The CBOE Volatility Index - VIX (PDF / 1.71MB)
VIX provides a snapshot of expected stock market volatility over the next 30 calendar days and is calculated real-time from index option premiums.

Collar Trade (PDF)
A collar trade consists of selling one out-of the-money (OTM) call and buying one at-the-money (ATM) put for each 100 shares of stock owned. The expiration month is the first one available that is at least one year away. As a result, the position consists of a covered call (long stock and short OTM call) to collect income and a long put for protection.

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• Customer Portfolio Margin Overview
• Taxes & Investing Pamphlet (PDF)

U.S. Equity Options Market: Changing Competitive Landscape
Aite Group has released an impact report titled, "U.S. Equity Options Market: Changing Competitive Landscape" written by Sang Lee, Managing Partner. The paper examines important industry issues and trends and highlights key players in the marketplace, including exchanges and broker/ dealers. This report also presents perspective from various client segments including hedge funds, traditional asset managers, and proprietary trading firms. (November 2008)

Click here to read more or to access the document.

NOVEMBER 17, 2008
Puts Point to Lower Citigroup Price

Some are fear-surfing Citi with low-strike puts.

Collaring the Cube: Protection Options for a NASDAQ 100 ETF Portfolio (PDF) 
A study by Szado and Kazemi of the University of Massachusetts evaluated nine years of data on the Powershares QQQ exchange traded fund and found that a protective collar strategy using a six month put purchase and consecutive one month call writes provided far superior returns compared with buying and holding the NASDAQ-100 Index® ETF with about one-third of the index volatility. Over the 108 month study period, this collar strategy returned more than 150% cumulatively, while the cube portfolio lost over 12%.

You can also view the six page summary (PDF) of the paper which also provides a collar tutorial on the back pages.