http://www.optioneer.com.au/ Go4 News Go4 Multimedia. Donovan Craig <donovan@go4.com.au> http://www.optioneer.com.au/news/newsitem.html?news_id=24 On March 25th 2008 the American S&amp;P500 index of shares closed at 1352.99. In April 1999 the S&amp;P 500 was at 1362.80. Basically the S&amp;P has not progressed in the best part of a decade. The market has gone through many up and downs over that period but in essence has not finished in positive territory. There have been a number of static decades such as this in the last 100 years. In each of the static periods the market has had volatility but has made little or no progression over the decade. The result for the share investor, who is not a spectacular stock picker, is a varied return on capital invested. Sometimes good gains are mingled with periods of not so good losses but unless the overall momentum of the market is continually rising it is difficult to pocket consistent returns. Just look at the performance of some of the Managed Funds and Superannuation Funds over those years even with their specialists managing the money. The Buy and Hold strategy works well where markets rise consistently over a ten year period, as does Dollar Cost Averaging even when the market fluctuates but generally rises over time. The problem occurs where the returns are negligible or even negative over a decade because the market finishes roughly at the place it began ten years earlier. This is often not he best use of all of your funds and some diversity into the market utilising alternatives to get a better mix is more practical. Trading Index Options caters for markets that move up, move down or move sideways. Trading Options strangles is a&nbsp;strategy has stood the test of time. Directing part of your capital into trading Index Options creates diversity in your portfolio in all market conditions. Latest News Luke Moulton <luke@go4.com.au> http://www.optioneer.com.au/news/newsitem.html?news_id=23 While Option Trading may appear to be complicated it can be quite simple. It is a matter of understanding the fundamentals.&nbsp; Option Trading plays an important role in modern financial markets. Originating in 1973 in Chicago, Exchange Traded Options developed rapidly in both turnover and sophistication. Record turnovers have occurred since the 1987 stock market crash. The advantages of Option Trading has increasingly been realized by direct share investors. Option Trading can be used: &bull; to increase the return on a share portfolio, &bull; to hedge against potential losses, i.e. to act as insurance, &bull; for trading purposes. Option Trading can be a versatile business alternative. Option Trading can provide protection for direct share portfolios. Today index options are very actively traded instruments and it is this area of the market that the Optioneer Option Trading Program is involved. Index options are similar to listed share options however there are important differences between the two. The main difference being the ability to profit from - or hedge against - over-all stock market volatility, as opposed to changes in individual share prices. One of the primary attractions of Option Trading the indices is the simplicity. You may have a definite opinion about the trend of the market or specific industry groups, but feel less sure about the direction of individual shares. Option Trading the indices can be used to acton such opinions without the risks associated with choosing specific shares. Option Trading the indices can also be a valuable hedging tool used in conjunction with diversified stock positions, because they allow for the separation of two basic components of common stock, that is, market risk and business risk. Market risk is related to interest rate changes, inflation levels and other economic or political developments that influence the general market trend. Business risk is related to specific company and industry factors, such as quality management, earnings prospects, competition and labour disputes, that may affect a particular corporation. Business risk can be significantly reduced through reasonable portfolio diversification. As such, market risk is usually the primary risk in owning diversified stock positions. Option Trading the indices provides a means by which market risk can be minimized by hedging share portfolios against adverse market swings. Latest News Luke Moulton <luke@go4.com.au> http://www.optioneer.com.au/news/newsitem.html?news_id=22 Total bank $17,500 Date commenced 06/02/08 Duration (days) 22 Expected net profit $1,438 Actual net profit $1,213 Return on bank % 7% Annualised return 123% Latest News Luke Moulton <luke@go4.com.au> http://www.optioneer.com.au/news/newsitem.html?news_id=20 During times of prolonged market volatility there seems to be a sense that it will never end. Markets do of course run the full gamut, from times of high volatility to times of very low volatility where the markets are very pedestrian in their activity, to times which are considered &quot;normal&quot;. We have in recent times seen high volatility in the world markets for a sustained period with only short periods of less volatile activity. Over the past week (date of writing Feb 22) we have seen the markets move into a diminished range of trading where the charts have been forming a Flag pattern, sometimes referred to as a triangle or a wedge pattern. This indicates that the market movements are diminishing on a progressive basis and nearing a point where the market will either move in the direction it was moving prior to the flag forming - or - reverse and begin to move in the opposing direction. When this occurs the market tends to find its own level reasonably quickly and then settle in to what is considered &quot;Normal&quot; trading movement. Latest News Luke Moulton <luke@go4.com.au>