August 2007

Featured Class: Neutral Markets

The Neutral Markets course has been created to educate investors on various option strategies best suited for a non-directional or neutral market. A unique component of this course is that every strategy presented is a spread. These different spreads are designed to use time decay to its advantage. At the completion of the chapters and prior to the final quiz the student should know and understand all the strategies presented. Get started now.

Featured Strategy: Protective Puts

Interested in learning more about how to utilize options to possibly help preserve some of the recent market gains? Perhaps it is time to review a defensive options strategy that can, at times, help protect your holdings. The protective put does just that; provides a possible hedge against declining stock values. Although it takes away some of the upside potential of a particular holding, it can provide you with the peace of mind that your positions are protected, to some extent, over the lifetime of the put option. Learn more about protective puts.

Have you tried the OIC Help Desk?

Are you having difficulty understanding a particular options strategy? Want to discuss a potential contract adjustment? Did an options investment not work out the way you planned? Our Investor Services Specialists are here to assist you with these and other questions regarding options. Simply dial 1-888-OPTIONS (1-888-678-4667) and we will do our best to help you.

New Website Improvements

We've been busy working on a number of web site improvements at 888options.com. The web site is now wider to accommodate more content, and to allow our new live chat system to be more readily accessible throughout the site. The home page has also been redesign to give you quick access to our most important educational tools. Take a look!

Options Industry Sets New Volume Record

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) announced that a new daily cleared volume record was set on Thursday, July 26, 2007 when 21,313,025 contracts were cleared, surpassing the previous record of 18,788,070 contracts set less than one week ago on July 20, 2007 by more than 13%. Options open interest reached 261,658,749 contracts. To learn more click here.

FIA & OIC Present Investor Education Day

The Options Industry Council and the Futures Industry Association have partnered to coordinate the second Investor Education Day. The seminars are targeted towards retail investors and promote the responsible use of options, an approach that highlights both the risks and rewards of using the product. Learn more.

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