The fact that you view a "great options trader" as someone who simply "retires" and takes it easy at home shows that you are way out of your element.
25 years as an options MM trading my own account, running my own broker dealer, was enough. There is no longer an edge in being a local MM, so I left to do something different. I was not taking a negative tone with you, just having a conversation. I'm happy to move on.
Great traders trade. That's what they do. Market Makers are not traders. The guys at Tastytrade were market makers for decades and they can't trade their way out of a wet paper bag. Instead, they have resorted to collecting fees from actual traders via their Dough platform. Steering people towards trading options is one of the most irresponsible things one human being can do to another. Options were never meant to be traded for profit. It's only a matter of time before you burn your house down. This is evidenced by Karen the 'supertrader' who was gearing up to bolt for Mexico a few years ago when she almost lost her clients' money. Nearly all of the great traders trade futures. Some trade equities. Some trade Forex. But most trade futures. Hardly any of the great traders waste their time gambling with options.
Yeah, But World Poker and Bridge Champions make good options traders. What do you think of those guys? I think they are just trying to get away from work.
IMO ...... Options are less risky than Futures/Forex, but more risky than stocks. I don't agree. Some of the top hedge fund managers in the world frequently trade 120% of their accounts in futures, but would never dare to do such a thing with options. That tells you something. Can you lay on too much leverage with futures? Sure. But options are inherently dangerous even if you do not borrow any money to buy them.
LoL. This guy is a professional troll. I know, I can be really slow at times. At least I learned how to edit the Author field for misquoting.