From what I have gathered from following him over the years, his trading career transitioned from trading gold options, to trading index futures in the pit once they launched in the early 80s (which were his bread and butter for many years), to then transitioning into trading crude oil options, and finally to index options in recent years. In his last interview in 2013 (before this one) he repeatedly said "the game has changed" and algorithmic trading makes trading S&P 500 futures outright much more difficult than it used to be...he also said he made a bundle in options because he was able to "roll his position down if it went against me, due to the size of my bankroll." I honestly don't believe he's a fraud at all. In this most recent interview linked above, he talks pretty candidly about some massive losses he has taken in recent years, so it doesn't look like he is trying to bullshit people with tales of non-stop success.
He should start a fund with Karen. TBH picking a delta figure isn’t going to matter. Either you’re a trader or you’re systematically underwriting disaster insurance. He seems to be the latter. He is obviously persistently short naked (hence Feb). My buddy lost $7MM short naked calls in TSLA and left a debit with the BD. He’s an idiot. No excuse. Marty shorts naked puts because he refuses to pay-up on the vol-line for the hedge. Oscillator leads price... sure it does.
Reinsurance mkts exist because they must; they do; it’s a tautology. The market has to be serviced so the only question is at what price. These dudes get bored fat and stupid. The result is shorting a 25 vol line and letting it ride bc they refuse to pay 28 for the other leg of the vertical.