There are always two sides in the trading business: For us dumb mom and pop retails, it is hard to know if we hire a great coach/mentor or a fraud. Hard to tell except a fraud is usually someone out to separate us fools from our money. That is why I always am weary if I have to pay dearly for a course or coaching or mentoring. On the flip side, a naturally talented newbie trader will find inspiration even from a fraud because quite often even a fraud teaches some truism. Next, there are two sides to teach trading vs successful trading: Not all good teachers are great practitioners, i.e., a great basketball coach most likely is not a hall of fame professional basketball player. Not all good practitioners are great teachers, i.e., Michael Jordon is not a great basketball coach. Buyers beware.
I'm not allowed to promote my blog but I do a real trade every week- not last week (like everyone else) but this week. It's free and purely educational - but I only trade the UK- and forget equity options for us Brits. I trade ratios calendars and a variety of strategies and keep it simple for newbies. I learned with real money.
I visited your website a moment ago. Very interesting but I only trade US equities. Question: What things are you looking out for when you trade ratio calendar and butterfly? e.g., IV, delta, gamma.... Thank you.
looked at your blog, also found it interesting, you certainly have a track record, well done. what are your typical ratio calendars, are they always the same 2:1, 3:1 & what have you found to be the typical *successful* ratio calendar spread time frame? is there somewhere on your blog that you post(ed) a performance of the mth/mth or yoy win rate% and/or ROC %?
looked again at the blog trade 171 posted 16 May for week ending 15 May - could it be @Windlesham1 posts his trades after the fact, historical market week 'what happened' is of zero use after Fridays close ... just saying & please correct me if I got it wrong! would like to see a trade posted on his blog before open on 17 May for week ending 21 May, then during the week if the trade is closed. I'm still in a learning mode
I cannot use live prices, I have to go with settlement otherwise I'd be in trouble with FSA - we have no funding for the blog but if you really want I can send you stuf privately. Howeve I stand by the record - not that I'm agood trader but that options give so much flexibility. I could post on a Friday morning but someone is bound to sue me-or worse,send Villanelle round.
I look at likelihood of a winner- taking into account firstly the risk- so yes I will look at the Greeks but I cannot currently make sense of Vega in this Covid era. I like to get theat and vol on my side, and get close to delta neutral.
thanks for coming back with your response couldnt you post each EOD trades in/out's that have settled (you're doing it at the end of each week anyway) so why would the FSA have to be an issue? for yoy past 5 or 10 years, what is your performance in terms of average win rate & ROC? simple numbers without detail Thanks
ROC in the last 10 years varied a lot due to lack of commitment, but worst years 6% gain, best year 40%, no losing years. Currently underwater, though and who know where we'll be at next expiry? Backtestd my strategy/criteria for 2012-2016 -100% record. 2018 when vol was so low I didn't stick to the rules but ironically would have made a 50% return. Good luck to all who trade.