When most traders think of making money in the markets, they picture buying low and selling high — or riding a trend. But ...

The straddle is an options trading strategy, so named for the shape it makes on a pricing chart; your position literally “straddles” the price of the underlying asset. With the straddle, you ...

The first situation is that IV decreases after you place the short straddle. Since you are selling options, you are short volatility and are betting that option prices will decrease.

Some of the more popular earnings-focused options strategies include “earnings straddles,” directionally-focused naked options and calendar spreads.

One idea was to combine long NDX option positions with short dated short straddles. A first run at this suggestion yielded promising results.

Options straddles and options strangles are two advanced options strategies that can be used to capitalize on changes in implied volatility (IV) and stock price volatility.