Limiting odbball risk with OEX options?

["David Folster" <mr_bond@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've been thinking about ways to limit the risk and drawdowns of Oddball and
its variations, and I began to consider the use of OEX options.  I am
wondering if someone who knows can correct my thinking if I am wrong?

My testing has revealed that stops sverely limit Odbball's performance.  So
what about instead of using futures contract with stops, you traded the near
term in the money OEX option (say 5 points in the money).  One in the money
OEX option should return roughly the same point value as 1 mini SnP (no?),
since for every  1 point move in the OEX you'd be making $100 and it is
roughly half the value of the SP.  Anyhow, to my thinking, the key is the
fact that the system holds trades for just a few days (1-3) and so the time
value decay would be minimal, and the actual intrinsic value decay would be
limited to the 5 points that the option was in the money.  Your max
theoretical risk would be the price of the option of course -- sort of like
a stop loss without using a stop loss.

Can someone more knowledgable about options than I comment on the validity
of this, not just for Oddball, but for any short term SAR system?

Thanks!

David

PS can someone tell me when OEX options expire?