Good questions. Since I don't want to risk more than 30 dollars a trade, it seems options less than 3 dollars are suitable for my stop loss range, which is a bit on the tight side. Around the three dollar range I can buy one call or put. I've been buying deltas just over .50, usually one in the money, but I haven't experimented much with other deltas so I'm not sure if a cheaper option with a lower delta would be okay or not. I'm usually in trades for a few minutes to half an hour so time decay isn't really a factor.
Sure looks like you have your ducks in a row. Are you having any luck finding, or getting feedback for situations that fit the bill? It seems like there'd be a screener that would filter down to good candidates. If anyone knows of any, post 'em up, please. meanwhile here's this search: options screener https://yippy.com/search?query=options+screener https://yippy.com/search?query=options+scanner
If you are day trading equity options with an account under $25,000 you will probably run into a significant problem with the pattern day trader rule. You are only allowed 3 day trades in a 5 da period. Maybe i'm missing somethin with what you're trying or maybe you're trading outside the States. But if you plan on day trading one lots of puts and calls I believe you will be limited by what you can do.
Vince, stocks with higher levels of volatility have options that are "richer" (more expensive). You probably should look at stocks that currently have very low levels of volatility, and pick up otm straddles on the "cheap".
Margin accounts under 25k are limited by the PDT rule and I don't plan on putting that much money into an account. I'm starting small and slowly growing. I'll be able to make at least ten trades a day with my current capital, which I believe is more than enough.
Your options screener links led me to find out that there's an options scanner within Thinkorswim so I've been using that and it works really well. Thanks for the help man.