My SteadyOptions Half-Year in Review

[Chuck451 120]

Hello friends,

 

With the new year upon us, I thought I would take a look back at the last 6 months with SO, and reflect on what I did right and more importantly what I need to improve upon.  I also thought I’d write it up for your information and/or amusement.  Maybe someone can learn from my missteps.

 

I agree with Kim’s trading philosophy or I would not be a member, and I am routinely impressed at his strategies and the execution of those strategies.  That said, my portfolio is down about 10% over the last 6 months.  The reason for this can be summed up in one simple word: Boneheadedness.  Okay so it’s a made-up word, but I feel like it describes the situation.

 

I personally have a winning ratio of 62% of SO trades, but was dragged down by only a handful of big losses.  Those losses came from things like over allocating to trades that I thought were sure winners, not closing a trade when it hit my loss limit only to incur a bigger loss, being too anxious to enter a trade and paying too much, and laziness.  By laziness, I mean I did not do the proper research on some of the trades and how they should be managed.  Case in point, the VIX Calendar Strangle. 

 

I closed the VIX Calendar trade at a 15% gain and did my customary victory jig.  However, if I had read the strategy and posts thoroughly I would have seen that this was hedging the SPX butterfly I also held at the time.  So I closed the trade early and effectively missed out on the additional 50% gain that would have offset that other loss.

 

Without my 3 biggest losses, my portfolio would be up 10% instead of the other way around.

 

So 2015 confessions out of the way, it’s time to look forward to 2016.

1. Research the strategies before getting in!  For me this means understanding the good entry price, when to enter (underlying price, time), when to exit (time, realistic profit potential), and more importantly how it balances the overall portfolio. 
2. Patience and acceptance!  This means don’t pay too much for entry and accept the fact I may lose out on some trades. This does go hand in hand with #1. Some of my best trades were when I actually entered before Kim’s official trade, by using the info that Kim and other members had posted and by looking at past trades.
3. Acceptance part 2!  This means sometimes a trade doesn’t work out and I have to take a loss.  I’ve got one big loss I could have made a LOT smaller if hadn’t tried to “adjust” it into a winner.
4. Don’t compare my performance to Kim’s!  Kim’s performance is phenomenal, but that’s because he knows what he’s doing.  My goal here (other than to make money , I’m not an animal), is too learn.  If Kim gets a 30% gain and I get 25% then that’s great for both of us! If Kim gets a 10% gain and I get a 10% loss, then I need to figure out what happened, and how I could have avoided it (if at all).  I've found that relying wholly on the alerts is NOT the way to manage these trades.

 

Let me finish this long post, with a heart-felt thank you, not only to Kim but to you other members as well.  Anytime, I have ever had a question, it has always been answered quickly and I have yet to see anyone’s question ever get brushed off.  I don’t think there is any other service that offers that level of individual attention. So again, THANKS!

 

Looking forward to an outstanding 2016!

 

Cheers,

 

Chuck

[Kim 7,512]

Great post Chuck, thanks for sharing! Learning from our mistakes is the best way to become better traders.

 

Position sizing is one of the keys to success. I cannot stress it strong enough. No matter how confident you are in a specific trade, DO NOT OVERALLOCATE.

 

"Kim’s performance is phenomenal, but that’s because he knows what he’s doing."

 

Not only that, but because I'm doing it for a LONG time. I started trading/investing in 2002, and have been trading options exclusively since 2008. It took me a long time to become consistently profitable. But when you find your niche and keep doing the same setups time after time, you become very good at it. There is no magic here, no holy grail and no shortcuts. Practice and hard work will do the trick. People see all the hype and think it is an easy task. To become an engineer you have to study 4 years, and probably another 4 years (at least) to become a good one. Why people expect it to be different in trading?

 

So my advise to all members is: if you believe in this trading philosophy and it suits your style, just be patient. Practice, learn and the results will come.

 

btw, if you haven't seen it yet, I provided an update on My 2015 Personal Account that produced 80.2% return, after commissions, trading exclusively SteadyOptions and Steady Condors strategies. 

[Noah Katz 90]

On 1/5/2016 at 8:54 AM, Chuck451 said:

 I've found that relying wholly on the alerts is NOT the way to manage these trades.

(Newbie here)

 

That's concerning; why not?

[Kim 7,512]

My philosophy for SO members is "learn the strategies and make them your own". This is the best way to use the service. This is why we have detailed description of each strategy, and this is why I always open discussion topic before entering. This gives members a chance to enter the trade at prices that I mention, based on the discussion topic and Dustin weekly charts. 

 

Of course it will take some time till you feel experienced enough to do it. But I believe members who are proactive rather than reactive will achieve better results. Just see our latest GOOG and TSLA discussions as examples.