Bull season for options traders

60 percent of online options investors trade more than they were 12 months ago, according to an OptionsHouse study of the characteristics and trading habits of investors and their and expectations of online options brokers, writes MarketingCharts.

The OptionsHouse 2008 Online Options Investor Study was conducted by Chicago-based Monogram Group on behalf of OptionsHouse in Nov. 2007 among 720 options traders.

Some findings:

• 79 percent of traders reported online trading is not their primary source of income.
• 10 percent find options trading stressful.
• 74 percent trade options for short-term gains.
• 91 percent of options traders are men.
• 57 percent of options traders are between 45 and 64 years of age.
• 76 percent are college graduates (32 percent have graduate degrees).
• 84 percent of respondents view "real time" quotes as being a very important feature of an online brokerage firm.

MarketingCharts has more findings from the study.