Yes, there are. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) has recently introduced a new product called World Currency Options. These new options are settled in U.S. dollars and trade just like index options: the owner of an in-the-money option receives the cash value at expiration. There is no delivery of an underlying currency upon exercise or assignment of the option, unlike the physically settled PHLX currency options.

World Currency Options are available on the British Pound (XDB) and the Euro (XDE). The PHLX plans to expand its offerings to include the most actively traded currencies: the Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc.

The underlying contract size of both the British Pound and Euro options is 10,000 units of currency. That means the owner of an option has the right to buy (call owner) or sell (put owner) 10,000 British pound or Euro. Remember, these are settled in U.S. dollars, so no foreign currency exchange actually takes place.

Currency is normally quoted in terms of cost per unit. For example, the current quote on the Euro is 1.3424, meaning that one Euro costs 1.3424 U.S. Dollars. World Currency Options quotes are given in terms of cost per 100 units; in this example, the quote for XDE (the World Currency Options Euro index) would read 134.24. The World Currency Option British Pound index (XDB) is quoted in the same manor.

Like stock options, the multiplier for World Currency Options is $100, even though the underlying contract is for 10,000 units of currency instead of 100 shares of stock. This means that the strike price is multiplied by $100 to determine the total dollar value. For example, 1 XDE Jan 133 call would be $13,300 (133 x $100) for 10,000 units.

World Currency Options are similar to other index options available at Scottrade; however, the settlement value for expiring contracts is defined by the exchange as follows:

Based on the 12:00 noon (Eastern Time) Buying Rate, as determined by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the last trading day prior to expiration (usually a Friday). If the Noon Buying Rate is not announced by 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), the closing settlement value will be the mostly recently announced Noon Buying Rate, unless the Exchange determines to apply an alternative closing settlement value as a result of extraordinary circumstances. Consult PHLX Rule 1057 for further information.

In other words, the settlement value of these options is based on their price at noon; however, they continue to trade until 4:00 p.m. EST. Other options do not continue to trade after the settlement value is known - keep this in mind if you choose to trade these contracts on the Friday before expiration.

Additional information about the PHLX World Currency Options may be obtained on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Web site: www.phlx.com.

Sincerely,
Brian Falls

Brian Falls manages opt

Dear Average,

The 200 day moving average is a number closely watched by many traders. Some believe this number provides important insight into things to come. "Crossed Above (Below) 200 Day Moving Average Breakout" is a preconfigured alert window available on Trade-Ideas within ScottradeELITE specifically designed to find stocks that have just gone above (below) their 200 day moving average.

How Crossed Above 200 Day Moving Average Breakout is Modeled:
This strategy features one main alert - the "Crossed Above 200 Day Moving Average" alert. It is triggered when a stock crosses its 200 day moving average and the moving average is confirmed by volume.

Trade-Ideas includes two preset filters to help ensure you get quality trading opportunities streamed directly to your ScottradeELITE platform. The preset filters include the following:

1. Minimum Position in Range filter set at the 60th percentile - This filter is set so that you will only get an alert if the breakout happens in the upper 40% of the stock's daily trading range.
2. Minimum Up from the Close filter set to $0.10 - This filter is set so the stock is at least positive when you are alerted the breakout has occurred.

The settings for "Crossed Below 200 Day Moving Average" are the exact opposite. Hopefully, this will give you an idea of how to set up your own trading strategy. The indicators, alerts, and all other features of Trade-Ideas and ScottradeELITE are for research purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Good Luck Trading!

David M. Aferiat, Managing Partner with Trade-Ideas, answers a question regarding modeling specific trading strategy within Trade-Ideas.