Your example doesn't sound like from a good options advisor... Playing long LEAPS is not really options trading.
Well maybe I can make more....All I know is that we pulled 10k out and put a down paym't on the condo...and we are literally playing with house money now...We have been with OptionSmart for two years and consistently bank profit. All for no time invested what-so-ever...just emails telling us what is going on and my allocation updates which take a few minute after each trade... I have a second project this year with a pro options trader that is willing to manage a small starting account. But I will not discuss that in this thread and maybe never in any thread. For now I wanted to illustrate a way for a trader that does not understand options to diversify into options. Maybe it would help him to understand a little more while making some money. Long Leaps...yield alright...up to 1% a day! but I do not know what they are ...so I could take short hops too! Crowder Investments plays a one day Gap strategy and a longer hold called an extreme strategy...read the site, I am not here to defend or sell... Michael B.
How can you judge the advisory by just "one" position? Maybe it is part of other positions in the portfolio that they may want to offset .... Maybe it's just me but I've learned not to judge based on incomplete info. BTW I am not their client.
If I can help with more info I can go to the OX website and the TOS website and get my trades from the history and post here...you will see all....including my Deposits and Withdrawals...The spreadsheet shows this too on the first tab...minus the trade details.. I do not have any trades booked with Crowder as I just signed us up Friday of last week through the TOS autotrade list.... Michael B. P.S. For those of you that do not understand what AutoTrade is, it is a way a signal service can alert your broker directly without a fee to trade your account. The broker may have several investors on one single email...and can execute a better price when combined...you also can trade yourself from the email you get withoutr auto-execute.... P.P.S. with auto trade you have a screen to configure your allocations with. most Investors only use one autotrade advisory. I am trying to diversify and use several....and allocate accordingly, which is a job in itself...I hope to be able to share my experience with my fellOW ET'ER'S
Could be that they are using the long LEAPS by selling front month ATM calls against them when they are short term bearish on a long term neutral/bullish ticker. But I'm not familiar with their strategy.
darnelds, Yes I know about Mr. Swing. At one time he was offering OptionSmart...that's how I got such a good price! He was also a sponsor here for a short time..but he got offended at the many posters who blasted him... He now has another advisory he is pushing and I believe he has his own forum now... Mr. Swing seems to latch on to other services and vends them out...The last time I checked he was vending a service that I knew about before he did... Mr. Swing has some sort of original charting however... Michael B.
I've seen many such advisories that ride a bullish wave and wipe out their subscribers' accounts on an adverse price or / and implied volatility move. A LEAP buying advisory (with or without selling shorter term options) usually signals such a situation. This is just my opinion, and I don't intend to argue it. It was just an warning, because evidently ES doesn't understand the risks he takes with this investing method.
What is it you do not understand about 10k in my hand...? What is it you do not understand about playing with house money...? I am glad I did not talk to you 2 years ago before we made the money! Michael B. p.S. This is money I can lose...cause' its leverage...
I don't wish to pass judgement on any particular advisory without knowing their strategy, but I do have personal experience with the above situation. It is common in the options world for an advisory to jump on a wave (right now energy seems to be one of the big ones) and end up over-leveraged when that wave crashes. With many strategies, it only takes a month or two of serious corrections to wipe out an account. The one thing that I would advise is that if you are paying more than about $20/month, then you are seriously overpaying. In your case ES, playing with house money is a great situation if you treat it the same as you would otherwise. The casino mentality says that people are more risky with house money. I'm not trying to equate trading with gambling, but that mentality is the same IMO. If you are simply mimicking advisory trades then it probably won't be a problem for you. Best of luck trading. I'm interested enough to follow along because of my chosen career path. Not necessarily interested in the advisories' picks, but more so in your journey. Cache