Leaderboard

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.

Please find below the summary of all discounts and promotions available to SteadyOptions members and readers. CMLviz Trade Machine offers ~35% discount for the Pro version See details here. OptionNET offers 50% for the first month and 10% discount afterwards. See full details here. Tradier offers flat $10/month fee structure. See details here. eOption offers $1.99 per options trade (or equity trade) plus 10₵ per options contract. See details here. Volatilityhq offers 50% discount for a limited time ($600/year value). See details here. OptionSlam offers a 15% discount on annual INSIDER Memberships. See details here.

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 @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.

Those who believe that trading is different that other areas in life - please read 10,000 Hours Of Trading by my good friend and college @Colibri Traderwho is our guest contributor. Of course on the other side of the spectrum there are claims like "Screw the 10,000 hour rule, all you need are a few minutes a day to master the art of Forex trading". If you read a Forex 101 book such as the Forex Profits Pocket Guide, you can learn everything you need to know about the Forex market in just one hour. I can assume those charlatans attract more subscribers than we do, but at least I can sleep well at night. Can they?

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.

I would definitely welcome it.

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.

I want to talk today about commissions. Lets assume that you buy a straddle for $2 ($1 each option). I have an account with IB (Interactive Brokers) and pay 0.70 per contract. So for me to do a round trip trade is 2.80. This is 1.4% of the cost of the trade. So if my gain is 10%, then I keep 8.6% after commissions. If you pay $1.5 per contract, then your total cost is $6. That's 3%. You need 3% gain just to break even. Some brokers charge you per ticket fee plus per contract fee. This might be a good deal if you do a lot of contracts. For example, if you do 20 contracts and pay $5 per ticket plus 0.30 per contract, then you pay 0.55 per contract. But if you do just 2 contracts, then it's 2.80 per contract. Also some brokers charge a fee per ticket per leg, others per ticket for the whole spread. For RIC which is 4 leg trade, it's a huge difference. Since you make it as one trade, you might pay one per ticket fee with some brokers or four fees with others. Commissions is one of the reasons why I don't like cheap stocks. A straddle on a $100 stock might cost around $5.00-6.00. Paying $2.80 commissions is only 0.5% of the trade. But straddle on $15 stock can be only $0.70, so $2.80 is 4% of the trade. A huge difference. When choosing a broker for those strategies, remember that commissions can make a huge difference. Check the fine print and do the math which broker is better for you based on the number of contracts you are going to trade. Update: For those who don't want to read the whole thread, it seems like most members really like IB. Barrons's agrees: Based on Barron's numerical calculations, Interactive Brokers (interactivebrokers.com) claims the No. 1 spot overall for the third-straight year. http://online.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424053111904628504579433251867361162

I'm starting this topic to help members to get the most out of the forum. It will include some useful technical tips. There is a lot of stuff here, and the forum continues to evolve all the time, so this hopefully will help new and old members. Forum organization The forum hierarchy is: Forum Topic Post You need to follow a forum (by clicking "Follow this forum" button in the right upper corner of the forum page) to get notifications about all new topics in that forum. If you follow the forum, you will receive an email when a new topic is posted. For example, to get the trade notifications, you will need to follow the SteadyOptions Trades Forum: Now you will have to follow each topic in order to get notifications about the new posts in that topic. The bottom line: Follow a forum to get notified about new topics posted on that forum. When a new topic is posted, only the first post will be sent. If you are interested to get the rest of the posts, you will need to follow the topic specifically. Please note that some forums are followed automatically for all new members, but you still need to follow the individual topics manually. Trade notifications We will post a topic in the SteadyOptions Trades forum when I enter or exit a trade. If you want to get notifications about the trades, you should follow this forum (by clicking "Follow this forum" button). If you follow this forum, you will receive an email when a new topic (trade) is posted. If you want to follow that trade, you will have to follow that specific topic in order to get notifications about the new posts in that topic. All trade notifications come with screenshots of our fills. This way you can see when the trade was filled, the prices of the individual legs etc. Trades are typically posted within few minutes after we are filled. Other services notifications notifications work the same way. Forum features A member has the ability to follow another member. You can follow few members that you find helpful, and you will get all content posted by those members. For example, following @Kim @Yowster and @krisbee is an alternative way to get the trade notifications for SO service. Follow @cwelsh - and you will get all trade notifications for Anchor service. We recommend following our contributors (who actually post trades) and mentors. The New Content area shows an auto-updated stream of all content from across the community, with customizable filters. A comprehensive search engine, enabling users to find content from across the community. With a wide range of filters available and the ability to drill down by content type, finding relevant content is simple. @mentions: Members can notify other members by typing their name to mention them - the perfect way to ensure a member sees something they might otherwise miss. If you type an @ symbol and then start typing the name of a member, an autocomplete menu shows so you can quickly then click on the user and they'll receive a notification that they've been mentioned. Automatic Saving: The editor auto-saves each and every post you write. If you accidentally navigate away from the page, your post content can be recovered, so that if you come back later you can continue right where you left off. The are also two Notification settings: instant notifications and HTML5 browser notifications. Members can now get pop-up notifications even when not active in that window at the time. Useful links and updates On the top of the forum page, there are some useful links and updates. Those links include: SO Open Trades (SO members only) Useful Links Any important updates will be posted in that box as well. Tagged topics All trades and discussion topics are tagged with the trade symbol. Below the topic, you can see the last ten topics tagged with the same symbol. This way when we trade for example AAPL, you can go directly to the last five AAPL trades. It is very helpful to see how much we paid in the previous cycles for similar trades. Pinned topics Each forum will have few "pinned" topics. Those are topics which are intended to be kept on the top of the forum. Active trades will always be pinned in the Trades and the Discussions forums. Please let me know if you have any more technical tips about the forum and I will include them here. Asking questions on the forum SO is an educational forum, and I encourage members to ask questions. The only thing I'm asking from members is to do your homework as well. All new members, please make sure to read the Read This First forum, including all the links, Welcome to SteadyOptions and Frequently Asked Questions. We open a discussion on each trade and include a link to the relevant strategy overview topic. Please read the strategy overview before asking a question. Please understand that I cannot tell you what is the maximum you should pay for any specific trade. I provide guidelines about price ranges, based on backtesting and prices we paid in the previous trades. The charts in trading candidates topics in Earnings Trades Discussions forum provide prices in the previous cycles. Please make your own decisions how much you are willing to pay, based on those data points. Personal questions Please understand that I'm not an investment adviser and cannot answer personal questions. I cannot tell you when to enter or exit a specific trade and at what price. I cannot tell you which strikes to use. All those questions are usually covered in the strategy overview - please read it. Please post your questions on the forum instead of email/PM, so all members can benefit. Forum Etiquette We encourage members to ask questions and participate in forum discussions. At the same time, some forum discussions become overwhelming. Please remember that each time you post, dozens (sometimes hundreds) of members who follow the discussion will get an email. We need to find the right balance. Here are some tips: Before you post, ask yourself if your post really adds value. For example, if 2-3 members already posted their fills, is it really necessary to add another one, especially if it's similar? If your question is about specific setup, please double check that your setup is correct in terms of strikes/expirations etc. If you share a trade, please make sure to mention what was the setup. You can follow few members who you believe add value, without the need to follow specific topics. When you thank someone, you can use the "Like" button, which includes "Thank you" icon, instead of posting a post. If you find a post helpful, you can upvote or like it (using icons on the right bottom corner of the post).

Hello all We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with OptionNET Explorer (ONE) software provider to provide the ONE software to SteadyOptions members at discounted prices. SteadyOptions members can try the software for 10 days at 25 GBP ( around $43) which represents a 50% discount. After the 30 days trial, the prices are as following: 135 GBP for 3 months or 450 GBP for 12 months Those prices represent a 10% discount. Please note that trials are limited to one per customer. Discount expires if subscription lapses - returning customers are not eligible for those discounts. Some of the features of the ONE software: Historical market data for all optionable US Equities and Indices in 5 minute intervals within the platform. All software upgrades during the term of your subscription. Unlimited access to the support representatives via web, email and live chat. Live/delayed data via thinkorswim, tradier or Interactive Brokers. Send orders directly to the broker with more to be announced shortly. Click here to take advantage of this offer. Disclaimer: Some of the members of SteadyOptions team are using the ONE software. SteadyOptions team does not receive any compensation from ONE software provider. Please do your own due diligence to find the software that is best for you. You can use this topic to post questions about the ONE software.

Before ever entering a trade, we need a plan. For example, we want to know whether we should avoid earnings, or trade with earnings. Knowing where to place a stop loss, and even a limit gain. Knowing which strike to trade. Knowing whether to trade the monthly or weekly options. But it even goes further – even if we know which direction we think the stock will go – do we sell puts or sell a put spread? Do we buy calls or a call spread? Should we be net owners or sellers of volatility? Has there been measurable edge in the trade in the past, or not? This is how people profit from the option market — it’s preparation, not luck. All of these questions were designed to be answered with the CMLviz Trade Machine, which is an option back-tester created by Capital Market Laboratories (CML). I have been in the same circle as this company’s founder for years. CML is in fact a member of the famed Thomson First Call roster. Their research sits side-by-side with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and the rest of the bulge bracket banks, but they have a different goal: To break the information asymmetry that exists between the top 0.1% and the rest. To learn more about the product, you can tap on the link below. You will see a 4- minute video demonstration. I think, for many of you, it will become a valuable tool to supplement your trading and the analysis that Steady Options provides. Tap Here to Watch the Video and Sign Up P.S. Our members know that I rarely promote other products. But this one really got me excited. I encourage you to give it a try. They plan tons of additional functionality in the upcoming months, including custom strategies to trade around earnings which can be a great benefit for us. CMLviz Trade Machine is constantly adding new features, and the price will be increasing as new features are added. Those who sign up are grandfathered at the price they signed up even as the prices increase.

Special offer from Tradier coming soon for Creating Alpha subscribers. Stay tuned!

@TrustyJules Congratulations on your well-deserved recognition.

Very nice news. Congratulations @TrustyJules!

Very interesting history TrustyJules. Congratulations! Well deserved.

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

You are welcome. I always like to use the analogy of other professions. It takes 4 years to become an engineer and 7 years to become a doctor. No medical student would expect to do live operations during his first years in medical school, and no civil engineering student would expect to build bridges after 1-2 years in school. Yet many people expect it to be different in trading. I get many messages from potential members, some of them tell me that they are new to trading but expect to make 10%/month. I tell them upfront that SO would not be a good fit for them. Over the years I probably have lost hundreds potential members because I like to set realistic expectations. I won't lie to people and tell them what they want to hear.

@Wushi I would like to refer you to the following reading: Why Retail Investors Lose Money In The Stock Market Are You Ready For The Learning Curve? Can you double your account every six months? Are You EMOTIONALLY Ready To Lose? 10,000 Hours Of Trading How Much Can I Earn With Options? As Mark Wolfinger writes: So to answer your question, it will depend on your skills, your learning curve, your commissions structure and your commitment and dedication. Can you make 80%/year as a new trader? The answer is: most probably no. The conventional wisdom is that your goal as a new trader has to be not to lose money during your first year in trading. I know this is not what people want to hear, but that's the truth. Can you make those returns after you learned the basics, learned the strategies and practiced them for few years? The answer is yes. We have many members who replicate and even exceed our performance numbers. But it took them years, not weeks or months to get there. Again, not what other services will tell you - but it's the truth.

1. All trades and trade discussions include the month and the year of the trade. 2. When you look at list of topics, each topic has both dates (created and last post). 3. This would be very confusing. All forums I know have first post first, not latest. The latest posts are one click away.

In ONE, you need to do the backtesting manually while in CMLviz it is much more automated. But ONE give you intraday prices in 5 minute intervals and has much longer history (around 7 years). Also, in ONE it is easier to see the prices. But of course CMLviz is much more advanced in terms of setting a strategy and seeing results in just few seconds.

@thanitpYou can say the same about ONE software and optionslam. But still the demand for SO service is so strong that I need to close it 3-4 times per year (will be closing again in few weeks). For every member who cancels we have 2-3 new subscribers. And most members who cancel come back after few months (or years). I believe that no software can replace live trading and discussions that we have on the forum. Most members still consider it very valuable, but of course it's up to members. The software is supposed to be a supplement to live trades and trade discussions that we have on the forum.

Yes, we receive a percent of sales and also get a say into development to make sure the strategies we discuss at Steady Options are covered. As our long time members know, I rarely recommend any product, and if I do, It's only ones that I'm using myself (like ONE and optionslam), regardless of compensation that I get or don't get.

You are right. But you still have an option to indicate different deltas, compare naked puts to put spreads, set different price target and stop losses etc. Question I got by email: I liked this video. Will I be able to back test our earnings and non-earnings SO strategies? Will this also help back test our new RUT strategy? I remember that you back tested this manually quite recently. Will you be using this software going forward yourself? Answer: Current, no. But Ophir mentioned to me that they are developing an option to do custom strategies where you can do virtually whatever you want - open x days before earnings, close y days before/after earnings, define custom strategies etc. And yes, I will be using the tool.

I place orders directly from IB. Didn't try to do it from ONE. I think the cost of ONE is worth it anyway.

ONE has a lot of features that TOS doesn't have. For example, 5 minutes resolution while TOS gives you only EOD prices. You can build a position and track it, including current PnL, adjustments etc. You can just try it for 1 month - it's only $43, and then decide.

2.95 per contract is A LOT. Why not to try IB?

Yes, exactly. If you trade fixed dollar amount per trade (which I do), you need to buy more contracts when trading strangles.

Yes, but it applies to single options only, not spreads.

Spread typically should be filled as easily as a single option.

This is hilarious. How they are even staying in business lacking such basic functionality?

I can see a lot of posts where people mention their gains including commissions, and I can see that many are paying unnecessary high commissions. Depending on the number of contracts you are trading, you need to evaluate which broker is the best for you. As a rule of thumb, if you are paying more than 1.0-1.2% for straddle/strangle and more than 2.0-2.5% for an RIC (as percentage of the trade value), it's time to change brokers.

This commissions structure might be good for someone who trades at least 20-30 contracts, so the fee per contract is small. For just 2-3 contracts, it is not worth it.

I use Smart. Those fees are annoying, but overall, I don't pay significantly higher than the "official" 70 cents. Sometimes there are credits as well, and the average might be just few cents higher.

Here is some comparison - thanks to Gary: TradeKing has a ticket fee of $8.95 for more than 8 contracts, then 15 cents per contract. The ticket fee is only charged once per spread. So it doesn't take many contracts for TradeKing to be cheaper than IB. For a four legged trade of 5 positions, IB would cost $14.00. Same trade on TradeKing is 11.95. So TradeKing is actually cheaper once you start trading bigger lots. For smaller lots, it's $4.95 + .65. TradeMonster is .50 per contract, which is cheaper than IB, but there is a $12.50 or $15.00 minimum. Once you get into bigger lots and exceed the minimum, TradeMonster is clearly cheaper than IB. eOption is the cheapest at $3.00 + .10, but their platform is pretty bad, they don't do complex orders, and they $3. ticket charge is for each leg. The point is that those strategies are very sensitive to good commissions structure and you should check very carefully which broker is the best for your specific needs.