WHO ARE OPTIONS INVESTORS?
A recently released survey reveals some interesting characteristics about American options investors and traders. Monogram Group conducted the survey in November on behalf of OptionsHouse, an online retail and institutional brokerage firm. Here is a sampling of the findings.

REASONS FOR TRADING OPTIONS
• For short-term gains - 74%
• To increase income on my current portfolio - 74%
• As a stock alternative - 59%
• To leverage my funds - 48%
•To protect/hedge a portfolio against losses - 34%
• Selling puts to acquire stock - 19%
• Other - 4%

LENGTH TRADING OPTIONS
• Less than 1 year - 14%
• 1-5 years - 46%
• 6-10 years - 20%
• 11 years or more - 20%

FREQUENCY OF TRADING COMPARED TO LAST YEAR
• More often - 60%
• Less often - 14%
• The same - 26%

OPTIONS TRADES PER MONTH
• Less than 1 - 3%
• 1-5 - 29%
• 6-10 - 21%
• 11-15 - 13%
• 16-20 - 9%
• 21-30 - 8%
• 31-50 - 6%

AVERAGE NUMBER OF CONTRACTS TRADED
• 1-5 - 39%
• 6-10 - 36%
• 11-19 - 8%
• 20-49 - 10%
• 50-99 - 4%
• 100 or more - 3%

FEELINGS ABOUT OPTIONS TRADING
(percentage indicates respondents somewhat agreed or completely agreed with the sentiment)
• I find options trading to be very exciting - 78%
• I find options trading to very interesting - 90%
• I think options trading is fun - 71%
• I find options trading to be very stressful - 29%
• Options trading is only for knowledgeable traders - 71%
• I only trade options with money I can afford to lose - 71%

IS TRADING YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME?
• Yes - 21%
• No - 79%

AGE
• Under 35 - 8%
• 35-44 - 20%
• 45-54 - 28%
• 55-64 - 29%
• 65-74 - 12%
• 75 or older - 3%

ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME
• Less than $50,000 - 12%
• $50,000-$99,999 - 32%
• $100,000-$149,999 - 28%
• $150,000-$249,999 - 16%
• $250,000 or more - 12%

GENDER
• Male - 91%
• Female - 9%

EDUCATION LEVEL
• Less than a high school diploma - 1%
• High school graduate - 5%
• Some college - 18%
• College graduate - 33%
• Some post graduate classes - 12%
• Post graduate degree - 32%

By Heather Larson-Blakestad

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