[TexasTrader]

Posting messages late at night on forums is what I get for drinking a cappuccino with dinner!

The big advantage of trading options is leverage. You control much more stock with much less margin using options than you do by actually trading the underlyings.

Also, calls and puts can be combined in many creative ways. More complicated option trades can make money if the underlying goes up, down or sideways. As far as I know, you can't do that if you own a stock (with owning an equity, you are betting that it will go up; if you short a stock, you are betting that it will go down; I don't know how to trade a stock that is moving sideways within a tight price channel).

OK, Ambien, here I come.