I would follow only half of this advice, that is, read the classics on options trading. The problems with trading live is that it will probably take you 12 to 20 option expiration cycles to learn to trade options. That is really expensive, and is best learned at a professional options firm. nitro
Do you really want to learn about options? I have a suggestion that is better than any book or seminar. Take a few days and read all of Maverick74's posts. He has great insight in options. No, I did not make a fortune after that, but I cut my potential losses dramatically.
Maverick knows what he is talking about. But you are better off going to work with maverick than reading only his posts. nitro
I wish! He's in Chicago and I love it here in Toronto. Mind you, Nitro, you've had a lot of good comments yourself along with Riskarb.
Gosh, you guys are really something,...read that book ( Natemberg ) or read Maverick74's post. or...the seminar is expensive and it would be best if you learn at a professional firm...right, they are just waiting for me. Why is anyone bothering going to college ? They must be all dumb, it is all on the net and in the books. I honestly feel that most of the people here: a) have a very negative view of the market or maybe just a big ego, if I can't make 30% return with options, 10% in a month or even 130% in a year it does not mean that someone else can b) have ( 0 ) I mean ZERO money to trade so the idea of paying for a seminar does not exist, it just can't c) are really disillusional and got some serious chemical imballance in the brain. ( they say it affects the left hand side ), How can anyone think to learn such complex strategies just from trading on a paper account or a small account ? Do you have an idea how long your learning curve is it going to take ? OR learn just by reading books or get this...by reading Maverick74 posts on the net ! You got to be kidding. I am trying to manage 1 M, and last thing I wanna do it to lose money in the market because I was too cheap to pay to get an education. So far the 15% I made this year was only possible because I already took seminars and I paid for them but they were about stocks not options. Their cost was $ 5000 so far and I made $ 150.000 in a very conservative why, so please do not tell me that seminars are a waste of money or a scam. While some surely are Dan Sheridan has being doing this for over 20 years. Wouldn't you want to learn from someone who is doing what you want to do ? I do, and the only way I know is to pay for it. If you want to hire me as your buttler at your trading firm, feel free to contact me. Gosh ! Look friends, I don't know a lot but I know this, good education is not free, maybe you will pay once for it or twice, but for ignornace you pay forever No offense BUT... is there anyone who DID take sheridan mentoring and might want to answer to the questions I asked before ? ANYONE who is actually DOING IT, and NOT talking or writing about it, yes I am talking about you Mr 9400 posts I would really appreciate if someone can share his/her experience with sheridan mentoring thank you
Can I assume that you understand that a strategy that works well for a small account may not have the same results for a $100M account. Also market conditions may not be appropriate for certain strategies, so the trader may not necessarily always be in the market. A ten percent monthly does not necessarily translate to a 120% yearly gain. Of course, you already knew that. Otherwise you would be pretending to act like a drooling moron, which you are not.
Any strategy that you could do on a small account, you can take into the SPX pit and scale it as high as you want. Liquidity is not an issue. Ok, well you did not state that you would not be making 10% a month every month. So you are saying that you can make 10% some months? Sure. But any return on an account that amounts to >20% returns a year with any consistancy can be scaled into a hedge fund if the RR is right. So, if you can, do it for yourself. It makes no sense to teach it to anyone else if you really believe it. Therefore, as Sherlock Holmes would say, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, is the truth. I am not saying it can't be done. I am just saying that someone selling it to you unless he is a Hedge Fund operator makes no sense. nitro
guy990opl It's ok. You'll find a lot of self taught 'experts' on this site who trash courses/seminars/mentors etc and recommend a course of home study (e.g. 'spend $100 on books like cottle and natenberg and study them to make you proficient and then blow some money in the market to further learn', lol). They are even too cheap to pony up the money for software, let alone courses that might accelerate their learning curves. Ask yourself this : if they worry about paying a few grand for tools then WHAT SORT OF MONEY CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE MAKING FROM THEIR TRADING? Answer: not much, if any. Having said the above I'll be the first to admit there are a lot of scams, for lack of a better word, out there. Sheridan's course is not one of them, nor is Cottle's. How do I know this? Not from listening to some of the garbage posted on this forum, but from my own experience. Also nitro recommends joining a 'prop firm' but doesn't recommend mentoring??!! What does he think a prop firm will do? Of course they'll be mentoring the trainee!! The guy means well but sometimes doesn't think before he types. As I said, ignore these 'well meaning' folk since none of them have done any courses they aren't qualified to give an opinion. You can pm me if you want more detail. db
Most definitely. Yes. Don't know yet, but my guess is yes. I don't know yet. But let's be realistic. Hedge funds trading similar options selling strategies crow about 30% returns to anyone within earshot. Do you think you'd be able to beat them consistently as a retail trader, when they're pros? I don't think so. By consistently, I mean over the long term, like 5, 10, 15 years. If you could, you can give up your job and manage other people's money and get very wealthy just living off the management fees. While I can understand people's fascination with huge returns, like 100%, 60% or even 50% annually, I don't think it's realistic or even necessary. Even a 20% gain consistently over the years will make you amazingly wealthy. Look at Warren Buffett. 1 $50,000 2 $60,000 3 $72,000 4 $86,400 5 $103,680 6 $124,416 7 $149,299 8 $179,159 9 $214,991 10 $257,989 11 $309,587 12 $371,504 13 $445,805 14 $534,966 15 $641,959 16 $770,351 17 $924,421 18 $1,109,306 19 $1,331,167 20 $1,597,400 21 $1,916,880 22 $2,300,256 23 $2,760,307 24 $3,312,369 25 $3,974,842 26 $4,769,811 27 $5,723,773 28 $6,868,528 29 $8,242,233 30 $9,890,680