How far out, timewize?
Depends on the situation. If I think a stock is going to make a move quickly, I buy 75% 1 month out, and 25% 3 months out. I almost always spread it out to reduce risk yet maintain short term leverage. For instance, a while back I bought 50% Oct AMD calls and 50% Jan AMD calls. I lost everything on the Oct calls, but made it all back easily on the Jan calls and much, much more. At one point I was up 5X on the Oct too, but I got greedy and held too long.
If I just have a general feeling, I'll go for leaps, but I hate paying huge time values because situations can change quickly. So in those cases I may just buy stock directly.
I'm currently holding Feb 40s and a lot of stock.
I'm quite tempted to buy some Intel at these levels, and I will if the Feb 40s pay out.
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