| Option traders are pushing implied volatility levels lower at an accelerating clip on Conseco Inc.'s (CNO) options. CNO's implied volatility levels jumped from 51.99 percent yesterday to 43.50 percent today---a day-over-day gain of -16.33 percent, which sets CNO up for some interesting option trades. Learn how to use the volatility skew and other trading indicators in Learning Markets Options Coaching for Only $5. Of course, it is always important to keep implied volatility levels in perspective relative to what they have been in the past for a specific stock because what is considered high implied volatility for one stock may actually be considered low implied volatility for another stock. Looking back at the implied volatility levels for CNO during the past year, we can see that the highest level CNO has seen is 234.12 percent and the lowest level CNO has seen is 42.37 percent. So CNO's current implied volatility level of 43.50 is closer to its low for the year. Seeing that CNO's implied volatility is falling and that it is closer to its low for the year, you now have to determine if you are bullish or bearish on the stock. If you are bullish and want to be more conservative, you may want to look at doing a pairs trade---buying a call on one stock and buying a put on the other stock---between CNO and PICO Holdings Inc. (PICO) or between CNO and Assurant Inc. (AIZ) to hedge some of the risk you may take on by trading CNO alone. AIZ and PICO are both part of the Accident & Health Insurance industry. You may also want to look at employing one of the following strategies if you are bullish: - Selling a naked put - Entering a vertical spread by buying an ITM call and selling an ATM call - Entering a vertical spread by buying an OTM put and selling an ATM put On the other hand, if you are bearish, you may want to look at employing one of the following strategies: - Selling a naked call - Entering a vertical spread by buying an OTM call and selling an ATM call - Entering a vertical spread by buying an ITM put and selling an ATM put Want to learn how to trade these strategies? Check out Learning Markets Options Coaching for Only $5. | 
