You should absolutely listen to this advice. I would recommend the same to you. Options on equities are a lot more prone to wild spikes due to vast variety of factors.
Independent Option trader
- Thread starter Mirah
- Start date
Options are fantastic, if you know what you're doing -- but can just as easily be disastrous if you don't 
Saying that kind of makes me think of the housing boom,and financial crisis.
Mazal tov, may the farce be with you
Saying that kind of makes me think of the housing boom,and financial crisis.
Mazal tov, may the farce be with you
Trading options is my full time job and I work from home. I have been doing it since 2013. If you absolutely have to depend on the profits generated from trading as income and put food on the table, don't do it.
I am profitable but the profit/loss are extremely "lumpy" so if I have to depend on it to live, it would be very stressful.
I am profitable but the profit/loss are extremely "lumpy" so if I have to depend on it to live, it would be very stressful.
To add to that idea. For a smaller player (retail or micro-institutional), trading in off hours is a great way to make money by being a liquidity provider.
Robert Morse
Sponsor
I agree, but that can get expensive and you might not get enough volume. I watch ES, LO, SO and OG options from 6pm ET until 10pm ET most evenings. I see some futures trading but very little option trading. I would guess that a simple set up to make two sided option markets can cost at least $3K/month plus the membership leases plus the cost and maintenance of the server. If you can't build your own software, that will be another $2500 to $3500 per month for Actant or Option City. Without knowing real volume metrics, I would say most of the volume starts when Asia start trading around when I go to sleep, then increases when Europe opens.
Never trade American style options- I've been trading for 16 years- stock options are a joke in my opinion, so trade the cash settled indexes and ignore the noise, take monthly trades, limit your trading to the near 2 months as pricing further out is the wild west. Learn that what you think is an edge is likely to be dumb luck-until you can prove you have an edge. Never ever sell naked puts, and if you trade spread on American style options you will get crushed when there are flash crashes as your shorts will get exrecised while your longs go to pennies-I've done the hard yards in the UK, but I think the same applies for the US. And watch Tasty Trade-enjoy but take the research with a pinch of salt
Care to explain why? I only trade American style stock options. Perhaps I should stop?
Thanks.
Robert Morse
Sponsor
I would stick with want ever strategy provides an edge. Why limit yourself to what works for others.
What hogwash. I would welcome early assignment--eliminates extrinsic value.
Are covered calls ok in your opinion?
I work from home on the west coast and am done by 1:00PM. The lifestyle is very flexible and I don't necessarily wake up early, nor watch the market the entire trading day. If I want to mountain bike, shop, hit the gym or watch/trade the markets from Starbucks during the day, I just take off. I live next to the Beach so sometimes I trade from outside or from my roof deck. Options is more about research, strategy, planning, critical thinking and daily portfolio and risk management, so depending on your positions, you may be just sitting back letting theta or vega make you money, or you may be re-analyzing how to save every position you have at the same time, but you're not staring at 30 second candlesticks and volume bars unless you want to. I do day trade occasionally when I'm bored. I don't work from 9-5 but I easily spend over 40 hours a week on this, mostly on research. I always work out a plan on the weekend for the ensuing week and I always check the Asian and European markets before I hit the hay, which lets me know how early I'll be up the next day. I think if your asking about it, you'll likely give it a try when you're ready, so Good Luck!