently, weekly options are only offered for fewer than 200 companies, but their popularity is growing and the trend is sure to spread.

The latest tease and trading opportunity for individual investors is the mini-option, which will be available next month. The mini-option controls only 10 shares of the underlying versus the traditional ratio of 1 option contract controlling 100 shares of stock or the underlying.

The mini-option will initially be available for only a few highly-traded and high-priced companies, such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and certain ETFs. ETFs include the S&P index (SPY) and gold (GLD).

As interest begins to increase in the mini options, the International Securities Exchange (ISE) will begin to offer them in other underlyings.

Mini-Options Contracts

The new mini-options contracts begin trading on all exchanges in a few weeks on March 18. Demand is expected to be strong. And once again, the playing field is being leveled further between institutional and individual investors. The introduction of these contracts is intended to open the options market to smaller investors who have not traditionally been able to trade in round lots of companies with share prices exceeding $100/share.

Mini-contracts were introduced after surveys of brokerage firms revealed that many traders possess the knowledge and experience necessary to trade options, but lack the account size necessary to participate in the market.

Mini-Options Covered Call Example

Consider an investor who owns shares in Google and wants to write covered calls to earn income by selling premium. It is not even a possibility unless that investor owns one hundred shares of stock which is equal to $80,000 in today's market. With the new mini-options, the investor could own as few as 10 shares, or $8,000 worth, and write a covered call to collect premium on his smaller lot size.

A seasoned trader can and does generate consistent returns using this covered call strategy repeatedly. Mini-options solve the problem for small traders who don't want to tie up money in a hundred shares of just one stock.

Lotto Ticket Trades

A lot of individual investors try to game earning moves on heavily followed names. For those that are bullish on a certain name, they look to purchase call options prior to a company's earning announcement. If the stock moves higher after the earnings release, there can be huge profits in the options. In volatile stocks, like Apple and Google, playing lower priced options versus the higher priced stock can result in tremendous gains in a short period of time.

With mini-contracts, you can take advantage of these type of lotto ticket trades to benefit from those types of price fluctuations without having to risk as much as you would with normal options.

Conclusion

Next month, the new mini-options hit the market so prepare yourself for a big shift in the options market. The playing field just got a lot bigger.

Mini-options allow you to trade with less risk by opening a smaller position than you could with a traditional option contract. It makes it a lot easier to practice proper money management with a smaller position size. In addition, you can diversify by having more positions with smaller capital allocations. No single trade consumes a significant part of your portfolio and thereby, your risk is lowered creating better odds.

The new mini-options will trade just like regular options so be careful when entering your order. Make sure you are trading the correct contract and size or you might find yourself overextended.

Unfortunately, the new mini-options are still subject to the SEC's ridiculous Pattern Day Trader Rules which affect accounts less than $25,000. Be sure you understand the regulations or your account maybe suspended.

Do you think these mini options will be help you finally grow your account and utilize proper risk management?

Let me know your thoughts about these new mini options.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.