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John, Great story, thanks for sharing! Good luck!

Yes, your wording was incorrect. Greeks express the sensitivity, but do not affect prices.

Actually, you do NOT understand the Greeks. The Greeks do NOT affect the option price. Well, the reason you don't see how you can apply such knowledge is because you don't have the knowledge. It is fair to say that the Greeks may not be all that useful to a retail trader who concentrates on...

Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you need to learn the theory behind options before you can learn about option trading. That is, you need to understand how options are priced, why volatility is important, what are "Greeks" and how they are used, and so on. You cannot trade options without...

Futures are instruments that are listed on exchanges, and you need to open an account with a broker in order to trade them. Your first point is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

WmWaster, As I have stated on another thread, you ask questions, but you don't understand the answers so you keep asking questions yet no matter how many questions you ask you still don't understand the answers. Learn the basics first, then ask questions.

Yes, your career is over!:D I mean really, trading 40 at a time with 30K, no wonder you lost it all. I suggest you read a few books on trading and money/risk management. The intial goal for any trader is to stay in the game long enough to learn it.

WmWaster, I can see where you're coming from with your point of finding out whether options are suitable for you or not, but, unfortunately, without some basic knowledge of options noone can really answer your questions. To put it another way, we can easily answer your questions, as many...

What's a variance swap? I mean is it a separate product or just some combination of vanilla options? (I did Google it, I just wonder whether it is that or something else which uses the same term) See, I'm not that smart.:)

Trading is difficult, no matter which instrument you trade. Let's suppose you buy a call option as you expect the underlying to move up. If the implied volatility of that option is very high then you have bought an expensive option. Now, suppose the underlying moves up, but at the same time...

WMWaster, Pick up a book on options. Your knowledge of options is too vague to provide you with any meaningful advice/insight.

I didn't say that there's no reliable model for estimating volatility, I just said that I don't know it. You asked whether it is possible to trade based on theoretical value and I answered that in order for that theoretical value to have any meaning you need to be able to estimate future...

Volatility is not money. Just because you're short Vega and volatility falls doesn't necessarily mean that you have a profit. Btw, no, I don't have a reliable model for estimating volatility, but that's mainly because of my beliefs and trading approach.

You obviously have a lot to learn. You can still lose money with options even if you were dead right on direction. It's called VOLATILITY, which is the second most important variable in option pricing.

In order to do that you need to find a way to estimate future volatility and then make sure it is a better estimate than what the market is collectively estimating. Volatility is the only fudge factor in option pricing.

You can also use an NPV calculation. You got Starting capital, interim cash flows and future value. The IRR is your rate of return.

Yes, you can open an account with TOS, assuming there're no regulatory issues between NZ and US, and you can trade options, stocks and index e-mini futures. There's some extra paperwork, but not a big deal.

Good point. Unless something unexpected happens you cannot have both an IV and HV exploding. If it is expected, like earnings, then only the HV will increase, while the IV will get crushed.

Hey MAESTRO, when is the next space shuttle landing?:D

As long as it stays that way. Here at ET, as you may know, threads tend to turn into personal attacks and stuff.