Trading should be complicated

[Windlesham1]

I trade FTSE options-nothing else. why? Because it's complicated and if you ever come across anything in life worth doing,it is because it was difficult. You can open an account and lose £5k in a few weeks- yet you spend 13 years at school just to learn the basics- how can you possibly make money trading with zero education? How can you make money when you are trading against other spread bet punters? You just nett off your trades. Did IG suddenly get massively poorer?
Meanwhile....
I was curious to see what Greg Secker was up to so I attended one of his 'events'. It was terrible-and he has no success stories, yet he claims to have trained over 1/4 million people, who trade and win 70% of the time. Just think about that. All the banks would have lost all their money by now if that was true.
There are very very very few of us real traders who make money and who have never been on the 'inside'.I've always been a rebel and continue to annoy the world, but I am the real deal. So challenge me- if you want to trade options ask me something.

 

[tomorton]

There's a strong sense of personal achievement in mastering something complicated, but neither the effort nor the complexity have any inherent virtue nor any extrinsic value.

The value of trading is profits, and if these come from a simple system with minimal effort, they are equal to anything from the most complicated system imaginable.

 

[Windlesham1]

There's a strong sense of personal achievement in mastering something complicated, but neither the effort nor the complexity have any inherent virtue nor any extrinsic value.

The value of trading is profits, and if these come from a simple system with minimal effort, they are equal to anything from the most complicated system imaginable.

Except there is no such thing as a simple profitable system-otherwise you'd have all the money in the world

 

[tomorton]

Well maybe I have.

But seriously, one of the simplest systems ever seriously traded was the Turtles'. We all know that it worked. Is there any evidence that this strategy or another equally simple system trend-following system will not still work?

 

[tomorton]

Except there is no such thing as a simple profitable system-otherwise you'd have all the money in the world

I'm not saying you should not be personally very proud of what you've achieved in trading - no doubt it has indeed taken years of experience and thousands of hours of experience. But that's not to say that route is the only one open to traders.

 

[NVP]

Except there is no such thing as a simple profitable system-otherwise you'd have all the money in the world

Devils advocate here .....

how do you know there is not a simple system that works ?

 

[Sharky]

I trade FTSE options-nothing else. why? Because it's complicated and if you ever come across anything in life worth doing,it is because it was difficult. You can open an account and lose £5k in a few weeks- yet you spend 13 years at school just to learn the basics- how can you possibly make money trading with zero education? How can you make money when you are trading against other spread bet punters? You just nett off your trades. Did IG suddenly get massively poorer?
Meanwhile....
I was curious to see what Greg Secker was up to so I attended one of his 'events'. It was terrible-and he has no success stories, yet he claims to have trained over 1/4 million people, who trade and win 70% of the time. Just think about that. All the banks would have lost all their money by now if that was true.
There are very very very few of us real traders who make money and who have never been on the 'inside'.I've always been a rebel and continue to annoy the world, but I am the real deal. So challenge me- if you want to trade options ask me something.

Just spotted this thread whilst doing some housekeeping on the forum (yes, we now have dedicated Options forum). I'm considering getting into it myself and wanted to know if there are any good options books you'd recommend?

 

[Trader333]

I'm considering getting into it myself...

As a buyer, seller or both ?

 

[Windlesham1]

As a buyer, seller or both ?

I have my website documenting 108 real trades andI tried to start a Meetup group. I find the UK disappointing- people are not interested in making money

 

[Windlesham1]

Options are NOT -repeat NOT as simple as buying and selling -that is for the morons at RobinHood who get blown up in a few months after a few lucky guesses. I have successfully used a strategy that has been tested in every market condition and makes money every time. Why am I not a millionaire? One word....confidence. Oh..and I'm a terrible trader

 

[Sharky]

As a buyer, seller or both ?

Probably spreads, so both!

 

[Windlesham1]

Sharky, I'm always happy to talk about options but I cannot seemingly mention my website here-even though it's purely educational- perhaps Trade2Win would like to review that policy? I think we're on the same hymn sheet- I don't resent anyone making money out of the markets-except the big bullies who are actually terrible at investing people's money.I'd love to collaborate with T2W

 

[Sharky]

Sharky, I'm always happy to talk about options but I cannot seemingly mention my website here-even though it's purely educational- perhaps Trade2Win would like to review that policy? I think we're on the same hymn sheet- I don't resent anyone making money out of the markets-except the big bullies who are actually terrible at investing people's money.I'd love to collaborate with T2W

If it's purely for educational motives, sharing the love so to speak, then why not post the information on here? If there's a commercial aspect to it (ads, subscriptions, courses) then we understandably don't allow self-promotion. You did begin the thread offering to answer any question..

 

[Windlesham1]

The site has some advertising- not my doing, I'm afraid I just do all the writing. But as an example- the latest weekly trade- number 109 was a strangle which went from a credit of 62, and you could now close for about 10.About a 30% ROCE. In about 4 days. I don't like naked trades but as I say options are complicated- I know what I'm doing I'm just rubbish at doing it.

 

[Windlesham1]

Trade 109 Going For Broke
As previously mentioned, when you think volatility has peaked, it should thereafter contract. Assuming it is as high as it is going to go. It does not usually stay up but spikes when news happens. Then contracts when that news is digested. Usually. Who knows what kind of mess we are in currently? It’s not about us panicking, it’s about everyone else- the weak hands, or dumb money. They buy at the top and get scared out of positions, when logically they might want to think about the reverse. So…Trade 109-we are going to sell a strangle. This may be a bad idea-which is a good idea because then we can show some adjustments. Nobody wins every trade and this might be a tad crazy. We are selling the 7050 call and the 6400 put:

 

[Windlesham1]

Trade 108 a double ratio calendar
Shut the front door! Say what? Ratio as in selling two options and buying one. Calendar as in selling the near month buying the far month. Double as in puts and calls. This could also be described as a calendar strangle one by two. All clear now?
We are selling 2 Dec 6500 puts, buying one Jan 6500 put (16×2, 39.5)= debit of 7.5.
And…. we are selling 2 Dec 7300 calls, buying one Jan 7300 call (10×2, 30.5) debit of 10.5. So we have a total debit of 7.5+10.5= 18. Therefore we hope our long Jan options will be worth more than 18 in total. We also hope the FTSE doesn’t go too far above 7300 and too far below 6500.
So- the logic of the trade- time decay mostly, and it is almost delta neutral. The keen eyed amongst you will note in the past we have done a three by one. Sometimes those are too risky, but here we still have a fair chunk of time to go.

 

[NVP]

I have my website documenting 108 real trades andI tried to start a Meetup group. I find the UK disappointing- people are not interested in making money

a little harsh ? .......how many of the uk population have you met ?

 

[Windlesham1]

a little harsh ? .......how many of the uk population have you met ?

98.7%. Seriously though most people are way too lazy, too scared, too unambitious -even the ones who claim they want to be traders

 

[tomorton]

98.7%. Seriously though most people are way too lazy, too scared, too unambitious -even the ones who claim they want to be traders

Sad but true.

The British are very much more motivated by saving money than making money. And by not risking money rather than gaining some more.

 

[Windlesham1]

Sad but true.

The British are very much more motivated by saving money than making money. And by not risking money rather than gaining some more.

And for what? So the profligate can borrow at stupid rates. Saving is the worst thing you can do with your money unless it is going to do better than a cash ISA, but that's why we're here I guess. As a teenager I always imagined amassing £20k and generating an income of about £20 a week- a comfortable wage at that time!