Mentoring Program

[Kim 7,958]

We are pleased to introduce a mentoring program where experienced members will help newer members to get up to speed. The mentors will provide guidance and answer questions on the forum. This program will provide new members with more diversity, more opinions, and let older members to contribute from their experience.

Traders who have been SteadyOptions members for considerable period of time, have a good understanding of options and the strategies we use, and are willing to help, are good candidates to become mentors. Potential candidates would need to build some history of contributing on the forums and responding to members questions.
 

We currently have the following members as mentors, and will be looking to add more in the following weeks and months:

• @Yowster  - Steady Options Contributor
• @krisbee  - Steady Options and Simple Spreads Contributor
• @TrustyJules - SteadyOptions contributor
• @cwelsh - Anchor Trades Contributor
• @Jesse  - Steady PutWrite Contributor
• @MMorriss  - Simple Spreads Contributor 
• @Marco
• @Paul
• @luxmon 
• @rasar
• @Djtux
• @zxcv64
• @Peeyotch - SteadyVol mentor

Mentors will have "Mentor" title and brown color.

Please note that this is NOT one on one mentoring. I encourage members to post their questions on the forums so everyone can benefit and learn, instead of PM the mentors.

[Kim 7,958]

For members, there is no change - you post your questions on the forum. You will just have the mentors answering them, and you will know that those are members you can trust. Of course I'm still here and will be available as well, but it will allow for more active and prompt responses (in case I'm not near my computer, there will be a mentor to provide a prompt response). And members will get more diverse responses.

[Paul 328]

My experience starts in the 90's when I used to do phone trades with commodities.  With the internet and such I passed the Series 7 and started trading stocks with Bright Trading in 2001 for a few years in their heyday.  That tapered off a few years later with the introduction of high frequency trading.  I just couldn't compete. I traded both stocks and options on my own after that with mixed success.  Good enough to keep going but not making much.   I have tried many services and am surprised when we actually get openings for new members, as Steady Options is easily the best out there for retail option traders from home.  I hope to contribute by answering questions from these new traders as they come on line with us.  The regular newbie questions that get asked again and again, whenever spots become available. I trade and understand the official Steady Options strategies and will help there as much as possible (allocations, how to get well priced fills, some of the whys), although there are obviously quite a few very advanced and knowledgeable people here.  I trade full-time and am usually available, however I have been traveling the past few weeks. 

 

[Marco 223]

 

Wanted to write a short bio as well.

I trade options since about 20 years. I started very young with the idea to double my money every few weeks   needless to say I burned my account a few times back then. Thankfully very low amounts but it still hurt as back then that was a good chunk of my (non existing) savings. It still inspired me to pursue a career in option trading. So for 12 years I traded options for a number of banks. I survived the financial crisis while trading bank stocks and options (fun times). But I left years later when banks got out of trading due to more regulation, compliance and margin pressure. From that time I think I have a very good technical option knowledge.

I traded my own money full time for a year after that. I was surprised how different that was from trading at a bank. I learned more about position sizing, discipline, psychology and myself as a trader than in the years before and I found that SO helpful for that.  I had time to do extensive research on every trade Kim suggested and find my own trades and I would have my own timing and entry levels. I was quite active on the forum in that time and many of the well over 1,000 comments/posts I made are from that time. I’m back to a ‘normal’ day job since a few years now so have a lot less time for all of that and scaled my trading back to a few systematic, low maintenance trades – Steady Condors is one of them (I have my own setup and timing but its not too different what SC does). I’m trying to add a few single stock earnings trades back into the mix so I’m getting a bit more active again on the forum as well and will try to be helpful when I  come across a question and as time allows. I will tend to pick up question that are option or trading specific (Greeks, assignment, trade setup… etc) as I will only be in a handful of trades a quarter so will have little to say about the specific setup of a particular trade unless I’m in it.    

[izzo70 22]

Would any of the mentors be willing, with Kim's approval obviously, to do webinars on different topics related SO strategies.  It would be great if we could watch and learn and then have the ability to ask questions on a regular basis in a more concise setting.  They could be recorded and we could repeatedly go back to the topics when we have forgotten something or had missed something.  Also new members could be directed there and would help get them up to speed quicker.  The webinars that Kim have done in the past were great and i have watched them several times.  I have found new info i had missed or wasnt able to comprehend at the time but when i returned i was able to digest.  I think this would be a real asset to allot of less knowedeable members.  

[Kim 7,958]

I would definitely welcome it.

[kirkr1517 108]

For my 2 cents worth, I think SO is an excellent service.  I've only been a subscriber for 5 months, but have had 5 winning months.  I love being able to sleep at night knowing that most of my trades are non-directional.  The SO system seems very consistent.  And I've used a number of option trading systems in the past.  I've never been consistent on any of those, and it's not always because they lose money, as much as I can't stomach some of the trades and exit too early and lose money.

To me, the main point I would emphasize on any trading system is to keep your trade sizes consistent.  You can lose money even when SO makes money if you oversize the one or two losing trades out of 10.  For me, every trade I make Is close to the same size because that's the only way to have consistently winning months/years.

[Kim 7,958]

Please welcome our new mentor @TrustyJules

He has been with us for less than a year, but I think many of us learned to appreciate his experience and his contribution to the forum discussion. His posts are always very helpful and to the point.

@TrustyJuleswill be responsible mostly for Creating Alpha forum, but of course will continue contributing to SO forum as well.

[TrustyJules 3,221]

Well thank you all for the kind words - I shall do my best to be helpful. I see @craigsmith posted some of his background.

 

First of all I am Dutch, I live in Belgium, I have a French education and grew up in Brazil and in my professional life not a small part of my clients are American. I have been investing since very early days as my parents encouraged me to manage the small portfolio of stocks I inherited as far back as when I was 15. For those unaware of this bit of history the first options exchange in Europe was opened in Amsterdam under the then name European Options Exchange shamelessly copying much of the good work of the CBOE. I got quite interested in this and my first trade involved the purchase of a LEAP on the Amsterdam index and writing short options against it. LEAPS were (and are) undervalued compared to shorter term options and the thought was to recover the full purchase price and then some over the course of the process. This was in 1980ies in a bull period and I found rather sooner than later that the cash lay-out required to buy-back the short option and sell a higher option eliminated my liquidity rather more quickly than I expected. Selling deep ITM shorter options would not give the necessary return so my first trade was a (modest fortunately!) bust.

I read more on options - but frankly for a long while I found all the so called strategies to be unsatisfactory as they were to my mind all variants of a long (or short/neutral) punt. Nothing wrong with those but to my mind it didnt make use of what options offered in terms of mechanism. Certainly I wasnt doing this full time and with the usual job, wife, children, house obligations I lacked resources for trading anyhow. In the meanwhile I managed a family trust but that did not lend itself to options trading. I came back to serious options trading when I had more capital and time to devote to it. Like most on here I looked a long time in both books and OL resources finding absolutely nothing that told me something new - its all very well to know about butterflies or condors - what you need is something where as the small guy you can make use of things that larger parties cannot adequately make use of. A few years ago I came across Jeff Augen's books which were quite an eye opener - for the first time it gelled in my mind how to use that odd derived value volatility for something more interesting than just option (mis) pricing. Looking into volatility traders turned out to be an (initial) disappointment - they certainly talked very complicated language but I got the distinct impression that most were types that claim to have a winning strategy to play Baccarat, just gamblers with a big mouth.

 

Through SeekingAlpha and another site I came across SO and was immediately interested - however i had been disappointed before so for a long while I watched from afar and read the many publicly available articles on SO. Then there was a rather nasty public spat in which Kim got drawn in by a disagreeable fellow on the other site - Kim's responses impressed me by their cool and reasonable manner. This gave a whole new credibility to the 'claims' on the SO site and I decided to join, so whilst its true that I have been here less than a year - I lurked for a long while before. What I picked up on SO has really helped me and i am now trading very frequently and much more structurally successful - the CA part of the offering was new to me but after paper trading in a first stage, I have been diligently following on here ever since. SO made me trade better and hopefully I can assist some of you to get better too.

Edited January 23, 2019 by TrustyJules

[craigsmith 357]

Congratulations! @TrustyJules is a great contributor. Thanks for all of your work. 

[mccoyb53 809]

Very interesting history TrustyJules. Congratulations! Well deserved.

[poseidolginko 325]

Very nice news.  Congratulations @TrustyJules!

[skydragon 51]

@TrustyJules Congratulations on your well-deserved recognition.

[Kim 7,958]

Please welcome our new mentor @luxmon

He has been with us since 2013, decided to take a break and recently re joined Creating Alpha.

@luxmon will be responsible for mentoring on the Creating Alpha forum at this point.

[craigsmith 357]

3 hours ago, Kim said:

Please welcome our new mentor @luxmon

He has been with us since 2013, decided to take a break and recently re joined Creating Alpha.

@luxmon will be responsible for mentoring on the Creating Alpha forum at this point.

Congratulations to @luxmon... he is a great contributor and his knowledge and guidance helped me tremendously when I first started with SO. 

[luxmon 233]

 

I am honored to be asked to help mentor the CA PV forum.  A little about my background:  I started self-directed investing in stocks 25 years ago and augmented that with covered call selling and collaring about 10 years ago.  I wanted to get more serious about trading options and spreads, so after a lot of research I decided upon SteadyOptions forum in 2013.  It was here I really learned the importance of key principles like position size, portfolio balance, risk/reward planning, and often overlooked trade execution skills.  I still trade a few pre-earnings names I follow when conditions setup and time allows.

 

In the last few years with the air getting thin in stock market valuations I began to work on long equity portfolio hedging techniques.  I focused my learning time (with the help of a mentor)  to establish a background in taking advantage of market conditions to create low cost ways to add long gamma and vega positions to offset the risk with long equity exposure.  I’m excited about the strategies in the CA forum and continuing to learn amongst the members there.  

 

-Tim

 

I use (not intended to endorse any of them, just fyi):

Tools:  LVX, ONE, TOS, VolatilityHQ, custom Excel/Python tools for scanning, and more recently testing out TradeHawk

Brokers:  TDA, Tradier, IB

Stock research services for fundamental analysis:  Stansberry Research

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by luxmon
CA service discontinued May 2019

[mccoyb53 809]

Well done @Luxman. I am looking forward to learning from you. Great background with plenty of experience.

[MaryPaananen 260]

Great News @Kim and @luxmon!  I'm new to SO and am truly a newbie to more complex and structured option strategies.   I'm very experienced in the world of stocks and futures - have learned the good, bad and ugly of it over the years.   So - I'm very happy to be here - am learning a lot and am very impressed with not only HOW Kim has structured this site and various groups, but also with the amount of talent, experience and knowledge that folks bring to the table.   This is exactly what I need - and I am doing the work to absorb the education that is available.  Good Luck Luxmon!

[Kim 7,958]

Please welcome two new mentors @krisbeeand @rasar

I'm sure most our members know those two members very well. They helped hundreds of members, are well respected in our community - we just making their status "official".

[Lazlo 111]

Congratulations @krisbee and @rasar! I have wondered several times why you both are not mentors yet! Thank you for your service - I will gladly continue learning from you!

[Noah Katz 90]

Two good choices, welcome to you both!

[TrustyJules 3,221]

Great choices!

[MaryPaananen 260]

4 hours ago, Kim said:

Please welcome two new mentors @krisbeeand @rasar

I'm sure most our members know those two members very well. They helped hundreds of members, are well respected in our community - we just making their status "official".

Fantastic - this group has such talent . . .  I have a long ways to go, but am putting the work in.   Thanks for all the mentoring guys!

[Christof+ 274]

Definately you got the right guys, very nice!

[g5harlan 140]

Great additions to the list of mentors available here at SO. It is good to see members being called out for their contributions to SO. 

[PGAmbrosio 53]

Congrats @krisbee and @rasar I've always enjoyed your posts.  I haven't been posting as much but came here to do at least this much!

Edited March 26, 2019 by PGAmbrosio

[poseidolginko 325]

Great news.  Congrats to the both of you!

[mccoyb53 809]

Well done Krisbee and Rasar. Well deserved. Onwards and Upwards or as we say in Ireland. May the road rise in front of you and the wind be always at your back!

[craigsmith 357]

Very much deserved, congrats. @krisbee and @rasar are great contributors. 

[Kim 7,958]

Please welcome two new mentors @Djtux and @Christof+

I'm sure most our members know those two members very well. They helped hundreds of members, are well respected in our community - we just making their status "official". 

They have developed two excellent tools that are widely used by our community members: volatilityhq.com and Chartaffair.com - both tools have RV Charts & Backtesting for Steady Options.

[Kim 7,958]

Please welcome our new mentor @zxcv64 

I'm sure most members already know this long time member and can appreciate his experience and wisdom. Now we just make it official.

[TrustyJules 3,221]

Congrats @zxcv64  well deserved bringing the most modern of technologies with you:

 

 

Thats if you were young in the 80ies the first thing that would come to mind when you heard ZX64

[rasar 2,001]

Well deserved, @zxcv64 👍

[t'pee 541]

Very good news, congrats @zxcv64 ! 

[zxcv64 772]

Thank you Kim. I had an Oscar-award-acceptance type speech written for this moment, but it got eaten by the cat (the one I no longer shout at).

 

It has been a great honour to be part of the SO community, and being a mentor is a real privilege. I have truly gained so much by being a member and it's time for me to give something back. And a big "thank you" to the wonderful members and mentors here. I will assist and guide others in the same way that they have me. I remember the days when I was a wet-behind-the-ears newbie. I had been trading options for over a decade but realised very quickly how little I knew when I read this forum. I would often ask dumb questions, but was given the freedom and space to do so, as the folk were helpful and supportive. My learning and growth accelerated. I stumbled and staggered my way through trades before learning to walk and then to hobble and now perhaps even run at times. 

I look forward to my new role with enthusiasm and a big smile on my face.

 

(

@TrustyJules, sadly I AM old enough to remember the Sinclair ZX computer - I REALLY wanted it as a child, but no money meant we could not afford the £79. For a year, I cried myself to sleep. This....and the un-fulfilled crush on a cute little girl in my class - were the two most painful memories of my childhood. Ah.....good times.....)

 

Anyway, back to trading....

 

 

 

 

 

[sakura 149]

54 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

I AM old enough to remember the Sinclair ZX computer

You are not alone, my friend. I had one. The ZX81. Younger people, google it! A piece of art. 
 

later i also owned a Spectrum. But finally became a traitor and bought a.... yeah, you know, the one ending with “64”. Good old times, those were...

anyways, congrats!

[TrustyJules 3,221]

8 hours ago, jbesr1230 said:

Not sure what processor it ran.  It was a first-generation Apple 2+.  I like to think of myself in terms of an experienced old goat or a well-experienced [fill in with the noun of your choice].  Boomers are more than O.K.; they're Great! ;>)

Hey my first PC ran the 6502 a processor that was even in the eighties 20 years old practically. A good old BBC model B however that processor was also used in the APPLE II.

The great thing about the 6502 was that people knew it inside out and so it actually outperformed the then newer Motorola 68000 simply because the programmers knew how to squeeze 1000% out of the old dog.

Edited April 14, 2021 by TrustyJules

[mccoyb53 809]

Congrats to @zxcv64. Well deserved. I worked in Apple in Cork, Ireland and we were making 1,000 Apple 11e's a day for the European market. Wild times. We also launched  the Apple 11 C from Cork which at the time was like launching a new car. Exciting and wild times. Happy memories.

[Kim 7,958]

Please welcome our new mentor @Peeyotch  He will be responsible for mentoring on the SteadyVol forum.

[Romuald 626]

15 minutes ago, Kim said:

Please welcome our new mentor @Peeyotch  He will be responsible for mentoring on the SteadyVol forum.

Welcome @Peeyotch and congrats

[Peeyotch 243]

Thanks Kim and SBatch for inviting me to be a mentor! For those who might not know or remember me, I was on the Steady Options forum for a few years before I changed my trading this year to be a bit slower and got involved with Steady Vol. I've been trading options for a decade or so, but I only started seeing real success once I came here. This is no question the smartest community of traders I've ever come across. I've really enjoyed getting into the Steady Vol strategy and volatility trading in general, and I'm looking forward to helping others learn about them!