I am a total newbie. At this point, I think that if there were a futures market on the sector indexes I would just use that. I am interested in using options for long term (2-6 months) directional strategies. The only thing I want is leverage. (I think I could get this leverage at a prop shop, but let us leave that for now) Assuming this is the case, what part of option strategy should I be looking ? As an eg. I am bullish on biotech. I am looking at IBB (Nasdaq Biotech tracking stock). I know that time decay accelerates in the last 2 months of the option's lifetime. So I could choose an expiry of Jan 2006. I also know that because it is so far away, the time premium will be high. I also know that volatility somehow effects the time premium. What happens if IV is high when I want to buy the option ? As you can see, my knowledge is basically 0. I would appreciate a few pointers in the right direction. I need help deciding on the strike price and also what to do if IV is high.
If you don't know what you're doing with options, why don't you get a book first? That's how most people learn a subject.
Well, I have read (skimmed thru) a few books on options. I have also realized that directional strategies using options is just a very small aspect of options. However, the reason I was interested in options in the first place was leverage. So, to keep it simple, I want to only focus on that area.