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  • Book
  • © 2018

Options Installment Strategies

Long-Term Spreads for Profiting from Time Decay

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides practical guidance for specific trading strategies aimed at combinations of conservative approaches with long-term risk hedging
  • Identifies the strength or weakness of price patterns and trends using proximity in two ways
  • Outlines a detailed analysis of the market in the first week of February 2018 as a case study

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
  2. Chart-Based Trade Timing

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 1-14
  3. Proximity and Risk

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 15-29
  4. Picking the Right Stock

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 31-47
  5. Timing with Well-Selected Technical Signals

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 49-65
  6. Long-Term Market Risk Elimination

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 67-79
  7. Long-Term Contingent Purchase

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 81-92
  8. Short Options and Levels of Risk

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 93-105
  9. Alternative Offsets Beyond Short Calls or Short Puts

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 107-121
  10. Combining the Short Offset Alternatives

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 123-137
  11. Expanding the Strategies

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 139-154
  12. Managing Potential Losses

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 155-165
  13. Recovery Strategies

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 167-173
  14. The Flexibility of Options Hedging

    • Michael C. Thomsett
    Pages 175-181
  15. Back Matter

    Pages 183-192

About this book

An “installment strategy” in its most basic form, combines two options, one long-term position and one short-term. This strategy is designed as a conservative, no-cost method to either eliminate risk for future trading when stock is owned; or to fix the price for a future purchase of the underlying security.

Portfolio managers and experienced individual traders face a chronic problem – risk versus time. This goes beyond the well-known time decay of options and expands to the ever-present market risk to an underlying security. How do you execute a successful, conservative strategy and eliminate or reduce market risk?

In this book, a range of effective and creative strategies set out a conservative hedging system.  This involves the combination of long-term long positions offset by short-term short positions in various configurations. Options Installment Strategies presents variations on the well-known calendar spread and demonstrates how specific strategieswork well in short-term swings and even during extended periods of consolidation.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Spring Hill, TN, USA

    Michael C. Thomsett

About the author

Michael C. Thomsett has been writing for a living since 1978 and has published more than 90 books. These include 12 options books. His best-selling Getting Started in Options has been published in ten editions and sold more than 300,000 copies. The 10th edition has been renamed Options (The Essential Guide for Getting Started in Derivatives Trading).  He also has developed and presented options webinars, and operates a financial education website, Money Craft. Thomsett is a frequent speaker at trade shows and investment conventions. He blogs on Seeking Alpha, Options Money Maker, Steady Options and other social media.


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Options Installment Strategies

  • Book Subtitle: Long-Term Spreads for Profiting from Time Decay

  • Authors: Michael C. Thomsett

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99864-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-99863-3Published: 03 January 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40420-8Published: 20 February 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-99864-0Published: 18 December 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 192

  • Number of Illustrations: 40 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Investments and Securities, Risk Management

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access