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I think a lot of people, myself included, tend to be lurkers and quiet readers more than active posters, so there's probably some selection bias happening either from those who are totally new and suffered multiple losing trades in succession and want to vent about it, or experienced traders who are actively contributing setups along with their trade history. I joined SteadyOptions exactly 2 months ago today so I realize I'm still very new. But in that time, I've sustained an 80% net return over 66 trades (mixture of official trades and my own simple overnight long straddles/strangles). There have been some rough moments (case in point, the DIS hedged call fly or various failed calendars), and I have no expectation of ever attaining the official returns because they don't account for commissions or slippage, but I am still extremely pleased with the performance. Attached is my SO trade log if you'd like to see how I arrived at that number. Cheers, and happy trading! SO_trade_log_FlingThorn.xlsx

Hello all, I signed up for a trial last week and I have pored over the forums since. I see a lot of posts from people who are learning and trying to get it right. But I don't see enough success stories, especially from the ones who are surpassing Steady Options performance. I'm not doubting these success stories exist. So I thought I'd open the floodgates for success stories to pour in through this topic. I feel the need to observe people who say "hey, look, I've done it, I've achieved 100%+ returns." Kim said there are hundreds of people like this. I don't see enough of them in these forums. Regards,

If you see lots of posts from those learning, how did you miss the 10 times that amount of those commenting appreciatively. @kawhi058 I guess I've never thought of writing a specific endorsement in a specific place, but I'm sure I've crowed about my success in different topics on this site 100 times in the almost 2 years I've been here. The trade discussion posts are packed with thanks for great trades, really love those 2 day 15% profit trades @Yowster or @Kim, on and on. Most of it is not consolidated in a single topic, but it is there if you look at the posts. When you see these comments by people time and again that have been members of this site for multiple years, there is your commentary on how well the trades do. I'm not sure I'll ever write a "Steady Options love letter", but I've commented on how good I'm doing many times. Don't know how you missed them.

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.

It is a technicality. Didn't you ever see the two head sports announcer at the pod races in Star Wars?

Thank you @Ringandpinion Your example might be not the best one because we know that technically you are two people 😀 but yes, it does take a lot of effort. Like everything in life. Some people reach stage 4 and quit, others wiling to put the extra effort and reach stage 7.

It makes sense about having a specific location but maybe not the SO way. One of the things I found frustrating early on was that there was a massive amount of info on how to do these trades spread out in many, many discussion topics. Yeah, the "must read topics" cover the basics, but the nuance was spread out everywhere. Eventually I realized that it would take a herculean effort to consolidate the knowledge spread out in all those different topics and I gained more by having to make notes and chase it down than if it was spoon fed to me. I don't believe anyone will succeed at this without putting in a lot of effort but I have certainly succeeded with what I've learned here and I'm still learning. I have looked at other trading sites and actually tried memberships in some recently, trying to learn whatever type of trading they were claiming to sell. In every case, they were a failure. But if I can succeed here, and am willing to put in the same effort with those other sites, why did I fail there? Maybe said failure wasn't me, so I dropped the memberships.

Thanks for sharing @FlingThorn much appreciated!

Thanks so much, FlingThorn. This is exactly the kind of post I hope to see more of.

SteadyOptions is in business for over 10 years. We have some members who are with us from the very beginning. I think it is safe to assume they wouldn't stay if they were not successful. Actions speak louder than words. But here is one - My Seven Stages of being an SO Member