OK I do have a bit of an opinion. I will tell you what I think the most bogus thing about the enron case is, but it has more to do with what I think is a broken US system. Many crooked ex's specifically position their companies in states such as Texas for the protection that the state's laws allow. In Texas the laws are very forgiving of those companies who would cheat their investors like enron did. For example, certain of the ex's personal assets are protected from liquidation and even piercing the corporate veil cannot touch them. In the case of Texas you are allowed a parcel of land of a certain size that contains a residence. In urban areas the parcel is smaller but in rural areas it is quite expansive. This allows the ex's to build a high-rise office structure in downtown Houston with a suite at the top and while all of their other assets are liquidated, they will still own a billion dollar piece of real estate. States do this to attract companies for higher tax revenues, but it is very much at the expense of the investors. That really does irritate me.
unless you go naked, and care lil about the black swan sun burn LOL riskarb has a pretty good thing going with his risk reversals which is probably the only time i will go naked on the put side
I just got off the phone with some investment advisor firm from Chicago (they called me out of the blue). I told him I trade options, not the international ETF's he told me they like to put their clients in. He said "Oh, then you must be trading covered calls?" and stuttered when he said it. I said no, I trade different strategies than that. He then named off a number of options strategies that he must have read about in a sales training manual and then continued on with his pitch for signing up with his firm and getting into international ETFs. It was quite funny.
You laugh, but it's been tempting lately. Haven't quite decided about the R/R. Seems extremely margin intensive to me. I'm trying to figure out whether I like them.
Actually, i have a ratio put spread which leaves me naked below SPX 1050. Every now and then i become adventurous
Not if you use ES options. It has the best of both worlds but just like everything else, you MUST get the direction right. Also, the ES hedge is a good tool to go flat or scalp but i dont have the capital to do combo's in multiples of 50.