Do you think many of the successful traders who trade here are going to have to wait and see what happens next week, sitting in a wasting asset like an option?
Ever notice how there is always someone to say your strategy sucks? Its easy around here -- yet very few people are willing to post any real trades. I'm sure options exist for a good reason, and just looking at the time-decay aspect of an option by itself means nothing -- there are so many ways you can play them.
Casinos exist for a good reason too. It is called gambling. Which is what you are doing with the remaining funds in your account. Why do some of us point out the errors in your "trading?" Perhaps you might think about why we do it. You are young, stubborn, and opinionated. These are facts. I suspect you also have a major problem with authority figures, stemming back to childhood issues not resolved. It is always your choice how you take in what people are saying to you. You can view it as an opportunity to work on your weaknesses, or look upon it as a personal attack. You have to seriously ask youself the following question: "Do I really have any business trading? Am I emotionally equipped to handle it?" My belief is that if you take the funds you have left, and spend it on good therapy for you inner wounding, you stand a much better chance of learning how to trade rather than piddling away the money you have left. My guess is that you will need to blow out before you hit any sort of bottom in which you will be forced to do the emotional and spiritual work that lay ahead of you. Just my take, based on having once been young, stubborn, and opinionated.
One of the problems with the chart you just showed is that you need 4 points in a channel before you can consider the probabilities of the trade. The local maxima is not in place yet. You are anticipating the top channel to be parallel to the bottom channel. Maybe IBM will go down, but after making a double top... Wait for confirmation, don't speculate!
You'd be better off going with straight straddle in this situation... if you look at the risk reward on having both your bull & bear debit spread you probably wouldn't take the trade... at least I wouldn't. Despite the creativity that options give you, why not just trade the underlying with tight stops? You have a directional bias with your analysis and are giving up to much with options with your current bankroll. My guess is that you are trying to "stretch" your bankroll by using options. You could just trade very small size and keeps simple for awhile.
Optional777 Boy that hurt, but could be true. Trading can be better and cheaper than therapy , if you allow it to. Who among us has not had a parent issue /
Yes, it does hurt. The question, is it a good pain? They type of pain that can't be avoided if one wants gain.
Sometimes hitting bottom is what a person needs. My wife came home, said she was leaving me, actually meaning she was kicking me out. I had to ask a judge for permission to see my 3 kids. Up until then I never experienced loss. I thought I was gonna die. After 2 years of introspection, I have discovered it was the best thing that could have happened. Alphie, do what you are going to do, but try to take away the positives. I always learn more from my mistakes. Good Health
PS I would not try to pick a bottom, losing 5000 would not be enough in my humble opinion. Maybe losing 25000 of dads money might do the trick
I don't think I'd want to receive that sort of ass-kicking. I better get a lot of learning experiences from this 5k, although I am seeing some rather curiously interesting ways to make money on options besides the normal games people play.