Should a seafarer / sailor trade options?

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by Malaya, May 18, 2015.

  1. Malaya

    Malaya

    Hello Traders.

    I'm a seafarer with intermittent internet connectivity (depends on ship location).

    I miss my family (just saying ok,i understand the world doesn't care) and hopefully someday I can do something else (closer to family) and have another source of income (from trading perhaps?).

    My vessel is a bunker ship which carry (fuel) oil as a cargo to supply oil to other ship's propulsion system - floating gas station.

    Obviously day trading is a no no due to work commitments and limited-slow internet access (2G anyone?) - I thought of swing trading using options would that be a good idea or should I start with trading crude oil - CME's CL ?

    I heard good things about options via tastytrade though but unsure where to start - I'm a rookie

    Thank you for your time.
     
  2. xandman

    xandman

    I used to go flat the markets before mobilizing for deployment. Options can definitely help. Instead, options will allow you to hedge positions to produce a more certain outcome.

    However, trading a short time frame for any product is a bad idea if you have potential connectivity problems.
     
    Malaya likes this.
  3. dealmaker

    dealmaker

    Options with decay may not be the best idea, perhaps you'll consider investing rather than trading, you can create income stream through dividend stocks....
     
    Malaya likes this.
  4. Malaya

    Malaya

    I'm looking into a strategy to swing trading 2-3 trades a week will this be an achievable goal in 5-10 years time? (Or in 10 years time everyone is going to trade bitcoin? - things are moving so fast onshore these days,my phones goes "obsolete" everytime I sign-off)
     
  5. Malaya

    Malaya

    Dividend stock is something I have never thought about,isn't investing in mutual fund gives almost similar return to dividend stock? So you don't recommend trading to sailors?
     
  6. i960

    i960

    I'd recommend investing and not trading. You could probably get into some swing trades but nothing more frequent than that. One concern with options is that they're time sensitive when it comes to issues such as assignment, etc.
     
    Malaya likes this.
  7. Dolemite

    Dolemite

    You mentioned tastytrade in your first post and I would strongly advise you against following their strategies unless you have continuous access to the markets. You do not want to be in a short option position going against you that you can't adjust. I trade options and I have access to the market wherever I go, I couldn't imagine being disconnected for a few days or a week. Xandman is correct, look to use options as a hedge against your positions to protect you when you leave.
     
    Malaya likes this.
  8. Malaya

    Malaya

    I have access to the internet daily just that it is sometimes slow 2g usually 3.5g so I thought of swing trading,still no?
     
  9. Dolemite

    Dolemite

    Just know that Murphy's Law will kick in and your connection will drop at the worst time possible for your trade. Swing trading where you can enter a trade with a stop in place is a viable strategy.
     
  10. Malaya

    Malaya

    There's no stoploss in Options trading... Does it?
     
    #10     May 21, 2015