It's a pretty blissful bull market if you just get long and go with the flow. But stay bearish. I need people to trade against.
I have learned to "Leave A Man Behind" -- when I have to roll [in the same direction], I buy back more than I had sold, so that, the further I go, I have "comforting" long positions getting fatter. It certainly helps the dollars, but it's *so*much* better too, for calming the mind. (OFF TOPIC: Hey, Beer&, I've started selling diagonals to exit Nov29/Nov30 ITM call calendars. Good (if small, and *so* scary) coin, but I really need tomorrow to be stress-free on top, so I can work these things properly. It takes so much to re-machine my brain on these puppies....)
I've been buying volatility like crazy lately. Most recently today a Dec straddle on JPM (what could possibly move the banks in the next two weeks? ) Only thing I've sold volatility on was SQ yesterday (after buying for the two weeks prior). Was getting earnings season premiums on that bad boy. Been thinking about picking up some diagonals for January earnings season, but there's just not much out there that I'm just sorta bullish on. There's enough long opportunities in this market that it doesn't make sense to commit capital to the diagonals' spreads. Not a place I'm usually in--I like it.
SQ is only in rally mode because of the cryptocurrency talk.... without that it's just a regular blah stock
Most new highs I continue to sell/hedged Indexes since April last year, staying long stocks. It sometimes rewards me with first target but often have to buy options to make anything for my risk & Starbucks. You have to have patience and be consistent.
That's what you hope for when you're selling volatility. And the last two weeks have been anything but. But the investment position I have in it says I don't agree with your assertion. The unrealized gains disagree even more loudly
Everybody's a GD stock-picking genius when the market goes only one direction. Stress free you say... LOL! I want to meet the person that's going all in like they were this afternoon. The brain case has got to be completely empty. #gamblersanonymous