Get a couple of good options books by Natenberg then Cottle. Create your own Excel simulator using the tools from Peter Hoadley. Go to ThinkorSwim, and find the way to use their on demand feature which is an option tic by tic simulator. Put on fake trades paying special attention to how your greeks bleed thru time, and most impt >>>how your pnl behaves thru time. Your emotional makeup, not Dan's has to be in harmony with the strategy you are using otherwise it will be mighty hard to stay the course when trade looks like it will blow up. Do it on a lot of tickers. First do the basics like verticals, then calendars, then flies. That is prob a better,cheaper alternative not to mention gain deeper insight.
You bet. Time decay and volatility are two things you must be aware of in options trading. The only way to understand them is through exposure to them, all the seminars in the world won't help you as much.
-2%, to pay for the fees & slipage to your broker and market maker. Trading IC purely will broke you eventually (for 3-4% montly return, you are most likely blow-up after "in profit" for around 3.5 years)... There is no edge in this strategy.
He is not kidding. He try to tell you there is no different between shorting naked put vs the method you mentioned..
Why would a former pit trader or market maker like Sheridan know how to make a profit as a retail trader? Market makers are there to take the other end of a retail trade, which they either have an opposite order to offset, or they hedge until they can offload it. They make their money on the bid/ask spread.
That is a great question. But, a more applicable question might be, why would someone that took a former market makers class know how to profit as a retail trader? Dan does very little teaching these days. Most of the teaching and "mentoring" is done by a few guys that were his former students. So, if you had a few mentoring sessions from Dan (back when he still mentored!) does that qualify you as a teacher?
Even if you get someone with a track record - I think what is especially dangerous about track records when it comes to options is that some can look fabulous if they are just selling premium until they blow up. In fact, one might have a successful career running a fund selling premium and making relatively stable, if modest, returns. You just need the AUM.