Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Optionsellers.com
The Tampa, Florida commodity trading advisor run by James Cordier, co-author of The Complete Guide to Option Selling (McGraw-Hill; 2004, 2009, 2014). It sold naked options on commodity futures for ~290 wealthy individual clients, many of them retirees, in managed accounts cleared by INTL FCStone (now StoneX). In the week ended 16 Nov 2018 natural gas spiked. Front-month NYMEX gas settled at $4.837 on 14 Nov, up ~18% in a day and ~47% from 2 Nov (EIA settlement series). Balances in ~300 accounts fell below maintenance margin, and the FCM liquidated every position (StoneX 10-K). Clients lost everything in their accounts, and many then owed the FCM more. StoneX reported net receivables of $31.3m in Dec 2018, $29.0m in Sep 2020 and $11.1m by Mar 2024, and won the arbitrations that reached decisions. A plaintiffs' lawyer put client losses at >$100m (Institutional Investor, May 2020, reported). No CFTC enforcement action against Optionsellers.com or Cordier was found by S01, B3 or this batch (Shared facts). Optionsellers is the KB's plainest case of selling naked options with leverage and no stop: years of small premiums, then losses larger than the account in a week. It is a single-event entity and carries five moves (blueprint rule 6).
At a glance
- Founded
- Not confirmed (verify). The firm was active by the early 2000s, when Cordier's first book was published (Dec 2004)
- Founder
- James Cordier; co-author with Michael Gross of The Complete Guide to Option Selling (1st ed. 2004; 2nd ed. 2009; 3rd ed. Oct/Nov 2014, McGraw-Hill — publisher listings)
- Headquarters
- Tampa, Florida (Bloomberg via Financial Advisor, Dec 2018)
- Ownership / structure
- OptionSellers.com Inc., a private company; a CTA registered with the CFTC and a member of the NFA, operating under the CFTC Rule 4.7 exemption for "qualified eligible persons"; it held full discretionary authority over client accounts (INTL FCStone/StoneX 10-K, FY2018 and later)
- Type
- Retail-facing managed-account options seller (CTA); in the blueprint's terms an options trader and blow-up
- Clients
- ~290 individuals (Institutional Investor, May 2020); ~300 accounts at the FCM (StoneX)
- Clearing / FCM
- INTL FCStone Financial Inc. (renamed StoneX Financial Inc. in 2020), which says it "acted solely as the clearing firm" (StoneX filings)
- The trade
- Naked (uncovered) short options on commodity futures; at the end an "overconcentration" of short natural-gas calls and short crude-oil puts (ChapmanAlbin, plaintiffs' counsel, via Bloomberg, Dec 2018 — a litigant's description)
- The blow-up
- Week ended 16 Nov 2018; all positions in ~300 accounts liquidated; client deficits (net receivables to the FCM) of $35.3m (FCStone filing, late Nov 2018, via Bloomberg), $31.3m at 10 Dec 2018 (10-K)
- Regulators
- CFTC and NFA (registration); arbitration at FINRA and NFA; no CFTC or NFA enforcement action found (C07 web checks, Nov 2026; S01; B3)
5 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2004
Option Selling Book and the Retail Pitch
New strategy, product or market / distribution (founding of the public franchise)
2018
FCStone Deficit Claims and Arbitrations
Counterparty or clearing event / legal action
2018
Natural Gas Squeeze and Account Liquidation
Loss, drawdown or blow-up (failure)
2018
Rule 4 7 Managed Accounts at INTL FCStone
Account structure, leverage and clearing choice
2019
Regulatory Aftermath and the Missing CFTC Case
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (absence of one)