Why do people trade in options and lose money ?

Not that looser! His cat trades betterer than wot he does.

Bah - missed it. The cat told me some guy on T2W was going on about trading with loose change (pennies I suppose?) but I only looked up this thread today and noticed the old blackberry bush had beat me to commenting upon it:LOL:
 
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I've just realised thanks to Neil’s play on name that my avatar could be considered very easily within the categories of minimalist representation with perhaps a discreet homage to fauvistic lyrical interpretation of the sacred Blackberry bush, rather than the rather exquisite piece of Chinese contemporary art that it is. (The local takeaway has a new calendar this year so I guess I should change it really)
 
I've just realised thanks to Neil’s play on name that my avatar could be considered very easily within the categories of minimalist representation with perhaps a discreet homage to fauvistic lyrical interpretation of the sacred Blackberry bush, rather than the rather exquisite piece of Chinese contemporary art that it is. (The local takeaway has a new calendar this year so I guess I should change it really)

Yeah.
 
Why do people trade in options and loose money

well, option trading is like professional gambling to me. gambling is an addiction not unlike crack. no matter what you hear, this is the reality, we think we are smarter as option traders, so this is professional gambling for 'smart people'. there is always the next expiration cycle where you can make up any losses, thats the mentality. it takes a long time to turn the tables and along the way there are many bumps and bruises but experience is key if you manage to survive. thats my honest answer.
 
well, option trading is like professional gambling to me. gambling is an addiction not unlike crack. no matter what you hear, this is the reality, we think we are smarter as option traders, so this is professional gambling for 'smart people'. there is always the next expiration cycle where you can make up any losses, thats the mentality. it takes a long time to turn the tables and along the way there are many bumps and bruises but experience is key if you manage to survive. thats my honest answer.

May I be totally frank with you....

You have not a bloody clue.
 
well, option trading is like professional gambling to me. gambling is an addiction not unlike crack. no matter what you hear, this is the reality, we think we are smarter as option traders, so this is professional gambling for 'smart people'. there is always the next expiration cycle where you can make up any losses, thats the mentality. it takes a long time to turn the tables and along the way there are many bumps and bruises but experience is key if you manage to survive. thats my honest answer.

whats the problem here with professional Gamblers ?

N
 
whats the problem here with professional Gamblers ?

N

there is no problem with professional gambling. the op wanted to know why it is that most option traders lose. my answer is simply stating the obvious, this is what i call professional gambling. some get offended by that, but what does a trader do? place bets. simple as that.
 
there is no problem with professional gambling. the op wanted to know why it is that most option traders lose. my answer is simply stating the obvious, this is what i call professional gambling. some get offended by that, but what does a trader do? place bets. simple as that.

why stop at option Traders ?......most people lose in trading full stop...

like in Business and life ......most people are

ill-advised
ill-equipped
highly Gullable
under-educated
inexperienced (with no desire to improve)
under-resourced
lazy
easily distracted
looking for the easy option (pun)


...........to ever be truly successful in a field of true endeavor

the best traders here at T2W will not have achieved success in just Trading..... I can guarantee that .....

Winners win - whatever they chose to do

lets really get real here :smart:

N
 
why stop at option Traders ?......most people lose in trading full stop...

like in Business and life ......most people are

ill-advised
ill-equipped
highly Gullable
under-educated
inexperienced (with no desire to improve)
under-resourced
lazy
easily distracted
looking for the easy option (pun)


...........to ever be truly successful in a field of true endeavor

the best traders here at T2W will not have achieved sucess in just trading I can bet you .....winners win - whatever they chose to do

lets really get real here :smart:

N

yes, i agree with your post. i trade options but as you said, ofcourse, apply this to all trading vechicles.
 
What would be the point in expanding on uselessness?

whats your beef? you are a 'legendary member' so lets see what value you have to add if any? is this how you got over 8000 posts? do you even trade? wait, i know, you trade 1 or 2 spy option contracts and think you are a trading god.
 
whats your beef? you are a 'legendary member' so lets see what value you have to add if any? is this how you got over 8000 posts? do you even trade? wait, i know, you trade 1 or 2 spy option contracts and think you are a trading god.

{plop}
 
there is no problem with professional gambling. the op wanted to know why it is that most option traders lose. my answer is simply stating the obvious, this is what i call professional gambling. some get offended by that, but what does a trader do? place bets. simple as that.

The reason why most option traders lose (if they lose, I do not know) is that they are buying call options which are overpriced enormously on a rising market and fall a sickening amount on a market fall. Attached to the option price is a time value which wastes away to zero as the option nears execution so that, even if the market price rises, the best that the option price will do is stand still ie. the purchaser is disappointed at the little amount that he, finally, made.

In the eighties, the option business was advertised widely by brokers as a means to sucker in new and inexperienced clients with the claim that spreads limited any possible loss. What the client did not realise was that the losses heavily outweighed the gains, due to this time value.

I was an option trader of the eighties. I lost quite a lot of money and when I finally did get the hang of it it was because I bought options a long way away in time and sold them before the time wasted started to kick in. This wastage gets serious within the last few weeks before expiry but they are the ones that my broker was trying to sell me. In the end, because of the large amounts involved, involving thousands of pounds, I reverted to trading normally and have not gone back to options. Probably the business has changed enormously, since then, and others would know more about it. However, I doubt whether betting on options is any safer, except that less money is involved, perhaps.

This a part of the gist of it. Options are a hugely complicated business and I would tell guys that if they are unable to make a decent income from simple trading then forget optiions----frankly, they are up against serious pricing experts.
 
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