Replies to post #108861 on Biotech Values

[iwfal]

The salient point, IMO, has nothing to do with “sleeping easier”; rather, it’s that MNTA call-writers are not viewing forgone upside as a bona fide economic loss.

I would suggest that that is just a possible explanation of WHY they sleep better at night when writing calls. Different people put different psychological importance on lost opportunity vs lessened downside vs ... .

FWIW - Some years ago I heard someone opine that a crash is when everyone is thinking the same way (e.g. same time horizon, same worries). What makes the market stable is the large number of different philosophies.

[HattieTheWitch]

The salient point, IMO, has nothing to do with “sleeping easier”; rather, it’s that MNTA call-writers are not fully counting forgone upside as a bona fide economic loss.

Dew, I sleep very well at night, knowing I am in stocks which I have confidence in, and knowing that I'm getting paid to hold them - that's my game.

Referring to MNTA - for the months I held the stock strictly for option premium purposes (since March '10) I pulled in high five figures from option premiums alone. As the months passed and I became acquainted with this board, you, and the astonishingly high quality of posters here (and of course learned more about MNTA's story - thanks to all here), I came to understand that MNTA presented much more of an opportunity to make money than by simply selling covered calls, or buying and holding and waiting for "the big one".

I'm still searching for the right mix of MNTA stock/options to accomplish my goal.

Yes, since I don't have everything in uncovered stock, when the big one hits I'll miss out to some degree, but I surely won't consider it an economic loss - instead it will be an opportunity loss.

[Mpower]

Dew, while I tend to agree that the risk-reward leans towards call buyers at this point in time, the call writers have made a fortune over the years on MNTA (at the expense of the call buyers)

I have personally enriched many of those writers over the years. :(
*full disclosure: I am long MNTA calls (heavily)