Just to update some of these options trades. The AUD puts have doubled in 72 hours. My VXX calls have almost tripled in a bit more than a week. Of course, I didn't have serious money invested in them. My point in going over this is not to crow, but to mention that I am becoming quite enamored with options.
Up until the GE calls, I don't think I had ever made an important options trade. I think this has cost me a lot of money over the years. When I think about all I could have made in 07/08 if I had been using options instead of outright positions, I want to crawl into a corner. I was wildly bearish on the GBP from late 07 and was short for most of the next year (short GBP/USD and short GBP/JPY). However, the noise in the markets kept me from holding a really large position. How much more might I have made if, in Nov 2007, I had purchased a boatload of GBP $1.50 puts?
Options are no holy grail, but I think I can do a lot better by making them an important part of my trading.
I am planning on focusing almost exclusively on options for the next few months and see if it improves my performance.
