New Spread Trader...question

Lightspeed said: "Hi Guys, What a great site. Good people and resources, I am looking forward to learning more. I have a few questions: 1) I am wanting to do a Bull Put spread on the SPY for June. I want to sell the June $145 puts and buy the $144. Questions is, there two options for that same strike price (referencing Yahoo finance option chains): JBGRO.X and SFBRO.X, with different spread prices. Why is that? Which do I choose? I assume it will be JBGRO.X (and then buy SFBRN.X) correct? 2) Is this a reasonable play? Would you do it? If so, is now a good time to get in or wait a bit? 6 weeks seems like a long time and lots can happen. I appreciate any constructive feedback and advice. Once again, thanks in advance. :)"

roarflolo said: "I don't know anything about the option chain symbols, the software I used hide them all from me and I like it :) It's outside of one standard deviation so it's the type of position I'd do as far as probability of success. The only thing I don't like is the payoff of .10, which my commissions would take a big bit out of. 37 days until expiration is a reasonable time frame as well and yes, lot's can happen, but it seems this market only knows one direction anyway, so... :laugh: As far as learning, sign up (for free) at the [url]www.cboe.com[/url] web site and watch some of the web casts, it's gold."

TippingMonkey said: "Regarding the 2 symbols on the same strike, I believe one is the carryover symbol from a 2006 LEAP, and the other one is the current year's offering. If I am correct the prefix of the symbol indicates the year the option was offered, so the symbol with "R" prefix should have been offered in 2006, and the one with "S" prefix should be a 2007 offering. I have no idea where the ones with "J" prefix came from. I remember reading this somewhere but could not find the reference link at the moment, so someone please correct me if I remembered incorrectly. As a rule of thumb I like to use the symbol with the most open interest, as I think volume means liquidity, which is very important to me. :-) Hope this helps."