Comments on: Collecting “Market Commissions” on Stocks — Jeff Clark

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:55:34 +0000

I can confirm that the gumshoe nailed this one. I tried their 90-day trial period (with 10% refund fee). Jeff Clark has indeed made 38% gains, along side 54% losses. His current track record is at best break-even. My money is better off in a checking account where it won’t cost me $750 a year.

By: farley 5

farley 5 — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:21:33 +0000

One strategy you may want to look at is the Calendar Spread. I have given many examples in the Forum. Buy the longest LEAP you can get. My training has me buy in the money. Then sell three month calls against the position. As the calls come to expiration, manage the trade by purchasing the call back and selling the next three month call. Certainly cheaper than buying stock and you have a determined risk for the trade. Be sure to read the disclosure, etc.

By: Myron Martin

Myron Martin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:31:45 +0000

It seems that newsletter promoters are getting more deceptive or creative, (depending on your viewpoint) but what I find most annoying is that once you sign up for a relatively inexpensive service you are BOMBARDED with promos for more expensive service with some new angle.

I have complained vigorously to various of the Agors affiliated services about their practices, the ultimate insult being that the ANALYST whose services you thought you were paying for constantly introduces new services at ever higher prices. With the market slide no doubt they are also hurting as they are unable to attract the same number of new subscribers, (and like mutual and hedge funds have accelerated requests for redemptions) so prices seem to be coming down.

That being said, I have made some good money selling coverd calls but the stocks must be selected very carefully. As Travis pointed out, if the stock advances and gets “called away” you may end up sacrificing some potential profits. The BIGGER danger in my view is that you may LOCK IN to a steep decline, which is still okay if you selected sound companies you want to own for the long term, but you also risk locking in a loss that exceeeds the premium that you received.

As in any strategy it takes time and has a learning curve and requires due diligence too execute successfully in a volatile market.

The latest wrinkle being touted n several promos is selling naked puts on stocks you want to own long term. The idea here is by selling PUTS at a price you would want to buy a specific stock you get too KEEP the premium you are paid for the puts if the price does not drop to your buy point. The negative here is that you need to keep enough money in your account to actually BUY the stock should the price drop to your buy point.

BOTH strategies require some careful calculation, good guesswork and maybe a streak of luck to come out ahead!

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:09:37 +0000

Covered call writing alone is a fool’s game. You take on all the risk for limited gain. When done in combination with naked put writing it is possible to make good returns as it forces you to buy on market drops and sell on market rises in addition to the put premiums. However it takes great discipline, you still have most of the risk of a collapsing stock and you miss out on much of the potential gain of skyrocketing market. I have tried it in the past and it was more work and stress and tax record keeping than I was willing to keep up. When the volatility reduces back to normal then the options premiums reduce and the strategy returns are not so impressive.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:29:53 +0000

You got just half of Jeff Clark’s story. He recommends covered calls, but also selling (writing) options. You can sell naked options (what Clark usually recommends), or protect yourself by doing spreads. That’s how you can make money instantly without buying stock. Selling options can be highly profitable, but today’s extreme volatility increases the risk. When stock prices change 7%-8% in a single day, it’s easy to lose big.