"Hopefully he sold already, but if not, it is an expensive lesson." ]At this point, in my estimation the initial position would require around $100K of extra margin to not be forced to sell. you mean bought." Theoretically unlimited loss" is a meaningless statement.
that doesn't stop posters from whining. here is one of my favorites: shit, I just quit my job and started trading. Now you tell me day trading is dead. You should have posted it two weeks earlier! I would have kept my job.
@zdreg yes, I mean bought back the options...close out the position. Theoretically unlimited loss is somewhat meaningless, but I and others use it as another way of saying a huge potential downside. The fellow who bought the calls is now up roughly 3X plus his money, assuming they are still holding. Not bad in such a short time. (Yes, I know that his 90 contracts could have been split amongst multiple buyers, etc.)
"Theoretically unlimited loss is somewhat meaningless, but I and others use it as another way of saying a huge potential downside." you and every business journalist or financial adviser who says that short selling should not be part of an investor's tools.
I'm looking at the AAPL calls expiring on the 18th of Feb 2012, stike price $470. I have today's range as being from a low of $5.75 to a high of just over $8. The OP said they sold at $2.70. Looks like roughly 3X to me, unless I am looking at the wrong information, which someone will shortly point out.