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This would be a very good idea. You would not believe some of the idiots I have interviewed: show up in khakis, low-cut stuff, etc. and no social skills. I am talking about jobs for PhDs, not burger flippers. They do not even know they are supposed to stand up, shake your hand (not like a...

Still in TLT calls. Forget burgers, need tenderloin. But this all has to end somewhere. Whither TLT?

I suppose it's like owing anyone else money. The broker can take you to court, garnish your wages, etc. Why don't you trade European style indexes? But remember that 1987 could repeat itself, so you need at least enough capital to cover that.

I see what you mean. But maybe they said that about houses once. You still gotta have a buyer.

You are right: we never learn, and we never will. I especially love the part about using the school loan money to make payments on the 17% car loan. We are once again making home loans to people who put 3% down. The entitlement thing is fascinating. I had no money in college, either. I...

So true. You must test it yourself, not take anyone's word for it. This is the only way you can believe it. And if you don't believe it, you won't stick with it.

Mired in muck.

Not sure what to think. Individual investors may feel better, but we are a minority, and we certainly don't rock the markets. Most people, as mentioned above, are indeed worse off than they were before the recession/depression or whatever you want to call it, and most people don't have...

I am not surprised. Systematic trading is probably even more important for the small trader, who does not generally have access to inside information.

Yes. I use deep in the money calls on broad-based, liquid ETFs. Long only. Bid-ask spreads are not good on long-dated, ITM options--it is better to use the front month and keep rolling them if you wish to stay in the trade. If you go deep enough, there is essentially no vega or theta...

My 2-yr old Acer is the worst POS I have ever owned--almost rivals my Compaq back in the 90s. On the contrary, my Asus laptop is a marvel.

James, reading is a great idea. You are on the right track. Read those, and keep on reading, in the broad-based way that you are doing. I'm an options trader, so my bias is toward week trading or month trading, not day trading. I think the Rookie's Guide is the very best intro to options--I...

Sure feels like 1999. I remember going to the gym and these housewives asking me if they could change the channel to CNBC so they could cheerlead their QCOM stock. The elves know how this ends.....

It depends what you want. Beating the S&P is only 1 goal. For example, some people may be more interested in reducing volatility than beating the S&P. With the same average return and less volatility, more $$ accumulates.

Very good points. I would like to add one thing. Trading is a bit different from a business in that it is a probabilities game. Depending on your time frame (hours, days, weeks, months, or whatever), you will not make money every hour, day, week, etc. But if you have an edge, the...

It is a tradeoff among decay, volatility and slippage. If you use OTM calls, their value will decay quickly on a daily basis, which may offset your gains. If you use ATM calls, they jump around when volatility changes. If you use ITM calls, you have the purest way to duplicate the underlying...

Why don't you buy a deep in the money call or a synthetic. The price (or the margin) will be about a tenth that of SPY. The slippage on the call is greater than on the synthetic, but you do not have to worry about getting the SPY put to you if the market drops.

I usually look at the small caps. They have made no new highs for about 6 months. So my guess is that we are done.

Had a good laugh today when I deleted my Portfolio page--didn't even know you could do that. I had to call them to figure out how to get it back. Now there's a good way to avoid looking at your P&L....

Interesting book I read a few years ago: I am going to greatly gloss over and simplify what's in the book--please forgive that, but do consider reading it if you have an interest. The book is about directional trading. You may think you do not know direction. But his premise is: yes, you...