+1 Iron Condor, may I ask why you are looking at the options markets as your first foray into the trading world, as opposed to stocks or futures?
I thought I would just piggy back onto this thread. I'm using TD Active trader. Its decent for options, shows you all the greeks, you can chart options prices vs the stock price etc... But what kills me is that I can't set stop loss, or trailing stops with Options. I see it advertised on CNBC all the time for Charles Schwabb. Does anyone know a broker in Canada that provides this? Thanks!
good morning MTE and yes you are reading it wrong. I am saying and I have traders that do what I am saying. ie 100k account and generate over 10k monthly on that principal amount which they live off. I am not talking as you seem to be indicating compounding forever. What I stated was and do is that if one is strict and all methods of trading are timing! that based upon beta and the daily moves in stocks one does not have to wait until expiry to receive funds on the strike price but can enter and exit usually several times a week times 4 wks gives one a higher ROI and his initial goal of 1 percent which he is looking at is obtainable. In fact, just from the premium alone on writing options will in most cases beat his expectations. hope that clears up my post w
I have traded stocks before (through an Investment Advisor) but never online by myself. I think Options provides great leverage, with limited risk (or at least, you can limit the risk) and provides a ready market... I'm not sure what else there is that appeals to me. I have no experience with Futures, so I can't reply to that one. Thinkorswim seems good, but from the looks of it, I can't trade Canadian Options...
IronCondor--Here's my answer. Don't trade Canadian options! As a Canadian, I hate to say it, but most Canadian options aren't very liquid, and the bid ask spreads are not too good. Start your trading in very liquid American options and use ThinkorSwim. They have the best options tools, and their support is great. By the way Iron Condors do work, but they require some management to avoid disasters and I'd recommend some more straightforward strategies to start. Buy a call spread with about 90 days remaining on something you think will rise over the next few weeks. Give yourself an absolute price stop--as in I will sell if the value of the spread declines by XX%, or I will take profits if the spread increases by XX%. This is not super-sophisticated, but you will have made your decisions before you enter. In the world of options, things move fairly quickly, so you should decide what you will do before your entry, so your decisions are not clouded by fear or greed--two serious enemies of clear, rational thought.
Know max risk is already built into the IC, so there will be no disasters. ----------------------------------- forex-forex Trading guru since 1974 Highly respected ET member since 2006 Bankrupt since 2008 Homeless since 2009 ?????
This is only correct if you are limiting yourself to buying options as opposed to selling them. Leverage and a 'ready market' are also available in the futures markets.
Options Xpress accepts canadian customers and you can place complex orders such as trailing stops for options.