Practically we changed the name of this very 1st system with C2 almost every two weeks. The last time was after reading your post above. We would like to prove several options-based systems/ideas, but there are certain limitations with C2 (or Covestor), such as options on futures is not available (for Crude Oil!). Each real-money account would probably require say $100,000 per system in order to prove the performance of a particular system. We don't like to set up too many separate accounts at the same time (including too many log-on screens) for all the systems/ideas that we really want to test concurrently. Finally we realised C2 is a good platform for our planned experiments. BTW, wish you do well with your software business. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3401123#post3401123
Haven't started yet till today with the first signal. All the changed names were with the same system numbered 68597112.
C2 is particularly good for some others reasons. For this first system (Long-Call/Put SPY Options), sometimes it does not trade at all for several weeks. The capital allocated to this system will be sitting there by doing nothing while awaiting next signal, probably suddenly getting one. For another upcoming system, it's for hedging. That means its prupose is not targeting to make good profit. It's designed to minimise its costs while providing an effective hedge. The returns (if anything of positive %) on capital allocated to this kind of systems (in order for us to prove its viability) would be very minimal. I think C2 can be a very useful platform for the above development projects.
Found another buying long options thread. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125048&highlight=option*
Sometimes a trader using buying long options strategy has to prepare some occassional (painful?) disappointments of "Losing money when the market actually goes in his favour". This kind of unusual losses is mainly due to decrease of implied volatility caused by steady slow movement of underlying market prices, besides general/common expectation of market participants, according to my own understanding and experience, and guess. You may refer to the charts on page 2-5 of Caplan's book "The New Options Advantage" for more details.
Perhaps don't forget that on page 203: It is Absolutely Necessary to have an "Edge". "You can't win without an edge, ... Incidentally, if you don't know what your edge is, you don't have one. --- The New Market Wizards, page 463" "Make sure you have the edge. Know what your edge is. Have risk control. ... Good money management alone is not going to increase your edge at all. By Monroe Trout --- The New market Wizards, page 175"
Baird (Option Market Making): "Paradoxicallly, sudden sharp futures price change (up or down) may occur in conjunction with falling implied volitilities. ... Although the options traders were correct about price movement, they were whipsawed by the market's changing estimate of volitility. page 46" Apparently buying long options in the long run is safer than selling short options: "One exaggerated example of the possibility for a trader to be correct about the direction of the market but still lose money in (selling?) options because of an implied volitility change occurred in the stock market crash of October 1987, when short out-of-money call options rose in price after the 500-point drop in the market, reflecting a market-implied volitility level of well over 100! page 46" Therefore Quick Trade : "A smart strategy seeks to avoid catastrophic risk at all times, to profit by real or implied volatility explosions, and to limit time decay loss. page 167"