SteadyOptions is an options trading forum where you can find solutions from top options traders. Join Us!

We’ve all been there… researching options strategies and unable to find the answers we’re looking for. SteadyOptions has your solution.

What You Trade Matters


Traders love to tell people that they can trade anything. That if you have the skills to be a trader, the specific item traded is unimportant. That may be true for some professional traders who are skilled technicians. However, it’s very different for gullible amateurs.

Consider the following (excerpts) by Nathaniel Popper from the Los Angeles Times. It describes how easy it is to find suckers when using hype to trap the unwary.

Foreign currency trading is easy — an easy way to lose money
More and more Americans are dabbling in currency trading and losing in spectacular fashion. Experts say the structure of the currency market makes it hard for amateurs to beat the house.

D.O. began trading foreign currencies after seeing a TV commercial touting it as a way to make extra money…
 

“The ads made me think, ‘This is easy,'” said the 52 year-old administrator with a Texas, police department.
 

She used her credit card to fund an account with an online currency broker. Within a few weeks of swapping dollars for yen and euros, she said, her $3,000 of borrowed money was gone.
 

She made two mistakes: investing on credit and trying to make a buck by predicting changes in currency exchange rates, something best left to professionals, according to personal finance experts. But she has plenty of company.
 

An estimated 615,000 Americans are dabbling in foreign currency trading, encouraged by advertising from the two biggest U.S. brokers, FXCM Inc. and Gain Capital Holdings Inc., both based in New York.
 

These customers are losing money in spectacular fashion.
 

At FXCM, 75% to 77% of customers lost money each quarter last year. At Gain, the number of unprofitable customers hovered between 72% and 79% every quarter last year.
 

As if those statistics weren’t scary enough, the rules of currency trading allow 50 to 1 leverage.
 

The losses have triggered recent lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny — but haven’t stopped the swift growth of the industry, which barely existed a decade ago. Gain and FXCM went public on the New York Stock Exchange last December.
 

Executives with both firms say that they simply provide a conduit for people who want to trade currency, and that customers are given full disclosure of the risk. [MDW: If you believe this, you are as gullible as their customers]
 

“The majority of people today are not doing well,” said FXCM’s chief executive. “There’s lots of education: ‘Here’s how to do it right.’ … Do most people heed the advice? No, of course not.”

It’s a bit ludicrous to suggest that the novice can ‘Do it right.’ For individual traders, forex represents gambling and speculation, and it’s the strongest reason that I have for recommending options as a trading vehicle.
 

Options allow the trader to measure risk (using the greeks). They allow the trader to understand reward and loss potential. The vast majority of traders have a basic understanding of how a stock market works. That cannot be said for the currency markets.
 

I have a (biased) opinion that options afford risk management techniques simply not available with stocks, futures, currencies, bonds…The ability to measure and manage risk represents a huge difference between trading options and other stuff. However, when options are used for speculation, those advantages disappear.

Related articles:

 

 

 

What Is SteadyOptions?

12 Years CAGR of 123.5%

Full Trading Plan

Complete Portfolio Approach

Real-time trade sharing: entry, exit, and adjustments

Diversified Options Strategies

Exclusive Community Forum

Steady And Consistent Gains

High Quality Education

Risk Management, Portfolio Size

Performance based on real fills

Subscribe to SteadyOptions now and experience the full power of options trading!
Subscribe

Non-directional Options Strategies

10-15 trade Ideas Per Month

Targets 5-7% Monthly Net Return

Visit our Education Center

Recent Articles

Articles

  • 7 Helpful Tips To Invest Your Money And Time In 2025

    While many of us would like to not think too much about how much money controls the world, it certainly is a primary motivator for most people in life. Whether you earn to pay the bills or work to succeed in a career you’re passionate about, money is something that can help greatly in making your life more comfortable and enjoyable.

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 4,814 views
  • Diversification Dos And Don'ts

    It’s one of the golden rules of stock trading: ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’. More formally known as ‘diversification’. By spreading your funds among several stocks, you help spread the risk. But is stock market success really as simple as that? As with many things in life, the devil is in the details.

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 11,610 views
  • Predicting Probabilities in Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Advanced Methods

    In options trading, the focus should not be on predicting the exact closing price of a ticker on a given date - a near-impossible task given the pseudo-random nature of markets. Instead, we aim to estimate probabilities: the likelihood of a ticker being above a specific value at a certain point in time. This perspective turns trading into a probabilistic exercise, leveraging historical data to make informed decisions.

    By Romuald,

    • 1 comment
    • 8,156 views
  • SteadyOptions 2024 - Year in Review

    2024 marks our 13th year as a public trading service. We closed 136 winners out of 187 trades (72.7% winning ratio). Our model portfolio produced 116.7% compounded gain on the whole account based on 10% allocation per trade. We had only one losing month (of 0.6% loss) in 2024. 

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 1,519 views
  • The 7 Most Popular Cryptocurrencies Right Now

    There are thought to be 20,000 cryptocurrencies currently in existence. While a lot of these are inactive or discontinued, a lot of them are still being traded on a daily basis. But just which cryptocurrencies are most popular? This post takes a look at the top 7 most traded cryptocurrencies.

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 8,165 views
  • Harnessing Monte Carlo Simulations for Options Trading: A Strategic Approach

    In the world of options trading, one of the greatest challenges is determining future price ranges with enough accuracy to structure profitable trades. One method traders can leverage to enhance these predictions is Monte Carlo simulations, a powerful statistical tool that allows for the projection of a stock or ETF's future price distribution based on historical data.

    By Romuald,

    • 10 comments
    • 12,335 views
  • Is There Such A Thing As Risk-Management Within Crypto Trading?

    Any trader looking to build reliable long-term wealth is best off avoiding cryptocurrency. At least, this is a message that the experts have been touting since crypto entered the trading sphere and, in many ways, they aren’t wrong. The volatile nature of cryptocurrencies alone places them very much in the red danger zone of high-risk investments.

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 5,870 views
  • Gamma Scalping Options Trading Strategy

    Gamma scalping is a sophisticated options trading strategy primarily employed by institutions and hedge funds for managing portfolio risk and large positions in equities and futures. As a complex technique, it is particularly suitable for experienced traders seeking to capitalize on market movements, whether up or down, as they occur in real-time.

    By Chris Young,

    • 0 comments
    • 21,509 views
  • Long Call Vs. Short Put - Options Trading Strategies

    In options trading, a long call and short put both represent a bullish market outlook. But the way these positions express that view manifests very differently, both in terms of where you want the market to go and how your P&L changes over the life of the trade.

    By Pat Crawley,

    • 0 comments
    • 14,025 views
  • Is There A ‘Free Lunch’ In Options?

     

    In olden times, alchemists would search for the philosopher’s stone, the material that would turn other materials into gold. Option traders likewise sometimes overtly, sometimes secretly hope to find something which is even sweeter than being able to play video games for money with Moincoins, that most elusive of all option positions: the risk free trade with guaranteed positive outcome.

    By TrustyJules,

    • 1 comment
    • 18,799 views

  Report Article

We want to hear from you!


There are no comments to display.



Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account. It's easy and free!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now

Options Trading Blogs