I don't understand why y'all are so against options

Discussion in 'Options' started by baggerlord, May 29, 2003.

  1. I don't get it. I can understand the spread eating you up if you try and day trade them, but what is wrong with swing trading? Sure you pay a higher spread, but if there is just a 1-3% move you can profit big time. Please explain it to me because I am about to start trading them.
     
  2. FinStat

    FinStat

    who's against options??

    you trading equity options??
     
  3. Trajan

    Trajan

    There are two types of people who complain, people who just want to vent once in a while, most of us are in this category, and the bitter losers. The latter doesn't want to accept their own shortcommings and therefore they blame the exchanges or the product itself. They'll show up by the morning.

    How I trade( I noticed you left a comment in my journal) isn't the way you need to to make money. There are a fair amount of people here who don't use such a strategy and do pretty well. How much work have you done in preparation to trade them? Is this your first time? If you're planning to just to go long or short deltas, often it is better to just trade stock.
     
  4. qdz5

    qdz5

    What time in the morning, please? I wouldn't want to be late. :p


    p.s. if y'all trades options, y'alls a fool, hear? Y'all best mind my words!
     
  5. FinStat

    FinStat

    Trade futures mostly.
    Have a couple of friends who have done well in the options business. Are they fools??......probably. Are they good traders??....yep :cool:
     
  6. Most successful traders would rather have the odds in THERE favor.
     
  7. ktm

    ktm

    I love options. They are outstanding vehicles for making money. Some of the complaints are directed toward the exchanges, specialists and such who are still taking their cut. You will need to work within the system to make it work for you. Talk to your friends who have made money.

    The complaining here is disproportionate...just like IB complaints. There are a lot of people quietly making money trading options out there and a few complaining here. Very few of the guys making money are here to defend the products, and why should we have to?
     
  8. The problem with options is not the exchanges, or the specialists. It is partly the spreads, and it is mostly the time-decay. Yeah, you can make a lot of money with options, if your timing is perfect.

    In just the same way you can make a lot of money by placing your bet on an individual number of a 37 number roulette wheel, rather than a broader section of numbers. But your timing and selection had better be perfect. Otherwise you're going to lose much more often than you win.
     
  9. nitro

    nitro

    If these are "problems" then why not be proactive and go in there and make a tighter spread? If the time-decay is also such a problem, why not take the other side and write options and COLLECT the premium?

    nitro
     
  10. jessie

    jessie

    Options are a wonderful way to trade. Just like everything else, they have limitations. The good news, though, is that they are by FAR the most flexible trading vehicle available. You can trade direction (up or down), volatility (again, up or down), you can make money in a dead flat market, a spiking market, or a gently trending market. You can limit your risk absolutely, or extend yourself as far as you are comfortable. You can spread trade both inter and intramarket, as well as across time frames. The downside is that to be that flexible in your trading, you have some serious homework and learning to do. If you think that you will consistently make money over time by just buying long options, you are probably wrong, and you are definitely missing out on 90% of the benefits of being an option trader. But, if you take advantage of all the "options" available, there is nothing else like them to trade.
    Good Luck & Good Trading,
    Jessie
     
    #10     May 29, 2003