Putting aside the quality of the deal for long-term shareholders and assuming an investor like me believes the deal will go through and the CVRs will pay off in a substantial way, how could options best be used to profit from the fact that the stock is curently trading at a price that assumes the CVRs will be worthless?  I've never played with options before, so please be gentle.

'ArtM72' pid='69758' datel Wrote:Somebody made a sh*t-pot full of money this morning. It wasn't you. And the end of this long running soap opera called IOC will likely be the message: it will never be for you. That informs my options strategy. Phil said nearly a decade ago, "buy the stock, not the option". He may have only been half right. Far better investments were to be had.

Well my IRA is up $50k today so I did okay, thank you very much, but I catch your drift.  I still think this stock has nowhere to go but up from here.

(05-21-2016, 01:57 AM)AU74 Wrote:

(05-21-2016, 01:53 AM)ArtM72 Wrote: Somebody made a sh*t-pot full of money this morning. It wasn't you. And the end of this long running soap opera called IOC will likely be the message: it will never be for you. That informs my options strategy. Phil said nearly a decade ago, "buy the stock, not the option". He may have only been half right. Far better investments were to be had.

Well my IRA is up $50k today so I did okay, thank you very much, but I catch your drift.  I still think this stock has nowhere to go but up from here.

I was up a lot too today but it isn't the number that is the problem, its the percentage.

IOC downside?  The rape could turn into an extended court battle. The offer could be overturned quickly.  For all we know this deal was orchestrated at very high, very private levels, the details of which were and continue to be material to the Shareholders' investment decisions. Thus fiduciary trust betrayed and the deal overturned as fraudulent and otherwise in violation of SEC rules throughout the negotiation of the OSH/Total acquisition..

Oh my!

'ArtM72' pid='69762' datel Wrote:

'AU74' pid='69761' datel Wrote:

'ArtM72' pid='69758' datel Wrote:Somebody made a sh*t-pot full of money this morning. It wasn't you. And the end of this long running soap opera called IOC will likely be the message: it will never be for you. That informs my options strategy. Phil said nearly a decade ago, "buy the stock, not the option". He may have only been half right. Far better investments were to be had.

Well my IRA is up $50k today so I did okay, thank you very much, but I catch your drift.  I still think this stock has nowhere to go but up from here.

I was up a lot too today but it isn't the number that is the problem, its the percentage.

IOC downside?  The rape could turn into an extended court battle. The offer could be overturned quickly.  For all we know this deal was orchestrated at very high, very private levels, the details of which were and continue to be material to the Shareholders' investment decisions. Thus fiduciary trust betrayed and the deal overturned as fraudulent and otherwise in violation of SEC rules throughout the negotiation of the OSH/Total acquisition..

Oh my!

Okay, let's say i want to protect today's gains against the possiblility that we get our wish, reject the deal, but then share price collapses.  Rather than sell now and forgo the CVR upside, would it make sense to buy put options near the current price that expire around the time the deal is expected to be final?  If the deal stays as-is or gets better, I've only lost a small portion of today's gain and I still get CVRs.  If not, I get to hang onto todays gains.  Again, sorry to be so green.