Buying put options is a great way to pocket gains when you expect a stock is going to fall.
Just this past week, my Daily Profits Challenge and Weekly Blitz Alerts strategies capitalized on weakness with a 65% gain after buying puts on Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE).
Puts are also an effective way to manage risk in a position in the underlying stock by limiting your losses from a downward move.
Of course, there’s a time and place for everything…
It might seem like the right time to buy put options is when there’s a series of down days in the stock market like we’ve seen…
But these are also the exact conditions traders will have to pay top dollar for downside exposure. And no one likes paying top dollar…
Don’t Overpay When Buying Put Options in a Volatile Market
Put options can help a trader’s portfolio when the market outlook is grim.
And to help you understand that, it’s best to think of a put option like an insurance policy for when things suddenly turn south on Wall Street.
If the insurance salesman thinks there’s a good chance they’ll have to pay out, they’re going to hike up your premium because demand is about to skyrocket.
I’ve discussed in the past how traders can participate in both upward and downward trends with the use of option spreads when implied volatility (IV) is high.
Here’s an example — you could use a bear call spread instead of buying put options when IV is up. To set up this strategy, a trader sells a call option and buys a second call option with the same expiration date, but a higher strike price.
And because the strike price of the call sold is lower than the call bought, the premium from the call sold is always greater than the cost paid in the second leg.
These types of options strategies offer excellent limited-risk, limited-reward scenarios that keep trading accounts moving in the right direction when markets aren’t.
Check out my short video below and let’s talk about some of the different ways traders can improve their success by buying put options to bank on a downward move.
P.S: A phenomenon has been sweeping across the market…
And it must be seen to be believed!
Those who know this new trading trick have been able to lock in lightning-fast returns like 62.07% on PM, 46.99% on X and even 139.5% on RCL — all with just a few hours of market exposure…
