A few basic options questions from a beginner

Discussion in 'Options' started by darkshogun, Jul 1, 2013.

  1. I haven't traded live yet. I've been experimenting with strategies for several months on paper trading demo platforms and found one strategy that seems to work for me. The strategy requires multiple options spreads. For example, 3 butterflies. To stand any chance of success, the strategy requires a complete fill on all 3 butterflies at the same time, or at least a partial fill with an exact ratio. Complete fills are highly preferred.

    My questions are:

    1.) Can a trader submit an options order on 3 butterflies on the same order, and submit the entire combined order as an "all or none," requiring that all 3 butterflies must be filled at the same time or not at all?

    2.) If executed, can a trader place a stop loss/trailing stop on the entire sum of the open options positions rather than on each individually, so that all 3 butterflies will be closed when the sum of their profit/loss hits a desired target?

    3.) As a new trader who plans to start out trading very small positions, how can I go about ensuring that I can immediately receive the privilege of selling credit/debit spreads, butterflies, iron condors etc.?

    Thanks for any input you may have on this subject.