So it finally happened.

[nO0b]

Quote from TraderSU:

I think DIA is the underlying. LoL, stop guessing and wait for OP to respond.

didnt he say he was short the upside ahead of a good earnings report which resulted in a 17% rise stock price?

doesn't sound like DIA or SPX to me.

 

[spindr0]

Quote from traderlux:

Is it possible to gain over 100% with CCs in several months? If you did not see it would you believe it? If some one showed you the account would you believe it? Would you walk away with the money and say you were a successful premium seller? Or would you keep doing what you had been doing and continue to be a successful premium seller. Just because you never saw something doesnt mean it doesnt exist.

Anything is possible but it's very unlikely to be able double an account with CC's in several months. If you did that, you should be very proud of your accomplishment.

 

[traderlux]

Quote from spindr0:

Anything is possible but it's very unlikely to be able double an account with CC's in several months. If you did that, you should be very proud of your accomplishment.

For the record, I did not do it myself but I was subscribed to the guy's service as he did it. So I saw all his trades. He moved from doing mainly directional to doing mainly CC's. He also used port margin.

I had been burned in the past with CC's, so I did not follow the CC trades. When they started making money, I was wondering what the hell was different this time.

I will say the guy has an intuition about options. The only mention of greeks is which Island to vacation on.

While others were hem-n-haw-n through-out 2009, he just forged ahead with trades.

 

[mike007]

Quote from MegaDeth:

Curious how you have a risk/reward ratio of 1/1 with a higher probability of reward ...

calendar spreads(doubles)

 

[spindr0]

Quote from traderlux:

For the record, I did not do it myself but I was subscribed to the guy's service as he did it. So I saw all his trades. He moved from doing mainly directional to doing mainly CC's. He also used port margin.

Not to detract from the guy's performance but the past 8 months has been very kind to any bullish strategy, particularly on margin. I'd be curious to see what he did in the 2nd half of '07 and all of '08 when the SHIFT was hitting the fan.

 

[traderlux]

Quote from spindr0:

Not to detract from the guy's performance but the past 8 months has been very kind to any bullish strategy, particularly on margin. I'd be curious to see what he did in the 2nd half of '07 and all of '08 when the SHIFT was hitting the fan.

Kinda my thoughts also. He only started doing this type of aggressive CC in very late 08 and into 09. As I said, prior to then he was mainly directional and not too much was going on.
But he has been having a very good streak with these CC's.

The only reason I mentioned this is because "old guy trader" said he never saw successful premium selling in 40+ years.

 

[spindr0]

Quote from traderlux:

Kinda my thoughts also. He only started doing this type of aggressive CC in very late 08 and into 09. As I said, prior to then he was mainly directional and not too much was going on.
But he has been having a very good streak with these CC's.

My somewhat educated guess is that the newsletter guy's 100% success came mainly from margined capital appreciation of the underlying in a superb bull stretch. The premium was gravy. Late '07 and '08 was a time for covered puts, if into covering.

In the market, being lucky is better than being smart

 

[traderlux]

Quote from spindr0:

My somewhat educated guess is that the newsletter guy's 100% success came mainly from margined capital appreciation of the underlying in a superb bull stretch. The premium was gravy. Late '07 and '08 was a time for covered puts, if into covering.

In the market, being lucky is better than being smart

"margined capital appreciation of the underlying in a superb bull stretch"...."premium was gravy"

Interesting....

 

[OldTrader]

Quote from traderlux:

Is it possible to gain over 100% with CCs in several months? If you did not see it would you believe it? If some one showed you the account would you believe it? Would you walk away with the money and say you were a successful premium seller? Or would you keep doing what you had been doing and continue to be a successful premium seller. Just because you never saw something doesnt mean it doesnt exist.

Listen son, obviously just because I didn't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Nor does it mean it does. It's anecdotal information from someone who has been in this business for over 40 years, to include some time on the floor. I also at one time managed firm money in guess what? Options. So take it for what it's worth.

Some of the other questions: I'm referring to selling naked options. That said, I think covered call writing is really not especially attractive either. Take a look at the records of some of these call writing funds that used to be around...maybe still are. Terrible.

Let's just say this...I've had a long and successful career in this business. I rarely use options in any form. I'd rather just trade the underlying security or future outright. And this comes from someone who at one time traded almost nothing but options, long, short, spreads, you name it. Like I said, the successful option traders I've known were market makers.

OldTrader

 

[LTD4U]

Quote from OldTrader:

Let's just say this...I've had a long and successful career in this business. I rarely use options in any form. I'd rather just trade the underlying security or future outright. And this comes from someone who at one time traded almost nothing but options, long, short, spreads, you name it. Like I said, the successful option traders I've known were market makers.

OldTrader

Why, according to your valuable experience, did you choose to trade the underlying?
Wasn’t professional option trading successful? thanks