My Seven Stages of being an SO Member

[zxcv64 771]

 

Like many other new members, I went through a frustrating time on Steady Options. I almost gave up on it very early on, but luckily, I hung around. Having been here a while now, I’ve seen other newbies come full of enthusiasm and leave full of disappointment, walking the same frustration-filled path that I left behind. I’ve examined my own journey, and can break it down into various stages. So, here they are. Other peoples’ journey may be very different, but I hope that my pathway may shed some light, or give some hope to others who find themselves shouting at the cat for no reason, like I once did.

 

1)  Initial Enthusiasm

I joined full of hope and excitement, lured by the mouth-watering annual returns, thinking “If I can make even half of those returns, then I’ll be a happy-chappy”.            

Motivation Level : 10/10

 

2)  Frustration with Fills

Okay, I’ve been a member for a few weeks, and have tried to enter a few trades, but each time, I cannot even get close to the official entry price. I give up on many trades and enter others at the wrong price, resulting in more losers than winners.    
Motivation Level : 7/10

 

3) Frustration turns to Fury (well almost)

It’s now many trades later and the fills are not getting any easier. It’s getting annoying seeing others open trade after trade and close it two days later at a profit, whilst my GTC order to buy is sitting idle on some exchange gathering dust. I’m a mild-manner guy, who wishes no ill-will on anyone, and thought I didn’t have a dark side, but the ugly monster of jealousy is tapping me on the shoulder and saying “Damn, there’s another guy who’s just closed the GOOG calendar for 30% ….AND….he’s gone in and out twice already this cycle, whilst you can’t even get in once?”. I'm anything BUT a happy-chappy.
 Motivation Level : 3/10
 

4) “I’ve had enough”

Months have rolled on, my SO portfolio is not showing any gains whilst the official portfolio is showing a healthy number. I don’t even bother trying to enter any SO trades now, and hardly logon to the forums. I’m bitter and just waiting for my membership to expire.

Motivation Level : 1/10
 

5) The last Attempt

Over a year has gone by, and the anger and frustration has turned to “Let me give this lousy service one last chance, before my membership expires”. I register with one of the two charting services (ChartAffair/VolatiltyHQ), and spend the whole weekend reading up on old trades, and asking myself “Why did Kim enter this calendar at this price? How does he know that it should be a 1-week or a 3-week calendar?” I look at the RV charts and start to see that the official trades are entered at very low RV’s and every time I over-pay, I’m reducing my chances of profitability. I’m seeing patterns in the calendar RV charts – a ramp up as we get to earnings, a zig-zag pattern that allows others (who I envied) to go in-and-out of trades multiple times. Same for the RV charts for straddles. I’m starting to see why Yowster thinks something is a good buy or not.
 

My head is filled with little “ah-ha” moments and learnings, and the next few days I watch live prices and then I do the un-thinkable – I open my own calendar trade on PANW for 0.89. The very next day, Kim opens the same Put calendar for 1.05 – Bingo! I feel a sense of un-controllable excitement, not just cos I received validation that my trade was correct, but that I actually got a better price than the official.   (https://steadyoptions.com/forums/forum/topic/4106-trades-panw-november-2017-calendar/?tab=comments#comment-87397)

Motivation Level : 7/10
 

6) Creating my own Trades

I spend Nov and Dec ’17 coming up with tons of my own trades – calendars and straddles. I'm not really too sure of what I'm doing, so some are winners and many are losers. I’ve started doing something else – I’m now keeping a proper journal. Every trade is logged together with the rationale behind it. If it goes wrong, I try to understand why. I’m trading full-time and this has become all-consuming, but I am enjoying it. My knowledge and skill level is rapidly increasing. For the first time, I make a profit for the month (12.9% for Nov ’17). I’m on a high. I still try to enter official trades, but don’t get upset if I miss many. I do this for a few months, averaging around 6% monthly profit overall. I also increase my portfolio size.

Motivation Level : 8/10
 

7) Consistency at Last

Two years later, and I have traded several earnings cycles, done literally hundreds of my own trades, and I rarely take the official SO trades. Fills are not a problem, as I’m normally in the trade already, and I’m also trading stocks which are not on the SO list. Profits are decent, but I get some big losses, and the occasional losing month. I don’t like those, so I ramp-up the commitment. I decide to REALLY focus on this from 01-Jan-20.
 

And then a dark-cloud-with-a-silver-lining comes along – COVID lockdowns. They suit me just fine: 7-8 hours a day – just me, the PC screen, charts, Excel sheets, Word documents detailing my ups/downs, cups of Earl Grey tea…..trade after trade. Total immersion. I love it. The wife has become a trading-widow. The cat is happy to be around me, cos I am no longer shouting. My profits rise to new levels, the March crash comes and goes without a dent to the bottom line. As we head towards the end of the year, I can finally say to myself that I have matured into a proficient SO trader – my risk management has improved enormously, my position sizing is as it should be, and my ability to distinguish between good/not-so-good trades has improved. I still screw up, but I keep a list of the mistakes I’ve made each month, and it’s satisfying to watch that list become smaller as the months roll on.

 

I have finally found consistency – I’ve made a profit every single month this year. And my SO portfolio is far more profitable than my other ones.

 

But the learning never stops – every week I read some post on the forum and think “Oh, wow, I didn’t think of that.” I’m no longer a SO member for the trades, but for the ideas and the discussions on the forum. They are gold. And I’ve learnt skills that I’ve been lacking for a long time – patience (no more “FOMO”), discipline (sticking to the rules, no doubling-down etc), no emotional trading (no revenge trades, not getting upset when a trade loses etc)

 

The next stages are to get to grips with different trade types, like ratios.
Motivation Level : 10/10

 

I’ve written this not with the view of “Hey, look at me”, but in the spirit of “If a dunce like me can become a competent trader, then anyone can”. If you’re a frustrated newbie, then rest assured that many of us have been there, many others are still in that place, but with determination and dedication, it’s possible to come out of the pain barrier, and see the sunshine on the other side.

 

Happy trading.

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by zxcv64

[FrankTheTank 839]

This should be required reading for every new SO member.  My experience is almost identical.   

So many people just want to pay for trade alerts and not take the time to figure out why we are making a trade and where we think the "edge" is coming from.  I totally understand this as I was in the same spot a few years ago.  Learning takes time and effort and I know its hard for people to find that right now.   

[Kim 7,943]

@zxcv64 this post definitely qualifies as "post of the month". Maybe even of the year. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

[t'pee 541]

Fantastic thank you, definitely required reading. 

[Spread 21]

14 hours ago, zxcv64 said:

I’ve started doing something else – I’m now keeping a proper journal. Every trade is logged together with the rationale behind it. 

Hello @zxcv64, first of all thank you for sharing your story. It's really encouraging to go on.

 

The above quoted sentence jumped out for me, since I'm trying to setup a personal trading log for a while. I experimented with different methodes and tools. Varying for 'screen-shooting' everything, till only making short telegram style notes. I'm not doing very well on this area, by not sticking consistent to one methode, or never look at the made log notes and do some evaluating, etc, etc.

 

So I would appreciate if you would share your methode of trade logging. What and how do you register ? Perhaps you can share a sample log ? Any thought / tips / advise regarding maintaining a trade journaal you wish to share. Thanks in advance.

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by Hielke

[Jevgeni 25]

If I am not mistaken most of the success stories at SO come from full or almost full time traders. I wonder if there are people with similar success, who have full time job or for any other reason cant fully commit to trading.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Jevgeni

[indiana*josh 59]

Hi there - former member here.  I just wanted to chime in and say that this post really resonated with me as well.  I think SO is a great service, but I dropped out after a couple of years somewhere around step 4 or 5.  At that time, I came to realize that in order for my trading to be both profitable and enjoyable, I needed to move to step 6 and truly make the system my own.  I needed to quit simply following the official trade alerts (and getting frustrated when I couldn't get the same price, or couldn't get filled at all), build a deeper understanding of why the trades worked, and then make my own trades.  However, I also realized I didn't have time in my life to do that as a busy small business owner and a father of four young children.  I didn't have the bandwidth to move to step 6, and it didn't make sense to continue what I was doing, so I made the difficult decision to stop trading and focus on the other aspects of my life.  The time still isn't quite right for me personally, but I do hope to return to trading in general and SO in particular someday in the not-too-distant future.  I just wanted to share that perspective in case it helps someone else sort out their own situation.  Best wishes to all of you in the new year!

[Ringandpinion 1,657]

This is a fascinating thread, I find that I'm interested in everybody's story of how they came to be here, now, in this conversation.  I don't know about how many others feel the same as I but I would really enjoy, just from a human curiosity point of view to hear the stories of any others that wanted to say how they got here.  Individual, retail traders get very little (trading) workplace input because most of us are alone at our computers, these kind of threads add some of the missing "coworker" input that one takes for granted in today's society.  It is also kind of a "sanity check".

[Kim 7,943]

2 hours ago, Jevgeni said:

If I am not mistaken most of the success stories at SO come from full or almost full time traders. I wonder if there are people with similar success, who have full time job or for any other reason cant fully commit to trading.

Actually most SO members have full time jobs or small businesses, including most of the mentors. Of course different people have different levels of commitments in their daily jobs, so the comparison is not always apples to apples.

It's very important to create realistic expectations, and discussions like this one help to do it. I could tell potential members that it's enough to spend just few hours per month to succeed in trading. Many other services do it and tell you that you can turn $12,415 Into $4M in no time. This would be the easy path to gain thousands of subscribers (People like to believe In Fairy Tales). This is simply not true. Every profession requires time and effort, and trading is no different.

[Troy Mclure 31]

Good Morning all

this old dog couldn’t agree more.  I do have a comment or suggestion.  It’s obvious that SO wants us to succeed, over the years I have tried different services.  This one is unique in the sense that everyone’s voice is heard.  Usually the staff or owners of these services aren’t as engaged.  
 

i have wondered however.  Why does SO have to remind new subscribers to”go read” to start.   Would a library of in-house videos be a better solution to start and depending on the topic an opportunity to review.  Also available on podcasts?  How about zoom seminar teaching us the philosophy and tricks.  I would like to hear from the monthly winner review their work, trick and spreadsheets for an additional fee? I’ve also suggested that a different winner should crowned to allow others to share learn and grow.  
 

thanks for listening

Troy

 

[Kim 7,943]

22 minutes ago, Troy Mclure said:

Good Morning all

this old dog couldn’t agree more.  I do have a comment or suggestion.  It’s obvious that SO wants us to succeed, over the years I have tried different services.  This one is unique in the sense that everyone’s voice is heard.  Usually the staff or owners of these services aren’t as engaged.  
 

i have wondered however.  Why does SO have to remind new subscribers to”go read” to start.   Would a library of in-house videos be a better solution to start and depending on the topic an opportunity to review.  Also available on podcasts?  How about zoom seminar teaching us the philosophy and tricks.  I would like to hear from the monthly winner review their work, trick and spreadsheets for an additional fee? I’ve also suggested that a different winner should crowned to allow others to share learn and grow.  
 

thanks for listening

Troy

 

Those are some excellent suggestions, please let me address them.

First, I don't believe in "additional fees". Some services implement this strategy of milking their members for webinars and videos, I don't think it's fair.

We do have some Webinars and Videos, and also some videos on Youtube. Is it enough? Probably not. I still have to find the time to create new videos, but if someone wants to help, please contact me (I will gladly compensate those members for their time and effort). Also I know that some mentors are willing to provide one on one mentoring, if you are interested, please contact me or the mentors.

At the end of the day, it's matter of priorities and workload. At this point I prefer to contribute and be available on the forums, and I believe that our extensive library of topics and educational articles provides an excellent starting point, but obviously there is always more than can be done.

[Dan27 7]

This is a great post that illustrates both the journey one goes through with SteadyOptions and why that journey may not be for everyone. I was an SO member for a year-plus. Learned a ton, had some winners, had some losers, but ultimately decided that the style of trading was just not for me. As you can see here, it's really a second job. It never made sense for me to put in that much time for something that would be 10-20% of my overall investment portfolio. But, it made me a better investor. As you can see by the fact that I'm posting, here, I still like reading Kim's emails.

Dan

[Kim 7,943]

12 minutes ago, Dan27 said:

This is a great post that illustrates both the journey one goes through with SteadyOptions and why that journey may not be for everyone. I was an SO member for a year-plus. Learned a ton, had some winners, had some losers, but ultimately decided that the style of trading was just not for me. As you can see here, it's really a second job. It never made sense for me to put in that much time for something that would be 10-20% of my overall investment portfolio. But, it made me a better investor. As you can see by the fact that I'm posting, here, I still like reading Kim's emails.

Dan

I completely agree.

And obviously different people have different goals, different perspectives and different priorities. If someone spends some time learnings the strategies, becomes proficient and makes 50-80% on a $100k portfolio (which is completely doable, many veteran members make more), that's an extra $50-80k a year. For some people it might not be worth the effort, for others it can be a second salary (many people in the US don't make that much as a first salary, not to mention many developing countries). 

btw, many trading ideas shared by members are scalable far beyond the $100k limit we recommend, and this is where treating it as a trading community and not an alert service can be really useful. Many members told me that a single trading idea shared by another member covered their subscription fee for 5-10 years..

[gf58 771]

20 hours ago, zxcv64 said:

I open my own calendar trade on PANW for 0.89. The very next day, Kim opens the same Put calendar for 1.05

😁 That feeling when.....

 

Its like a Promethean spark that changes everything.....you suddenly get the confidence to progress to stage 6: doing your own trades => which gets you out of the mugs game of trying to chase alerts => which -after a few more missteps- eventually gets you onto the path to consistency.

 

NB. Alerts are great for learning exactly as you've laid out; by serving as material to understand why did Kim/Yowster do X now and why did they take profit now and....but they're not copy+paste=Learjet

 

Thanks for sharing @zxcv64

[zxcv64 771]

10 hours ago, Hielke said:

So I would appreciate if you would share your methode of trade logging. What and how do you register ? Perhaps you can share a sample log ? Any thought / tips / advise regarding maintaining a trade journaal you wish to share.

 

Hi @Hielke, yourself and another member has asked for this. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that my trading journal is nothing fancy or unique - it's just some Excel and Word documents. But they have been extremely vital to my development. What I think we can do in a few days is to start a new thread dedicated to journalling - where everyone can chip in with what sort of information they like to maintain, what they find useful, etc etc. We don't have such a thread on SO, and I think it would be useful.

 

1 hour ago, Kim said:

If someone spends some time learnings the strategies, becomes proficient and makes 50-80% on a $100k portfolio (which is completely doable, many veteran members make more), that's an extra $50-80k a year.

Totally agreed. For me personally, once Covid goes away, I will be doing a lot of travelling so will not be able to do this full-time, but this is exactly the sort of returns I would be looking for. I am not in any way implying that one should give up their day jobs, but it's very possible to make a decent full-time living from trading these strategies given a $100K portfolio.

 

Just to re-iterate that the transformation and growth occurs when we create our own trades. When we just follow someone else's trade, then physiologically, we are not as emotionally invested in it. If it goes wrong, we're upset at losing money of course, but we have the convenience of mentally blaming someone else for it. When we enter our own trade, then we hold ourselves more accountable and we have to look internally to explain why it didn't work out. Similarly, a successful outcome is even more sweeter.

 

 

 

[TrustyJules 3,212]

9 hours ago, Jevgeni said:

If I am not mistaken most of the success stories at SO come from full or almost full time traders. I wonder if there are people with similar success, who have full time job or for any other reason cant fully commit to trading.

I have a more than full time job and a business to run - I do take the trading as a form of relaxation -i.e. not doing the day job. Not watching television tends to free up enough time to do it on the side. However - to be perfectly fair - when I am too busy professionally I do scale down trading to reduce the error rate.

[FrankTheTank 839]

10 hours ago, Jevgeni said:

If I am not mistaken most of the success stories at SO come from full or almost full time traders. I wonder if there are people with similar success, who have full time job or for any other reason cant fully commit to trading.

I work a full time job (office job) plus a side business I started plus have three elementary aged kids at home with me (home schooling during COVID).  Time is really tight right now which is why I like these earnings trades. 

I can fire up VOLHQ in the morning and take a look at a handful of stocks that may be good entries.  The trades I am already in I use limit orders to manage them.   If I really tried I could probably get buy with 20-30 minutes per day of earnings type trades.

I am lucky though because I have a quiet office and several computers and screens to work from.   I don't think you could do this well on your own if you worked outside or were in a car all day.

 

 

[Troy Mclure 31]

I must admit how inspirational your individual commitment and dedication is.   As a Junior 60’s retired guy.  I’ve decided to treat SO as my part time job starting 01 Jan.  What that looks like, I’m not sure.  But as I’ve sat here for the past 5 months (w/o a trade) truly learning about the spirit, tricks and theories from kind individuals who cheer their successes and share their mistakes.  
 

What a wonderful motivating discussion to leave 2020

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Keep yourself and family safe 😷 

Troy

[jammit88 7]

Thank you for this post, it really sets the expectations.  I see a lot of people complaining in other forums (e.g. reddit) but clearly they were looking for a crystal ball and not willing to put in any work.

Question for you on this:

Quote

I’ve started doing something else – I’m now keeping a proper journal.

Could you share what journal software or site you use?

[Tamas 34]

It's a very good post.. I remember that in March 2020 I feel very comfortable with my Steady options portfolio while the market fell close to 30%.. Need to take time to learn strategies and how to execute trades perfectly. A little bit too active portfolio for me but I'm thinking if I use those strategies less active its even worth it (?). Need to put time to create own risk management, profit target and patience must be learnt..
I prepare to take time to re-learn..

[zxcv64 771]

On 11/30/2021 at 4:07 PM, jammit88 said:

Could you share what journal software or site you use?

@jammit88, my journal is nothing more than good old Excel.  I've not used any formal journaling software. I'm sure there are some very good tools out there. Maybe others can add their experiences of what they use?

23 minutes ago, Tamas said:

A little bit too active portfolio for me but I'm thinking if I use those strategies less active its even worth it (?).

@Tamas, I admit that trading can be very time intensive. I do it full time. Generally in non-Covid times, I travel a lot and these lockdowns have made it possible for me to really get stuck into trading. However, in Jan, I plan to travel again for a few months and I won't be able to dedicate as much time. So, to work around that, I plan to implement two strategies : 

 

(1) Trade about an hour at the market open, and also another hour leading to market close

(2) Trade only for the 6-8 week period during every cycle when most of the earnings occur. So, this would mean between 15-Jan to 15-Mar for the next cycle. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by zxcv64

[Tamas 34]

23 minutes ago, zxcv64 said:

@Tamas, I admit that trading can be very time intensive. I do it full time. Generally in non-Covid times, I travel a lot and these lockdowns have made it possible for me to really get stuck into trading. However, in Jan, I plan to travel again for a few months and I won't be able to dedicate as much time. So, to work around that, I plan to implement two strategies : 

(1) Trade about an hour at the market open, and also another hour leading to market close

(2) Trade only for the 6-8 week period during every cycle when most of the earnings occur. So, this would mean between 15-Jan to 15-Mar for the next cycle. 

Thank you very much for your advices its very helpful for me. Another issue for me to monitoring  the RV changes to get good entry and exit price. I'm thinking to worth it if I would program the alert service if stocks RV reach the target number.

[daviddream 23]

I was also a former member and will probably return at some point. I did break even over a year of being a member, which was far better than any previous trading or systems used. I didn't go through any of these stages except the beginning enthusiasm and probably lost some money due to struggling with the IB platform, but I understood I needed to work harder to get successful. I didn't have the time and still don't, but like I said, I will probably return at some point. Kim is the best and has some ethics about these things. The only other service that I subscribe to as a lifetime member is Stock Gumshoe, which takes all of these crazy emails that try to lure folks into the next Amazon and investigates the clues to find the company. I believe Kim and the guy who runs that outfit are the best in the business. 

[V_NAM 24]

Want to express a frank opinion for frank responses. I tried Steady Options for a few months and stopped. It was hard to do these trades with a full time job. I am willing to put in intense learning and go through these stages but I am told this is suitable only for $25K portfolio. If that is the case I can not generate enough income to support my family trading this strategy. My question is has anyone tried and got steady returns, say on a $250K/$500K portfolio? If yes then, it is worth the effort for me, otherwise I am not sure.

[zxcv64 771]

20 minutes ago, VNambula said:

My question is has anyone tried and got steady returns, say on a $250K/$500K portfolio? If yes then, it is worth the effort for me, otherwise I am not sure.

The official line is that the maximum portfolio size for the SO strategies is $100K. And I agree with this. (I've traded with much higher than this in 2020, but that was only possible due to the very high vol.)

So, a portfolio of $500K trading in calendars/straddles will be a problem.

 

Also, pls be careful if you require trading to provide an income to feed the family. It's possible to have a couple of losing months (see the Performance table on this site) and then our fear kicks in, and that can affect our trading ability. Trading with 'scared money' is a different game, in my experience.

 

Finally, if you are thinking of getting into trading the SO strategies again, I suggest starting with $10K, then each month, increasing this amount, as you build experience.

 

Good luck!

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by zxcv64

[Kim 7,943]

@zxcv64 excellent advice, couldn't say it better!

As for "generate enough income" goal - I recommend reading Debunking the "Trading Options forIncome" Myth

Trading's goal is NOT generate income, despite what some "gurus" will claim. There is no such thing as income from trading. If you want steady and stable income, buy dividend stocks.
 

[Ringandpinion 1,657]

2 hours ago, VNambula said:

My question is has anyone tried and got steady returns, say on a $250K/$500K portfolio?

I guess the income term depends on what it means to you.  I've been a contractor or business owner pretty much my whole life, so if I pick a quarter up off the pavement, it is income to me.  But I understand what the others are saying, "if you need a regular check coming in to survive, this is probably not a good way to do it".  @zxcv64 is right, scared money has a way of departing your account very quickly.  But regarding the 250-500k portfolio, I would want to have all that in one type of trade (or a couple).  A single system approach is a point of failure.  Diversify into other styles/types of trading.  Buy some real estate, my buddies that are slum lords let the "property manager" do it all and never get off their beer soaked posteriors.  I still buy and sell industrial machinery.  If you've got over 40% of your net worth in the markets, you're going to get hurt.  20-25% is probably max.

 

But just to emphasize, that scared money thing is the real horror, you'll get so wound up it will not only break your account, it'll break you.

[Emanuele 4]

I'm new to this community, and your post literally enlightened me, because I'm currently a frustrated/losing option trader that is trying to learn from others with the aim to build his own method, in order to be independent, profitable and possibly helpful to others in the future.
So I think that your story is gold for people like me and I hope this will be an auspicious "new" beginning!

Edited April 30, 2022 by Emanuele

[Pinkwolf3 1]

On 12/18/2020 at 2:15 AM, zxcv64 said:

 

Like many other new members, I went through a frustrating time on Steady Options. I almost gave up on it very early on, but luckily, I hung around. Having been here a while now, I’ve seen other newbies come full of enthusiasm and leave full of disappointment, walking the same frustration-filled path that I left behind. I’ve examined my own journey, and can break it down into various stages. So, here they are. Other peoples’ journey may be very different, but I hope that my pathway may shed some light, or give some hope to others who find themselves shouting at the cat for no reason, like I once did.

 

1)  Initial Enthusiasm

I joined full of hope and excitement, lured by the mouth-watering annual returns, thinking “If I can make even half of those returns, then I’ll be a happy-chappy”.            

Motivation Level : 10/10

 

2)  Frustration with Fills

Okay, I’ve been a member for a few weeks, and have tried to enter a few trades, but each time, I cannot even get close to the official entry price. I give up on many trades and enter others at the wrong price, resulting in more losers than winners.    
Motivation Level : 7/10

 

3) Frustration turns to Fury (well almost)

It’s now many trades later and the fills are not getting any easier. It’s getting annoying seeing others open trade after trade and close it two days later at a profit, whilst my GTC order to buy is sitting idle on some exchange gathering dust. I’m a mild-manner guy, who wishes no ill-will on anyone, and thought I didn’t have a dark side, but the ugly monster of jealousy is tapping me on the shoulder and saying “Damn, there’s another guy who’s just closed the GOOG calendar for 30% ….AND….he’s gone in and out twice already this cycle, whilst you can’t even get in once?”. I'm anything BUT a happy-chappy.
 Motivation Level : 3/10
 

4) “I’ve had enough”

Months have rolled on, my SO portfolio is not showing any gains whilst the official portfolio is showing a healthy number. I don’t even bother trying to enter any SO trades now, and hardly logon to the forums. I’m bitter and just waiting for my membership to expire.

Motivation Level : 1/10
 

5) The last Attempt

Over a year has gone by, and the anger and frustration has turned to “Let me give this lousy service one last chance, before my membership expires”. I register with one of the two charting services (ChartAffair/VolatiltyHQ), and spend the whole weekend reading up on old trades, and asking myself “Why did Kim enter this calendar at this price? How does he know that it should be a 1-week or a 3-week calendar?” I look at the RV charts and start to see that the official trades are entered at very low RV’s and every time I over-pay, I’m reducing my chances of profitability. I’m seeing patterns in the calendar RV charts – a ramp up as we get to earnings, a zig-zag pattern that allows others (who I envied) to go in-and-out of trades multiple times. Same for the RV charts for straddles. I’m starting to see why Yowster thinks something is a good buy or not.
 

My head is filled with little “ah-ha” moments and learnings, and the next few days I watch live prices and then I do the un-thinkable – I open my own calendar trade on PANW for 0.89. The very next day, Kim opens the same Put calendar for 1.05 – Bingo! I feel a sense of un-controllable excitement, not just cos I received validation that my trade was correct, but that I actually got a better price than the official.   (https://steadyoptions.com/forums/forum/topic/4106-trades-panw-november-2017-calendar/?tab=comments#comment-87397webweb)

Motivation Level : 7/10
 

6) Creating my own Trades

I spend Nov and Dec ’17 coming up with tons of my own trades – calendars and straddles. I'm not really too sure of what I'm doing, so some are winners and many are losers. I’ve started doing something else – I’m now keeping a proper journal. Every trade is logged together with the rationale behind it. If it goes wrong, I try to understand why. I’m trading full-time and this has become all-consuming, but I am enjoying it. My knowledge and skill level is rapidly increasing. For the first time, I make a profit for the month (12.9% for Nov ’17). I’m on a high. I still try to enter official trades, but don’t get upset if I miss many. I do this for a few months, averaging around 6% monthly profit overall. I also increase my portfolio size.

Motivation Level : 8/10
 

7) Consistency at Last

Two years later, and I have traded several earnings cycles, done literally hundreds of my own trades, and I rarely take the official SO trades. Fills are not a problem, as I’m normally in the trade already, and I’m also trading stocks which are not on the SO list. Profits are decent, but I get some big losses, and the occasional losing month. I don’t like those, so I ramp-up the commitment. I decide to REALLY focus on this from 01-Jan-20.
 

And then a dark-cloud-with-a-silver-lining comes along – COVID lockdowns. They suit me just fine: 7-8 hours a day – just me, the PC screen, charts, Excel sheets, Word documents detailing my ups/downs, cups of Earl Grey tea…..trade after trade. Total immersion. I love it. The wife has become a trading-widow. The cat is happy to be around me, cos I am no longer shouting. My profits rise to new levels, the March crash comes and goes without a dent to the bottom line. As we head towards the end of the year, I can finally say to myself that I have matured into a proficient SO trader – my risk management has improved enormously, my position sizing is as it should be, and my ability to distinguish between good/not-so-good trades has improved. I still screw up, but I keep a list of the mistakes I’ve made each month, and it’s satisfying to watch that list become smaller as the months roll on.

 

I have finally found consistency – I’ve made a profit every single month this year. And my SO portfolio is far more profitable than my other ones.

 

But the learning never stops – every week I read some post on the forum and think “Oh, wow, I didn’t think of that.” I’m no longer a SO member for the trades, but for the ideas and the discussions on the forum. They are gold. And I’ve learnt skills that I’ve been lacking for a long time – patience (no more “FOMO”), discipline (sticking to the rules, no doubling-down etc), no emotional trading (no revenge trades, not getting upset when a trade loses etc)

 

The next stages are to get to grips with different trade types, like ratios.
Motivation Level : 10/10

 

I’ve written this not with the view of “Hey, look at me”, but in the spirit of “If a dunce like me can become a competent trader, then anyone can”. If you’re a frustrated newbie, then rest assured that many of us have been there, many others are still in that place, but with determination and dedication, it’s possible to come out of the pain barrier, and see the sunshine on the other side.

 

Happy trading.

 

 

This should be mandatory reading for every new SO member. My own journey closely mirrors the experiences shared here. Many individuals simply seek to pay for trade alerts without delving into the reasoning behind our trades and the source of our "edge." I completely empathize with this perspective, as I found myself in a similar position a few years back. Learning requires dedication and effort, which can be challenging to come by in today's fast-paced world.

 

[Kim 7,943]

4 hours ago, Pinkwolf3 said:

 

This should be mandatory reading for every new SO member. My own journey closely mirrors the experiences shared here. Many individuals simply seek to pay for trade alerts without delving into the reasoning behind our trades and the source of our "edge." I completely empathize with this perspective, as I found myself in a similar position a few years back. Learning requires dedication and effort, which can be challenging to come by in today's fast-paced world.

 

It is actually.

The link to this topic is included in the welcome email.

How many members actually read is another question of course. Part of "today's fast-paced world" I guess. Similar to an email I got from one of the members asking me "Do you have any auto trades services where one can just park money and see these great returns as you claim." 

But this is my favorite one:

https://steadyoptions.com/forums/forum/topic/1260-discussion-aapl-august-2013-trade/?do=findComment&comment=23606

[SBatch 3,123]

14 minutes ago, Kim said:

It is actually.

The link to this topic is included in the welcome email.

How many members actually read is another question of course. Part of "today's fast-paced world" I guess. Similar to an email I got from one of the members asking me "Do you have any auto trades services where one can just park money and see these great returns as you claim." 

But this is my favorite one:

https://steadyoptions.com/forums/forum/topic/1260-discussion-aapl-august-2013-trade/?do=findComment&comment=23606

It’s a form of Darwinism for the option trading community.

[Sunshine25 28]

"I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it."

"There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."

Matrix Wisdom

[Kim 7,943]

17 minutes ago, Sunshine25 said:

"I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it."

"There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."

Matrix Wisdom

One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies.

[InvestTrader 38]

Today it felt particularly good to reread this article.

Thanks