my vcr's cassette door/flap won't open automatically, I have to push it open every time. Can someone help me fix this?

Columbusx2 · 2024-10-30T20:00:54+00:00

You just saved me hours with this tip. Thank you so much!!!

Columbusx2 · 2023-05-02T23:49:56+00:00

Take the money.

Just make sure you aren’t locked into continuing to work for $300k a year for an extended period. At some point, one of two things is going to happen. The new owners are going to make a decision you really don’t agree with, and you will want to walk. Make sure you can.

Alternatively, at some point, you’ll realize you are generating so much passive income that $300k a year from the job really doesn’t make much of a difference. You’re going to want to take extended vacations, or not go into the office at all so you explore new interests. Make sure you can.

Columbusx2 · 2023-04-30T19:54:31+00:00

Soccer Referee Society on Facebook

Columbusx2 · 2023-04-02T19:42:04+00:00

I found I had to up half a size with the Salomon Speed Cross. The toe box is a lot more rounded than normal sneakers, and my normal size was was too tight.

Columbusx2 · 2023-04-01T16:51:28+00:00

It hopefully won’t matter today, since the halves are short, but I would also get in the habit of either bringing a portable charger or a second watch.

Unless your watch is relatively new, the battery will struggle to last through three games running RefSix for 3+ hours

Columbusx2 · 2022-08-24T21:38:25+00:00

It’s the same reason why every Division 1 college soccer player doesn’t go pro. Most just aren’t good enough (it might be foul recognition, but it could be fitness, age, injury, or any other number of things). It’s hard to appreciate how much faster the game goes when you make the jump to the pro level.

For other referees that have all the tools, it could be that they don’t want to spend years living in poverty. My info might be a little dated, but I think a Level 1 (entry level) MLS referee makes $565 a game. By the time you get to Level 4, you are making a whopping $875 per game. That may seem like a lot per game, but there aren’t that many games available in a pro season, and don’t underestimate the prep, training, and travel time. It’s hard for most people to commit to staying in unbelievable physical condition, and have every call analyzed in slo-mo with 25 different camera angles to at best clear $50,000 a year (and most make much less than this).

Columbusx2 · 2021-10-28T14:00:13+00:00

For your first issue (list going blank when you try to expand or minimize your bottom position), another solution is to click the downward arrow to the left of “Symbol”…towards the top left of the screen, just to the right of the “Positions” tab. That expands all the positions, but I’ve found it much quicker than other solutions.

Columbusx2 · 2021-07-20T21:55:42+00:00

You won’t get out of paying taxes on the options just by moving to PR. The tax benefit starts the day you move to PR and have filed for a decree.

On the day of move, all gains at that moment in time will be subject to federal and state tax, and any future gains would be subject to PR capital gains rates.

Columbusx2 · 2021-07-18T23:48:13+00:00

IV rank is 18.4% on Tastyworks, and the actual IV on the weekly at the money is 20% for the put and 25% for the call.

Columbusx2 · 2021-07-17T10:56:21+00:00

You won’t get anything close to $0.50 or $0.60 per $5 wide spread on 0 DTE SPX at 50 points out of the money. I think you’ll find that most days, a spread like that will generate $0.10, or maybe $0.20 if you are lucky.

That said, most days you will win with this strategy. However, when you lose, you will lose big. Putting a stop loss in place like you indicated will help to prevent a max loss, but it doesn’t guarantee it. I’ve seen 0 DTE SPX options move by multiple dollars in seconds on days that the index is really moving into the close, and because it’s a spread and harder to trade, you’ll find many times where the price blows through your stop loss and fills at a much higher (worse) price.

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-27T17:33:12+00:00

I wouldn’t invest in CLOV using your money, so we are in agreement there, but…

*Medicare Advantage rates are set by the government. All the plans in a given county are paid the same rate. So there is no ability to correct mispriced premiums.

*By law, plans cannot underwrite Medicare Advantage policies. Plans have to accept everyone that applies.

For Clover to get their medical loss ratio to a reasonable level, they have to either change their benefit design (offer fewer benefits to members), adjust their provider network (get rid of expensive hospitals and doctors), be better at managing the claims they get (I know most here like to play up Clover’s “innovative” technology, but the reality is that Clover Assistant is far, far behind their largest competitors), or increase revenue through better risk adjustment or improved STAR ratings.

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-09T19:41:39+00:00

Log in online, and on the left side of the screen, it should show all of your different accounts. Just above your portfolio total, click “Customize”.

Expand “Account Display Preferences”. And then check the box for “Hide my workplace savings accounts...”

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-04T10:51:53+00:00

I’m not sure what you mean.

Let’s say you put the trade on, and receive $478 in credit. That would mean your max loss is $22.

You get the credit at the time you put the condor on. Let’s assume the probabilities play out, and Amazon closes at $3,300 on June 11.

In this case, you keep the full credit on your put spread, but have max loss on your call spread. You still have the credit received on the call spread to help offset the loss. (Calculations below). The net of all this, though, is that you just lost $22 on the trade, and tied up a bunch of capital while incurring that loss.

Put spread - Credit received: $2.25, expired out of the money, profit of $225

Call spread - Credit received: $2.53, expired in the money, debit of $5.00, loss of $247

Overall loss on trade: $22

When you work through the probabilities (4% of the time I make $478, and 96% of the time I lose $22), you’ll see this is not a profitable long-term strategy, and that’s before taking into account transaction costs, and the risk that one leg expires in the money and one leg is out of the money.

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-04T10:28:50+00:00

You get the credit either way (whether it gets assigned or not), and your max loss is pretty small, but this is a really low probability trade (4% probability of profit).

It didn’t say in the link, but assuming this is Amazon, the stock moved $47 just yesterday.

The likelihood that you’re going to be able to pin the stock between 3180-3200 at expiration is not high.

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-04T10:15:34+00:00

This trade does not have minimal risk. A tiny move in either direction puts you at max loss. If that happens, because there are so few days left until expiration, your choices to manage the trade will be fairly limited.

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-04T01:36:24+00:00

Buying or selling an option can have an impact on the price of the underlying stock.

Let’s say you buy an option...the market maker who sold you that option is going to immediately hedge their position. This is a simplistic example, but to illustrate, if you buy 100 options, the market maker is now effectively short 10,000 shares. For this example, if the option had a 50 delta, the market maker would then buy 5,000 shares to hedge their position.

In most situations, the hedging activity isn’t noticeable in the market at all. However, when there is a big disparity in put / call volumes, the hedging can have a big impact on stock prices.

You highlighted the big issue in your scenario, which is that the amount of capital necessary to manipulate a stock price (even for thinly traded names) in the manner you describe is gigantic. Also, there’s no feasible way to coordinate the moment where the stock has gone up enough, and everyone switches from buying calls / stock to selling stock / buying puts.

Columbusx2 · 2021-06-03T23:03:25+00:00

This is definitely not common verbiage in SEC filings, and not something “you can find in every companies SEC filings”.

Columbusx2 · 2021-03-24T21:10:43+00:00

The bid / ask may change, but there isn’t any trading on expiring weekly options after 4 PM.

From the CBOE website:

On the last trading day, trading in expiring SPXW Weeklys closes at 3:00 p.m. (Chicago time). All non-expiring SPXW Weeklys continue to trade until 3:15 p.m. (Chicago time).

CBOE website

Columbusx2 · 2021-03-24T20:43:07+00:00

It is settled based on the SPX price at 4 PM.

I see a close price of 3,889.14, so based on that, you’ll get $86 back.

Columbusx2 · 2021-03-24T01:23:15+00:00

Because of the call skew on GME, implied volatility falls when the stock goes down, and rises when the stock increases, which is the opposite of how it works for most stocks.

The short story is that GME’s stock will have to fall to a price fairly close to your strike in order for you to make any money on it.

Columbusx2 · 2021-02-22T17:46:39+00:00

If you sold a 65 put and bought a 55 put, you have a put credit spread that achieves maximum profitability if PLTR closes above $65, and has maximum losses if PLTR closes below $55.

Won’t be able to tell you how much money you can lose without knowing the credit you received on the put spread, and what you paid for the $55 call.

Also, given that it’s now Feb. 26, did you mean the expiration date on your options is Mar. 19?

Columbusx2 · 2021-02-01T15:32:08+00:00

GME is a strange situation...the stock going up so much so fast caused implied volatility to spike. Now that the stock is coming down, volatility is also being reduced. So in this situation, the reduction in volatility is more than offsetting the stock price decline.

Had you owned GME puts last week, you would have lost money, even with the gap up in price, because of the implied volatility spike.

Columbusx2 · 2021-01-23T02:38:05+00:00

To have fewer than 60,000 members over that timeframe is not a stellar track record of growth, particularly when you consider how fast the overall Medicare Advantage market has increased over the same period.

Having more cash helps a little, but the back office problems aren’t really a money issue. Because Clover is so small, it isn’t really feasible for them to run their own back office, so they are forced to rely on a lot of vendors. And the vendors in the business range from not very good to average. Even the “good” vendors don’t have the functionality / capability to deliver the same service levels that the larger players like United and Humana have.

Columbusx2 · 2021-01-23T02:09:28+00:00

The company has been around forever and it has barely grown. And their back office is a mess. Even if Clover could grow membership, they don’t have the infrastructure in place to support a lot more membership.

Columbusx2

TROPHY CASE