The Fundamentals of Stock Option Trading

Seasoned information technology expert John F. Abate owns three companies that offer high quality printed guides: Marketforce, Wintrack, and Success Publishers, LLC. John F. Abate is also engaged in stock option trading.

An option is the right to buy and sell an underlying security at a specific price and time. Stock option trading allows the holder to calculate the stock’s future price within the time frame specified by the option. This gives leverage to the holder on whether to exercise his or her option or not.

There are two different types of options: the “calls” and the “puts.” With the call, the option holder has the right to purchase a security at a specific price and time. The put, on the other hand, gives the option holder the right to sell a security at a specific price and time. Stock option trading is based on a call, a put, or a call and a put combined.

The purchase or selling price used in a call or put is known as the strike price. The final price can go above (in calls) or below (in puts) the strike price in the determination of the profit.

The Three Main Winding Types for Guitar Strings

New Jersey entrepreneur John F. Abate owns Wintrack, Success Publishers, and Marketforce, providing customers high-quality printed guides on topics such as casino slots, horse racing, and lottery numbers. In his free time, John F. Abate maintains an interest in the guitar.

Most modern guitar strings are wound in one of three ways: roundwound, flatwound, and halfround.

Favored among jazz guitarists, flatwound strings feature a core surrounded by smooth wire. This creates a flat appearance, along with a darker, more understated tone. Since flatwound strings are generally stiffer than other types, they are more difficult to play, and don’t work well for blues, rock, or other songs that require intricate, fast note changes.

Despite having a shorter lifespan, roundwound strings create more noise than their counterparts and feature a brighter tone. These strings are included on most standard guitars, since their textured surface promotes good grip and easier play. Roundwound strings are the most popular string type for this reason, and they are the cheapest.

The least popular type is the halfround string. A combination of roundwound and flatwound strings, these are produced when the string is partially flattened via roller compression or mechanical grinding. While halfround strings are brighter than flatwound strings, they still produce a tone that is too dark for many modern genres.

Early Favorites to Win the 2019 Kentucky Derby

Through a trio of sole proprietor companies, John F. Abate offers guides on how to improve performance at casino slots, lotteries, and handicapping horse races. Through one of these companies, New Jersey-based Marketforce, John F. Abate helps customers learn successful strategies for betting on horse races.

Held at the legendary Churchill Downs racecourse in Louisville, the Kentucky Derby is one of the most well-known horse races of the year. Often drawing combined wagers in excess of $100 million, the 2017 Kentucky Derby drew $139.2 million in bets. The 2019 Kentucky Derby is scheduled for May 4, and the three early favorites to win the race, Game Winner (5-1), Improbable (7-1), and Coliseum (8-1), are all trained by Bob Baffert. While these three horses are the overwhelming favorites, other contenders include Instagrand (10-1), Gunmetal Gray (12-1), and Tale of the Union (40-1).

In terms of betting value, some analysts suggest that War of Will (75-1) has the potential for big rewards. Trained by Mark Casse, the horse won the Lecomte Stakes in January, which improved its odds to 75-1 from the opening odds of 100-1.

Looking at the House Edge

For three decades, John F. Abate has operated companies which provide printed guides to gambling topics, including Marketforce and Wintrack. One element of gambling that experts like John F. Abate look at when assessing a game is the house edge.

A gambling game's house edge represents the extent to which a casino or similar establishment makes money on every bet. While individual bets can go well or poorly, the house can be reasonably confident that over the course of thousands of bets, its overall take will be dictated by the game's house edge. Typical calculations of a house edge assume the player is using the optimal strategy for the game in question.

A game with a negligible house edge, such as the 0.5 percent edge of blackjack, is relatively safe for a gambler. The odds of the player winning are almost matched with those of the house winning, so players who play briefly and have a decent run of luck are likely to come out ahead. A game with a larger house edge, such as roulette, keno, or slots, is a riskier proposition for a gambler, especially during long sets. Games which require more thought, effort, or experience typically have a lower house edge.

Early History of the Electric Guitar

John F. Abate has helped gamblers optimize their play for decades, printing guides for activities like horse racing and casino games through companies such as Success Publishers and Wintrack. When not busy with these businesses, John F. Abate likes to play the guitar.

The electric guitar plays a role in many genres of music, especially in America, and dates back to the period leading up to World War II. The 1920s popularized public dance, which drove the need for louder instruments, and by the end of the 1930s electronic amplification had won out as the most effective method of creating volume. Country and jazz guitarists began to adopt it, experimenting with the many ways amplification affected the sound of a guitar.

It wasn't until its adoption for rock and roll, however, that the guitar became a cultural icon. The distinct body shapes of solid-body guitars by manufacturers such as Fender and Gibson joined leather jackets, greased hair, and motorcycles as symbols of the rebellious rock-and-roller. As rock established itself as a genre with staying power, the electric guitar became a staple of American music overall, with sounds branching out from crisp and clean to purposefully distorted and heavy on feedback, extending to the diverse range of today's guitar sounds.