My first attempt at trading options
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
I started trading stocks along with my brother 2 years ago when I was 20. Things went all right, we made some money and lost some money. By the time we were done, we probably came out maybe a few hundred dollars richer, nothing much. I actually had purchased $2000 worth of AAPL stock when it was around $17 share (it was several months before the IPod craze, and before the release of OSX). I sold it when it hit $22, thinking it would cap there. Considering it's touching $50 a share now (and that's AFTER the 2-for-1 split!), obviously I regret selling that early. :-O It's dangerous. And it's stressful if lots of money is involved. I ended up taking my money out of the market and just paying off bills. It's hard to justify what basicaly boils down to gambling when you have bills to pay. I still have my Ameritrade account opened, but haven't touched it or looked at it in almost a year now.
Tech, life, family, faith: Give me a visit. I'm currently blogging about: Cops & Robbers Judah Himango
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
I'd be interested to hear about your experiences and methods. www.merrens.com
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I'd be interested to hear about your experiences and methods. www.merrens.com
I've been watching the market for months, but actually put some money in on a position this past Monday. I'm still in the position, so I'd prefer to wait until I've exited to explain my method. I'm convinced that there's a lot of money to be made trading options, but anyone who thinks it's going to be easy money is horribly mistaken. Like anything else worth doing, it takes hard work and lots of discipline. I say this not from experience as much as I do from trying to heed other's wisdom. I'll explain more after I've exited the position.
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
I have a 'Margin Call' framed and hanging on the wall from my trading days back in the '80s, when you could trade options on margin (I think they are all cash settlement these days). The margin call was for $1,000,000.00 USD after I had written 1,000 out of the money call options 15 minutes before the markets closed and the options expired. You are right, it will take a lot of hard work in order to make money at trading options. Most option writers are already using a hedging strategy so they can protect themselves against severe losses. Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] Remember that in Texas, Gun Control is hitting what you aim at. [Richard Stringer] Nice sig! [Tim Deveaux on Matt Newman's sig with a quote from me]
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
Look at using http://www.scscompany.com/[^] if your interested in doing this. It's a pretty good tool. Also whenever you do a trade you should always hedge it.
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
I just did my first trade today :) I just bought 3 stocks, nothing major. I also have been watching what was going on. I will see how it goes. So far so good. I work for a firm on Wall Street so I have to follow a bunch of different rules. One is I can not sell anything until 30 days after the purchase, so that makes me have to be a little more sure of things. I can only use 4 different brokerage firms also. Its been exciting. I was thinking of writing myself a small little app just to get prices. Does anyone know of an companies that I could get a free price feed from?
We shouldn't assume something's debugged just because everyone in the whole world has access to the source code. -- modified at 13:53 Friday 16th September, 2005
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
Screw the trading. Become a broker. They get a commission whether the stock does well or tanks. Jon Sagara As you may presently yourself be fully made aware of, my grammar sucks. Sagara.org | Blog | My Articles J.O.N.S.A.G.A.R.A.: Journeying Operational Neohuman Skilled in Assassination, Galactic Analysis and Rational Astrophysics
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I just did my first trade today :) I just bought 3 stocks, nothing major. I also have been watching what was going on. I will see how it goes. So far so good. I work for a firm on Wall Street so I have to follow a bunch of different rules. One is I can not sell anything until 30 days after the purchase, so that makes me have to be a little more sure of things. I can only use 4 different brokerage firms also. Its been exciting. I was thinking of writing myself a small little app just to get prices. Does anyone know of an companies that I could get a free price feed from?
We shouldn't assume something's debugged just because everyone in the whole world has access to the source code. -- modified at 13:53 Friday 16th September, 2005
How about this[^]? It's written by one of our very own CPians! :) -- LuisR
Luis Alonso Ramos Intelectix - Chihuahua, Mexico Not much here: My CP Blog!
The amount of sleep the average person needs is five more minutes. -- Vikram A Punathambekar, Aug. 11, 2005
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
I never traded options - just too damned complicated for me to want to mess with them. But I have traded regular stocks on the Nasdaq quite a bit. I did it exclusively for a year because I was unemployed. I made money, not a lot, but enough to barely scrape by. I found it extremely stressful, and it had other negative effects on me - I smoked incessently the whole time the market was open, for one. After an intensive study of the market I have determined that there is at least one very reliable way to make money on the Nasdaq at least, and it is the one and only method I firmly believe in: Trade the QQQQ only. Here are the reasons why I say this: Technical indicators DO work, but ONLY in the absence of significant external perturbations. That makes technical analysis a very shaky endeavor for any given individual stock, but it conversely means that TA works very well for an index stock where individual perturbations of the constituent stocks are averaged over a large number of diverse stocks. You also don't have the nightmares of morning gaps that can be devastating. Not to say that the QQQQ never gaps, but it rarely gaps significantly. Also, since it is an index, it responds very smoothly and predictably to simpler technical indicators like MACD crossovers. The QQQQ moves slow and steady in most cases, so you can easily ride the trends, and if a trend looks like it is going to fizzle, you usually have plenty of time to decide to get out before your losses mount too much. Not every year, but in most average years, the QQQQ shows pretty regular periodic cycles maybe 8-10 times or so. The weakest cycles often represent at least a dollar move or more with easily observed entry and exits. That means most of the time you are keeping your money where it really should be - out of the market. And you can trade only longs with very little risk. In short (no pun, LOL) the QQQQ really represents the way the average individual can and should participate in the market - not to get rich, but rather to accumulate wealth over a period of years, while protecting one's principle. Of course, there is one drawback - with a stock trading in the roughly $40 range you have to be pretty well capitalized to take large enough positions to make money. But still ... A typical starter trading account is 50K and you may have up to as much as another 50K in margin. Now most people who try to trade individual stocks on this typical sort of "starter account" are living pretty dange
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How about this[^]? It's written by one of our very own CPians! :) -- LuisR
Luis Alonso Ramos Intelectix - Chihuahua, Mexico Not much here: My CP Blog!
The amount of sleep the average person needs is five more minutes. -- Vikram A Punathambekar, Aug. 11, 2005
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I never traded options - just too damned complicated for me to want to mess with them. But I have traded regular stocks on the Nasdaq quite a bit. I did it exclusively for a year because I was unemployed. I made money, not a lot, but enough to barely scrape by. I found it extremely stressful, and it had other negative effects on me - I smoked incessently the whole time the market was open, for one. After an intensive study of the market I have determined that there is at least one very reliable way to make money on the Nasdaq at least, and it is the one and only method I firmly believe in: Trade the QQQQ only. Here are the reasons why I say this: Technical indicators DO work, but ONLY in the absence of significant external perturbations. That makes technical analysis a very shaky endeavor for any given individual stock, but it conversely means that TA works very well for an index stock where individual perturbations of the constituent stocks are averaged over a large number of diverse stocks. You also don't have the nightmares of morning gaps that can be devastating. Not to say that the QQQQ never gaps, but it rarely gaps significantly. Also, since it is an index, it responds very smoothly and predictably to simpler technical indicators like MACD crossovers. The QQQQ moves slow and steady in most cases, so you can easily ride the trends, and if a trend looks like it is going to fizzle, you usually have plenty of time to decide to get out before your losses mount too much. Not every year, but in most average years, the QQQQ shows pretty regular periodic cycles maybe 8-10 times or so. The weakest cycles often represent at least a dollar move or more with easily observed entry and exits. That means most of the time you are keeping your money where it really should be - out of the market. And you can trade only longs with very little risk. In short (no pun, LOL) the QQQQ really represents the way the average individual can and should participate in the market - not to get rich, but rather to accumulate wealth over a period of years, while protecting one's principle. Of course, there is one drawback - with a stock trading in the roughly $40 range you have to be pretty well capitalized to take large enough positions to make money. But still ... A typical starter trading account is 50K and you may have up to as much as another 50K in margin. Now most people who try to trade individual stocks on this typical sort of "starter account" are living pretty dange
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
Actually, I write options. I tend to view it as somebody giving me a $20 bill. This is because something on the order of 75% of all options are left to expire. The stock that I've written the option for must be one that I've purchased for lower than the current market value so as to mitigate opportunity loss if the option is actually exercised. In addition, I make sure that it is a stock that I am can afford to part with. For example, say I have 1000 shares of IBM and I write options for 100 shares and they are actually exercised it doesn’t really damage my position. Conversely, if I wrote options for 500 shares and they are exercised, my position is damaged severely (that is assuming I was not attempting to cash out my position in the specific stock). As far as long term market investing goes, I tend to be a bit of a maverick. I don't want to own and investment if it does not put money in my pocket in a regular basis. So, I tend look at non dividend paying stocks as little more than trading cards. Hey don't worry, I can handle it. I took something. I can see things no one else can see. Why are you dressed like that? - Jack Burton
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I never traded options - just too damned complicated for me to want to mess with them. But I have traded regular stocks on the Nasdaq quite a bit. I did it exclusively for a year because I was unemployed. I made money, not a lot, but enough to barely scrape by. I found it extremely stressful, and it had other negative effects on me - I smoked incessently the whole time the market was open, for one. After an intensive study of the market I have determined that there is at least one very reliable way to make money on the Nasdaq at least, and it is the one and only method I firmly believe in: Trade the QQQQ only. Here are the reasons why I say this: Technical indicators DO work, but ONLY in the absence of significant external perturbations. That makes technical analysis a very shaky endeavor for any given individual stock, but it conversely means that TA works very well for an index stock where individual perturbations of the constituent stocks are averaged over a large number of diverse stocks. You also don't have the nightmares of morning gaps that can be devastating. Not to say that the QQQQ never gaps, but it rarely gaps significantly. Also, since it is an index, it responds very smoothly and predictably to simpler technical indicators like MACD crossovers. The QQQQ moves slow and steady in most cases, so you can easily ride the trends, and if a trend looks like it is going to fizzle, you usually have plenty of time to decide to get out before your losses mount too much. Not every year, but in most average years, the QQQQ shows pretty regular periodic cycles maybe 8-10 times or so. The weakest cycles often represent at least a dollar move or more with easily observed entry and exits. That means most of the time you are keeping your money where it really should be - out of the market. And you can trade only longs with very little risk. In short (no pun, LOL) the QQQQ really represents the way the average individual can and should participate in the market - not to get rich, but rather to accumulate wealth over a period of years, while protecting one's principle. Of course, there is one drawback - with a stock trading in the roughly $40 range you have to be pretty well capitalized to take large enough positions to make money. But still ... A typical starter trading account is 50K and you may have up to as much as another 50K in margin. Now most people who try to trade individual stocks on this typical sort of "starter account" are living pretty dange
So, given you're experience with trading the Q's where would you say it is going now and why?
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Anyone else here trade stock options actively? I just started on Monday. I think I've been quite fortunate, as I've easily made 80% on my money on my first trade and it's still rising. I'm finding that the experience is much more stressful than the average day of coding. Anyone else have a lot of options experience?
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I never traded options - just too damned complicated for me to want to mess with them. But I have traded regular stocks on the Nasdaq quite a bit. I did it exclusively for a year because I was unemployed. I made money, not a lot, but enough to barely scrape by. I found it extremely stressful, and it had other negative effects on me - I smoked incessently the whole time the market was open, for one. After an intensive study of the market I have determined that there is at least one very reliable way to make money on the Nasdaq at least, and it is the one and only method I firmly believe in: Trade the QQQQ only. Here are the reasons why I say this: Technical indicators DO work, but ONLY in the absence of significant external perturbations. That makes technical analysis a very shaky endeavor for any given individual stock, but it conversely means that TA works very well for an index stock where individual perturbations of the constituent stocks are averaged over a large number of diverse stocks. You also don't have the nightmares of morning gaps that can be devastating. Not to say that the QQQQ never gaps, but it rarely gaps significantly. Also, since it is an index, it responds very smoothly and predictably to simpler technical indicators like MACD crossovers. The QQQQ moves slow and steady in most cases, so you can easily ride the trends, and if a trend looks like it is going to fizzle, you usually have plenty of time to decide to get out before your losses mount too much. Not every year, but in most average years, the QQQQ shows pretty regular periodic cycles maybe 8-10 times or so. The weakest cycles often represent at least a dollar move or more with easily observed entry and exits. That means most of the time you are keeping your money where it really should be - out of the market. And you can trade only longs with very little risk. In short (no pun, LOL) the QQQQ really represents the way the average individual can and should participate in the market - not to get rich, but rather to accumulate wealth over a period of years, while protecting one's principle. Of course, there is one drawback - with a stock trading in the roughly $40 range you have to be pretty well capitalized to take large enough positions to make money. But still ... A typical starter trading account is 50K and you may have up to as much as another 50K in margin. Now most people who try to trade individual stocks on this typical sort of "starter account" are living pretty dange
rwestgraham wrote: but one with the protection of diversification like a mutual fund, and one that gives you the ability to participate in the market, not with maybe one or two big boys and some individuals, but rather ALL of the big boys, floor traders, and literally thousands of other individuals. I am not an option trader ( I think that unless you are a professional options are not an option ) but am a big ( for me anyway ) mutual fund investor. With some homework and a little luck - and I mean just a little - one can average between 8-13% APR a year. If you roll the profits back into the fund you can make signifigent gains with not a whole lot of risk. You need to do some homework and understand the ins and outs of mutual fund investing but I have several funds that I put 5-10 K in that are now worth 30-35 K. You can even shelter a lot of the taxes in many cases. I just do not have the intestinal fortitude to do options or buy on margins or derivitives or even commodities. I just plod along with my portfolio of no load mutuals and put at least 35% of my pretax income in each year. 25% in a tax deferred SEP account and 10-15% with my Vanguard account. If I had had enough sense to start doing this 20 years ago I would be able to retire now instead of 5 years from now. Each fund has its ups and downs but the average will beat CD's and saving accounts silly. Richard Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of Congress... But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain
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rwestgraham wrote: but one with the protection of diversification like a mutual fund, and one that gives you the ability to participate in the market, not with maybe one or two big boys and some individuals, but rather ALL of the big boys, floor traders, and literally thousands of other individuals. I am not an option trader ( I think that unless you are a professional options are not an option ) but am a big ( for me anyway ) mutual fund investor. With some homework and a little luck - and I mean just a little - one can average between 8-13% APR a year. If you roll the profits back into the fund you can make signifigent gains with not a whole lot of risk. You need to do some homework and understand the ins and outs of mutual fund investing but I have several funds that I put 5-10 K in that are now worth 30-35 K. You can even shelter a lot of the taxes in many cases. I just do not have the intestinal fortitude to do options or buy on margins or derivitives or even commodities. I just plod along with my portfolio of no load mutuals and put at least 35% of my pretax income in each year. 25% in a tax deferred SEP account and 10-15% with my Vanguard account. If I had had enough sense to start doing this 20 years ago I would be able to retire now instead of 5 years from now. Each fund has its ups and downs but the average will beat CD's and saving accounts silly. Richard Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of Congress... But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain
I'm just starting with this whole options thing. I'm fairly certain that my portfolio wil beat 20% this year (and I just started Monday) if I stick with it, but this might be the naive wishful thinking of a young pup. I've heard so many people say they wished they had started the compounding investments when they were young. I'm saving approximately 30% of my after-tax income. Right now it's just in a lame-o savings account, but as I build more confidence I'll be putting more of that into a compounding situation--whether that be options, ETFs, or real estate is yet to be determined. Keep expenses down. Keep learning up. Learn from others' experiences and mistakes since you don't have enough time to make all the mistakes yourself. to die is gain
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The first half of this year has been piss poor, I did not trade at all. No surprise there - nothing really stimulating the economy, we still have an ongoing war, and now a deficit spiralling out of control to boot. In the last several months I have cautiously made a couple of trades. The QQQQ showed a very favorable MACD crossover in the middle of May - I like to see a pretty strong, pretty fast crossover for most reliable trading. I got in a little above $36 and got out about 10 days later a little under $38 - a good trade. MACD crossed over again the first week of July. I don't like these sort of crossovers - a crossover from a low near the zero line could mean a rally but it could also just be chop. This turned out to be a rally, but not my favorite trade scenario. I got in a little above $38 because there was clearly a trend but I got out a little below $39 because I was nervous about this trade setup - a not so good trade, but definitely not a loser. QQQQ ultimately hit $40, but better safe than sorry. As far as another poster asking where the QQQQ is going now, it is impossible to say. The MACD is bouncing around the zero line since mid to late August - I consider that chop, and I don't trade chop. What I would like to see is the QQQQ fall so that the MACD drops well below the zero line, then crosses over quickly. Look at the chart pattern between May and June - that is the kind of setup I like to see. The QQQQ has not cycled this year with the frequency I would really like to see. We need to get out of Iraq, and badly. The chart explains it all, although these charts are not the greatest: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=QQQQ&t=6m&l=on&z=m&q=c&p=&a=m26-12-9&c=[^] If you really want good charts, get an account at Prophet.net
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The first half of this year has been piss poor, I did not trade at all. No surprise there - nothing really stimulating the economy, we still have an ongoing war, and now a deficit spiralling out of control to boot. In the last several months I have cautiously made a couple of trades. The QQQQ showed a very favorable MACD crossover in the middle of May - I like to see a pretty strong, pretty fast crossover for most reliable trading. I got in a little above $36 and got out about 10 days later a little under $38 - a good trade. MACD crossed over again the first week of July. I don't like these sort of crossovers - a crossover from a low near the zero line could mean a rally but it could also just be chop. This turned out to be a rally, but not my favorite trade scenario. I got in a little above $38 because there was clearly a trend but I got out a little below $39 because I was nervous about this trade setup - a not so good trade, but definitely not a loser. QQQQ ultimately hit $40, but better safe than sorry. As far as another poster asking where the QQQQ is going now, it is impossible to say. The MACD is bouncing around the zero line since mid to late August - I consider that chop, and I don't trade chop. What I would like to see is the QQQQ fall so that the MACD drops well below the zero line, then crosses over quickly. Look at the chart pattern between May and June - that is the kind of setup I like to see. The QQQQ has not cycled this year with the frequency I would really like to see. We need to get out of Iraq, and badly. The chart explains it all, although these charts are not the greatest: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=QQQQ&t=6m&l=on&z=m&q=c&p=&a=m26-12-9&c=[^] If you really want good charts, get an account at Prophet.net
Thanks. Very educational.
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Thanks. Very educational.
The market is hard to "predict", which is why I like charts. Unlike analysts, who usually make their money selling their analysis instead of actually trading, LOL, charts show the current trends, they don't try to predict the future. You can see from my patterns that I tend to "buy high, sell a little bit higher". That philosophy will never make you the "most" money, whatever that is, but it will usually keep you from losing money. :-) September is historically a pretty slow month, and so far that seems to still be reasonably true. But Katrina does not seem to be having much of an effect - that makes me suspicious. Personally, I think that the big boys are skewing the market pretty heavily right now - propping up prices so they can gradually ease out of their long positions. If that's true then the market may drop gradually over the next few weeks. My mood is extremely cautious right now. But it is impossible to see the future.