What are married puts and when is the best time to use them?

Can you compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages between writing covered calls and writing out-of-the-money puts. Supposedly, they have a similar profit chart.

I don't understand how a November call on stock XYZ that is currently trading for 15, for example, could reach a price of 30, especially considering that options seem to drop in price as they approach expiration. Under what conditions will the price for the call go up?

What is the difference between American and European style options?

In selling puts, is it recommended to keep your time frame short term like one month, or is it better to go out longer term - say three to four months?

What happens to a stock's options when the stock splits?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of trading a straddle or a strangle?

What is the best time to exercise an option?

I understand that opening a put-sell position requires a margin account. Can you please tell me how to figure this?

Can option deltas ever be negative?

I am having a hard time understanding that if I own stock of XYZ how can I write puts to make money and how exactly does this compare to writing calls. I understand a little of the concept of writing calls.

I am really confused by the large number of different option quotes for a single stock. For example, according to the symbol rules, the Yahoo! (YHOO) option root should be YHQ. But in fact, there are so many different roots. What is the difference between them? Which one is the most active?

I found a stock trading at 22.50, and the February 20 call option is priced at 4.50. If I buy the stock and sell the call option, it would be a covered call with the call in the money. If I am exercised and have to sell the stock at 20, do I make a profit of 2.00? Assume I don't care if the stock is taken from me. Is this a valid strategy?

I see a lot of at-the-money put and call options being traded. For example, a stock is trading at 60 and the options most actively traded are for the June or July 60 strikes. What is the motive for this type of trade and what are the monetary goals a trader is most likely trying to achieve with this motive?

How or where do you find out whether your option contract is an "American style" or a "European style"? Your web page is great—keep up the good work! Thanks.

I've recently heard someone use the term "assign an option" and was wondering what they meant. Can you tell me what that means?

I bought ABC stock at $15, then simultaneously traded 2 LEAPS, long-term options that expire the year after next. I sold a call with a strike price of 20 and bought a put with a strike of 15. The money I received for the call paid for the put, so the options cost me nothing. At the end of two years, if the stock is $15 or below I lose nothing, yet the profit between $15 and $20 is all mine. Is this a sound strategy?

I have recently heard about QQQQ and SPY. Can you explain what these are and how they work?

Can you review margin requirements and how to calculate it for us?

I am trying to learn the different forms of spreads by paper trading. However, I thought of something that hit me like a truck. What happens if I am holding a bull spread and the option I sold gets called? What do I do then? Does that really happen in real-life trading? Thanks for a great website and keep up the excellent work.

Can you explain how to calculate the best credit spread strategy as far as choosing the strike prices for each leg?

What happens if you buy a deep-in-the-money LEAPS call, and you sell a short-term out-of-the money call against it? For example, stock XYZ is trading at 55, and I buy a January 2002 30 call for $22, and I sell an October 60 call for 5.50. What happens if on October expiration the stock is above 60 or below 30?

I have been writing covered calls and I'm now looking into bear credit spreads. I believe I understand the process of exercise and assignment covered in the standard text and in your Q&A's. However, I've never read how an assignment is performed when someone has an option spread. I am just assuming that brokerage firms will simultaneously exercise my long options to cover the assignment for my short options. At least I hope so. Can you please explain this?