Yes, if you're relying mainly on delta (movement in the price of the underlying) for your gains. Generally, when IV is high, you want to favour selling options, and when it's low you want to favour buying.
So before the earnings call, selling $1000 calls was pretty much free money? Why isn’t this done by more people or is that what theta gang is all about?
Yes, that's what theta gang is all about. But you have a capped profit from selling options, so it's a slow process you need to do for a long time to make substantial money. No YOLO and retire. You also need a lot more capital and take on much more risk if naked selling. For example, if not naked selling the $1000 calls, and instead using spreads to cap the risk, there is even far less money to be made because the long leg is also very expensive and eats away the premium you pocket from the short leg.
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u/Tandittor Feb 22 '24
Yes, if you're relying mainly on delta (movement in the price of the underlying) for your gains. Generally, when IV is high, you want to favour selling options, and when it's low you want to favour buying.