Hi, I am new in this forum and I would like to start trading with SSF. I was thinking of a reverse collar strategy where on 23/12/2012 short sell LINE 38.04 buy call strike 39 at 0.5 exp feb 12 sell put strike 38 at 1.5 exp feb 12 net debit 1$ (credit) max risk = 1 - 0.96 = 0.04 (credit) if the stock goes above 39 max profit 1 + 0.04 if the stock goes below 38 Since I understand that shorting stocks could be difficult for a newbie I was thinking of replacing the shares with a short position on SSF. For LINE only 1C SSF seem to exist. For february expiration LINE SSF is 33.99/38.51 But lets apply the concept to whatever else share/SSF that has both 1c and 1d. I have few questions on this kind of trade 1) Shall I use preferentially 1C or 1D SSFs provided that also the option price should influenced by dividends? 2) Will the trading be still "zero cost" if i replace the shares with SSF? I am having difficulties implementing the cost to carry (and dividends on 1C types) in this strategy to understand if this trading is still worth. Will cost of carry will be in my favour? 4) How I can calculate if is worth or not? I am a bit confused on the impact of interest rates on short SSF positions. 5) will the broker require to adjust the maintenance margin if I am short and the LINE SSF prices goes up even holding the long call option that should protect against any increase of LINE price > 39? 6) since I am using SSF rather than shares will the broker consider selling the put like a naked put? Will I need more than a Level 1 account? Happy Christmas!