I think what is causing the difference of opinion is the time frames.
If your just buying long and add in the current arbitrage its a no brainer, as if you were going to buy 50k of heads today and definitely hold for over a week regardless, your going to see value in options.
But many people work in different time frames and with different rules.
The risk with options are the exit strategy. Whats the exit plan? Eg, and this is my experience and what keeps me out of options, its the black swan event. Its the unseen risk.
Who remembers Fukushima? Well I just happened to hold Uranium options prior to that disaster.
Now lets say you hold $100k or 200,000 of msn heads. If the black Swan event hits tomorrow (We cant predict it) the fact that there is currently 2 million shares on the buy sides means you can exit as there is that demand.
If you hold $100k or 250,000 of MNS options, there is only 3 buyers or 128,000 on the buy side. and 120000 are 33 cents and below.
The risk is the liquidity. Trust me until your caught with your pants down the options are very tasty and hard to resist.
No one here is saying dont buy options, everyone has there own trading method, however traders stay away from them. DYOR.
MNS Price at posting:
50.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held