Furthermore, the Collar trade is not the be-all end-all. Gregs fund has lost $$ in a roaring bull market in a long-only fund utilizing the "collar trade"
Really, That is nice to know. Instructor Karen was telling me that rolling can be done. Another instructor told me that rolling is like trying to get out of the way of an oncoming train. Now that you trade for a living, what exactly do you trade? Bull Calls, Verticals, Iron Condors, Bull Puts, Bear Calls and how many contracts? This really helps me a lot.
karen is terrific. so is charan and ken bailey was terrific too.i trade directionally using straight calls, puts, calendars and diagonals. theoretically you can adjust the collar. trying to do it when you have 1000 shares of AAPL is another story. buying protective puts each time there's earnings or market looks toppy negates gains. trading with discipline is compulsory. position size is key. place trades about 2-3% of the account, this was a few bad trades won't kill you. use 5% as the absolute most you'll have in a trade including adjustments or if you need to roll out or up/down for a debit. frankly, i dont want to say specifically how i've done but it's over 50% p.a. actual returns on 4 accounts totally high 6 figures. i'm usually 60% invested in a combination of long and shorts. take profits both ways so you're not a wreck when volatility strikes. cut losses and step aside, rather than work your butt offf to save a losing trade. everyone takes losses, move on and find a new set-ups. all the best!
Thanks for your assessment of your OptionsAnimal experience. >> OptionsAnimal is very helpful helping students protect capital with strategies such as the married put and the collar trade. << Are these opening positions or legged in positions? >> I believe that this program is catered to clients with large accounts to take shares as an adjustment. << Take shares as in assignment or adjust option positions? >> One of the most difficult things about this program is that the gains are very small. Most of the Animal Trades are 5% winners. After paying for the education, I was promised by the sales person that I could make my money back in two months after graduation. I do not believe that is possible without betting the farm... I have several friends that are OptionsAnimal students and the money is rolling in for them. << If OA recommends trading small and aiming for singles, why are some of your OA friends taking in the money yet you are not? Have they gone rogue?
What is Gregs fund? Is that the personal money of an instructor or something else? If one loses money with long stock collars in a roaring bull then there must be some terrible stock selection involved.
he raised $$ from students and opened a fund in april 2015. i was a charter investor. ask them about it. no need to mention my name, just ask for the prospectus and returns. i'd love to know what you're told. frankly, i can't understand why he takes losses on positions when i've seen and heard dozens of presentations on how to fix bad trades by adjusting. ever see Charan do the Blackberry example, or Jeff do the Keurig example. it took a long time but they eventually made lemonade out of lemons.
you said you follow IBD. just watch the $$ flow (price action and volume). look for technical set-ups and bullish or bearish fundamental stories. I trade smaller $ amounts if it's an earnings play. I like diagonals thru earnings, selling front month options to take advantage of the higher IV and buying lower IV for 2 or 3 months out. if i'm wrong it's not too painful. if i'm right it's all good.
Thank you for the information. I look for technical set-ups in all of my trades. Do you ever use the collar trade over earnings? The collar helped me very well trade NVDA over earnings. I have trouble trading diagnals. My timing is usually pretty good and the stock rockets towards my short option in a very short amount of time. How wide do you structure your diagnals? 2 strikes, 5 or larger?
Thank you for that information Rob. When you trade straight calls or diagonals, how far out do you buy your long calls? 3 months 5 months or longer? Charan really teaches buying the long call, but he buys the long call out so far in time. I am glad to see that OA has really worked for you. I've learned that trading 10% of my capital over earnings has really helped not waste money on protective puts. I would have missed out on a lot of good moves in AAPL, NFLX and AMZN had a bought puts. On the other hand, the MNST trade did not workout very well, but I was not hurt badly when it tanked on earnings last week.