What he had was a very crude understanding of options risk and only explored the superficial characteristics of how options operate.
I believe he was a floor-trader for some point earlier in time? Been a while since I remember his history. I did read that since he managed to last so long without blowing-up, that he must have known something that most people don't.
One thing I remember about his strangles, he had mentioned that selling them requires less margin than selling the legs independently ( I think ). In any case, had the ROGUE WAVE not occurred, he would have actually made profit. Had his broker not carried out a margin-call, he also would have made profit. But alas, they didn't want to take a chance and liquidated him at the worst time.
Kinda like what happened to Neiderhoffer... another bet of contracts that blew-up one of his hedge funds... despite the trade was a winning one by time of expiration.
I've noticed a lot of people don't realize that even if your options win at expiration, you can still get liquidated BEFORE you get there.
