Super excellent post with killer value. Keep it up luh3417! Your post is so insightful that everyone should quote it in full with every reply. I submit that the discerning reader of this thread will notice that very few of the technical issues I have raised were addressed at all. 75% of the advice is about the psychology of trading. Personally, I think that doesn't cut enough ice when you're staring the market in the face. But then, maybe I just need a coke and a smile and a "have a nice day" button and I can ignore those issues and the people who mention them.
uhhh....did you congratulate yourself on your post? anyways, so....Odd Trader made a good point in that the odds aren't stacked against you by the market makers...tho, they can sometimes be a little speedbump in the road to options success. The beauty of options trading is the technical aspects and the ability to determine your odds ahead of time. if you can determine your odds and only take trades where your probability of success is greater than 75%...I dont think its gambling at all, unless you consider casino's as being gamblers, although I dont think they think they are. Just keep at it and dont get discouraged by the big bad market makers and try to determine your risk/reward and probability of success ahead of time....which for purely speculative positions, is definitely not in your favor.
I would submit the "discerning" reader didn't find any technical issues...would you reiterate just the technical issues? I've been told by a number of market makers that today with the cost of comissions as low as they are and the flexibility the retail trader has they have chosen to BE a retail trader and left the floor.
BUSTED with intentionally deceptive multiple aliases: Wael012000=kissanmakeup bighitter1=hedgeking And now... luh3417= ???
As should be evident, I have been doing my homework and reading books on options, and I have been seeking a mentor. As part of this process I asked some very reasonable, detailled questions about how the options market works, and tried to spice them up by pointing out the difficult conclusions they might lead to. But instead of treating my important questions, or refuting them on the basis of hard technical facts or reasoning, the response has largely been, don't confuse me with facts! You are a bad negative person for asking those blasphemous questions! I feel like much of the response I got was: We're going to ignore your questions We don't know the answers to your questions Actually, we don't want to even allow the implications of your questions Really, you shouldn't ask questions like that. Nobody should! As you've already sketched out, the answers would be negative, which would disturb the wah of our peaceful fantasy trading land. We're going to put you in a box labelled "guy who asked questions which might lead to negativity if answered" Then, we're all going to repeatedly quote the full text of the above beat down, in an attempt to stuff you and your heretical questions into that box. Bad questions! bad! bad! We're all going to chant "stay positive, stay positive" and jump up and down like Hare Krishnas. Most importantly, please nobody never ask or think about those questions again! PS, luh3417 = luh3417. Yes, I quoted my own full text, to ridicule the other repeated full text quotes above. PPS, I can see that some of you are trying to help, I'll post again summarizing my remaining questions, fwiw.
"Mistruths about Options" http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=141671&highlight=book#post141671