Why Investors Should Trade Options Around Earnings Announcements

Book excerpt: This Element is an excerpt from Trading on Corporate Earnings News: Profiting from Targeted, Short-Term Options Positions (9780137084920) by John Shon, Ph.D., and Ping Zhou, Ph.D. Available in print and digital formats. Two Line Description How to trade options before earning announcements — and profit whether the market raves or rages! Text Excerpt We’ve all seen perplexing market reactions to earnings announcements, but would you have guessed that this happens 40% of the time? Even if you predict the right direction of an earnings surprise, it’s still easy to lose money with a directional bet. So how can you profit from an earnings announcement? You use an options trading strategy called a “straddle.”