Trading stock options generates a lot of brokerage commissions, which is why some young, aggressive brokers recommend them for their clients. A stock option is a contract between a buyer and a seller, based on an underlying security, usually a stock. The buyer pays the seller a fee, or premium, in exchange for certain rights to the stock. In exchange for the premium, the seller assumes certain stock option obligations. You pay commissions each time you buy or sell stock options. That means that commissions eat up a large part of any stock option profits you make, particularly if you trade in small quantities. In addition, every trade costs you money in “slippage,” or the difference between the bid and the ask price. With options, this difference is wider than it is with stocks. To profit in stock options, you have to be right in three different ways: price direction, price-change magnitude, and time frame. There’s a large element of risk in aggressive investments, but you can make money in them. In stock options, you will eventually lose. That’s the key difference between aggressive investing and stock option investing. If you want to invest aggressively, our best advice is to avoid options and buy stocks like those we recommend in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. At TSI Network, we recommend using our three-part Successful Investor philosophy:
Discover which stocks to buy and hold forever in your portfolio in this FREE special report, 10 Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever.
NVIDIA CORP. $12 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 572.2 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; No dividends paid; WSSF Rating: Average) earned $137.6 million, or $0.23 a share, in its first quarter, which ended May 2,… Read More
Buying and selling stock options is different from regular stock transactions. You can make money in options investing, of course, but to be successful in this complex, often risky area, it’s crucial to have a firm grasp of how options investing works (and how to… Read More
Attractive opportunities for short selling stocks come along from time to time, but it’s a hard way to make money. That’s because short sellers face a number of unique disadvantages that don’t apply to buyers.
(See below for three risks to be aware of if… Read More
CEDAR FAIR L.P., $11.14, New York symbol FUN, is the target of a friendly, $11.50-a-unit takeover offer from Apollo Global Management, a private-investment firm.
Cedar Fair owns 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels, mostly in the midwest… Read More
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD INC., $18.41, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, has more than 3,500 convenience stores in the U.S., and is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 outlets. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use… Read More
CRS Electronics Inc., $0.63, symbol LED on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 23.4 million; Market cap: $14.7 million), makes indoor and outdoor lighting systems that use light emitting diode (LED) technology. LEDs are brighter, need less maintenance and use less electricity than incandescent, halogen or fluorescent tube… Read More
A high short position is no longer a particularly telling indicator, since traders and hedge funds often combine a short sale with some other transaction in stock options.
Rather than having to buy the stock back in the market, for instance, short sellers may hold… Read More
If you feel stocks have become overpriced lately, you might want to take advantage of this by short selling stocks — that is, selling borrowed shares in hopes of a drop in price. We advise against this strategy, mainly because of the perennial drawbacks of… Read More
TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $34 and T.A $32; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 318 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; SI Rating: Above Average) is Canada’s second-largest telephone company after BCE Inc. (Toronto symbol BCE).
Telus has been expanding its… Read More
Three new wireless providers (Globalive, DAVE Wireless and Public Mobile) will probably enter the Canadian market next year. This will undoubtedly put pressure on Canada’s three existing wireless carriers, including Telus.
However, Telus has dealt with strong competition from wireless and cable companies for years. For… Read More
Learn everything you need to know in 'The Canadian Guide on How to Invest in Stocks Successfully' FREE Special Report from The Successful Investor.
How to Invest In Stocks Guide: Find 10 factors that make your investments safer and stronger.
The Successful Investor Inc. and its affiliate Successful Investor Wealth Management (referred to hereafter as TSI Network) know that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting websites owned by or associated with TSI Network, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
This privacy policy is applicable to all TSI Network Visitors, Clients, Employees, Suppliers, Web sites, Management, and all other interested parties. Any links to or from our site are not covered by this policy. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of every site that you visit.
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We do not collect or disclose personal information, except when it is provided to us voluntarily by the site/store visitor with their consent.
We store subscriber and password files containing personal information securely. These files are stored in secure areas that are not accessible to the general public. We are always working to ensure the security of your personal information.
We are continuously in the process of improving our sites and services. If any new features or policies require a change to this current policy, we will post a clear notice of this change on pages of our site where the privacy policy appears. The principle behind this privacy policy is to collect information with your knowledge and consent.
What personal information do we collect?
The information we receive from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your online experience at TSI Network. TSI Network may collect personal information online for all legal purposes, which include, but are not limited to:
Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way through sign-up forms or ordering forms for publications and services. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our services and features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing your web browsing experience for you, improving our website, and communicating with you.
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Information from Other Sources: For reasons such as improving personalization of our service (for example, providing better product recommendations or special offers that we think will interest you), we might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. We also sometimes receive updated delivery and address information from our shippers or other sources so that we can correct our records and deliver your next purchase or communication more easily.
We do reserve the right, however, to collect and perform statistical analyses of the internet traffic to our website for our internal use. However, information collected does not allow us to identify any individual, and will not collect any personal information of the visitor. Furthermore, we do not sell, rent or loan to any outside parties the information collected and analyzed.
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Does TSI Network Use the Information It Receives?
"Contact Us" and Comment Features: TSI Network encourages visitors to its websites to contact us with questions and comments. Email addresses and other information of persons using these features may be collected in order to facilitate our responses to those inquiries.
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In addition to these limited disclosures of personal information, TSI Network may provide its affiliates or unaffiliated third parties with aggregate information about visitors to our sites. For example, we might disclose the median ages of visitors to our websites, or the numbers of visitors to our websites that come from different geographic areas. Such aggregate information will not include information of any individual visitors to our websites.
TSI Network may provide personal and other information to a purchaser or successor entity in connection with the sale of TSI Network, a subsidiary or line of business associated with TSI Network, or substantially all of the assets of TSI Network or one of its subsidiaries, affiliates or lines of business.
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Except as provided herein, TSI Network will not sell or rent personal information about you to unaffiliated third parties.
We may disclose personal information you have provided through our websites, for the above purposes, to persons or companies that we retain to carry out and other activities for which you have registered or in which you have otherwise asked to participate. In particular, we may for these purposes transfer information to any country (including the USA and other countries which may not offer the same level of data protection as Canada). We also will disclose personal information if required by law, including compliance with warrants, subpoenas or other legal processes.
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TSI Network does everything possible to prevent unauthorized intrusion to its websites and the alteration, acquisition or misuse of personal information by unauthorized persons. Notably passwords submitted by users of our websites are encrypted using encryption mechanisms. However, TSI Network cautions visitors to its websites that no network, including the Internet, is entirely secure. Accordingly, we cannot be responsible for loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition of personal information provided to our websites, or for any damages resulting from such loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition.
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TSI Network has procedures in place to keep your personal information accurate, complete and current for the purposes for which it is collected and used. You may review the information that you have provided to us and where appropriate you may request that it be corrected. If you wish to review your personal information please send a request to: service@tsinetwork.ca.
How do I withdraw my consent to use Personal Information? Access, Correction, Inquiries and Complaints
If you wish to request access to, or correction of, your personal information in our custody or control, or find out how we've used or disclosed that information, please make your request in writing to us. We may need to verify your identity before searching for or providing you with personal information. In some circumstances, we may not be able to provide access to your personal information, for example if it contains the personal information of other persons, if it constitutes confidential commercial information, or if it is protected by solicitor-client privilege. If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct, your personal information, we will advise you of the reasons for this refusal.
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How can you ask questions about our Privacy Policy and access your personal information?
The provision of information by you is entirely voluntary and you have the right not to provide information. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to receive certain information as to whether or not personal information relating to you is held by TSI Network and to obtain a copy of such information that is sought. You may also have the right to require information, where appropriate, to be erased, blocked or made anonymous or to have data updated or corrected. If you do not wish TSI Network to hold information about you or if you wish to have access to information, modify information, or object to any processing of information or if you have questions please contact us.
What Choices Do I Have?
Changes to this Policy
This Policy is the sole authorized statement of TSI Network's practices with respect to the collection of personal information through TSI Network's websites and the subsequent use and disclosure of such information. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon TSI Network, shall not be relied upon in substitute for this Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Policy.
TSI Network may revise this Policy from time to time.
Legal Notices and Disclaimers
The contents of this web site and our publications are based upon sources of information believed to be reliable, but no warranty or representation, expressed or implied, is given as to their accuracy or completeness. Any opinion reflects the Successful Investor’s judgment at the date of publication and neither the Successful Investor, nor any of its affiliated companies, nor any of their officers, directors or employees, accepts any responsibility in respect of the information or recommendations contained in the publications or on this web site. Moreover, the information or recommendations are subject to change without notice.
Information presented on this web site or contained in our publications is not an offer, nor a solicitation, to buy or sell any securities referred to on the web site or in the publications. The material is general information intended for recipients who understand the risks associated with an investment in any securities referred to in the publications or on this web site. The Successful Investor has made no determination regarding whether an investment, course of action, or associated risks are suitable for the recipient.
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