Paul

You don't have to have a charting service to prosper at Steady Options. It just makes it easier and less time consuming. Similar profits were had before the charts like this came available. There is 10 years of history on the site where you can find where good entry and exit points have been. Most of the time when a trade is in the discussion phase a price based on a percentage of the current stock price is mentioned. 3 seconds with a calculator tells you roughly where a good entry would be. Scroll through the history, keep some notes. Most trades are repeated each quarter so after awhile you know what a good price is. After awhile when you understand the strategies well you will find the price of the service well worth it because of the time saved, especially looking for trades that aren't official.SO trades.

I agree, the charts are hard to read. A solution would be appreciated.

If perhaps I could have claimed capital gains then maybe I am owed money. I'm pretty sure whatever I am claiming is right as the same accountant and now his son have been filing for me since 1985. I have been audited before. And as someone else asked, a person can deduct 10% of household expenses like rent, utilities etc. for office in the home. Internet and cable are 100% writeoffs as are any subscriptions like SO, globe and mail, economist etc.

You might want to double check with your accountant. I'm pretty sure I claim all as income because of the short holding period. My old returns are in storage in BC, so I can't access them right now and say so with certainty.

Finally all accounts up and running. Good thing for DTC orders.

Managed to open one of my accounts but that is all so far. Not my main one.

They say system issues on the phone recording. First time I've had a problem during trading hours which will be is a few minutes.

To everyone else I meant to say in my OP I had 5 winners AND 5 losers for -6.2%. That was in May. Wish we could edit. I don't have a PC just using my Android. I don't feel it proper for me to advertise or even mention by name another service on this forum. Even though the proprietor can be abrasive and rude I still won't stand in his "store" and tell out about the competitors. Kim responds to any form of criticism no matter how diplomatic and polite it is in a way I find to be overkill and harsh. Certainly if someone is being a jerk and making stupid comments they deserve it. But...you tend attack in relentless fashion even to polite comments that aren't attacking SO as much s just expressing what they've experienced. That's why I decided to not be as diplomatic in this response. That was probably me that got that wrong. Thought you said you lost money on 5 winners. No biggie. The same holds. Not sure where you are going with this, I don't usually say much but you should relax and focus on filling the coffers. No matter what you made or didn't make in May, June or July doesn't change anything. I'm sure a lot of people did better than me and I did OK. A number of people on this site are going out of their way to help others, listen to what they offer and go from there. And I am pretty sure Kim couldn't care less about whatever other service was mentioned here, no reason he should care. His record speaks for itself. I was referencing a specific situation in regards to Canadian retirement funds. Good Luck.

Here is a statement I'll get blasted for but I'm primarily here for the trades not the education. I like and want to learn but the way I evaluated the process in the begining was to let the experts make the trades, I place the trades and would be happy to have returns that are say 75% of the official return. While this is going on for a couple years I keep learning and eventually start putting on my own trades. 5 years from now I actually consider myself a well versed options trader. Unfortunately that doesn't seem like a doable plan. I am not interested in devoting the time to paper trade and can't sustain ongoing losses plus fees.  I think that is a very doable plan. Following the trades might not match the SO returns but 75% is a very reasonable goal. You might have to make a few adjustments in the mechanics of building the trades. Perhaps I'm reading it wrong but if you have 5 out of 5 winners you shouldn't be losing money. Tighten up your parameters. With straddles and such if you are 2% off on entry and 2% off on exit plus some commission it will be a tough go for sure. Let them go and focus on the trades that don't have to be so exact for now. The market for our historical strategies is slowly coming back to normal and there will be many more trades that won't need as high a level of exactness entering. And nothing wrong with letting the experts make the trades as Kim and Yowster are certainly experts and work diligently to come up with trades to make us money. For example, I am certainly no expert on 30 year or 10 year bonds and don't have any inclination to be but I make sure I get in on every TLT trade that comes up. I focus my time on the stuff I am good at and less on the the trades I'm not really interested in gathering a book of knowledge on. In Canada we aren't allowed spread trades in retirement funds (RRSP) so I also have a cheap but profitable alert service I use for directional trades. That is another area I am not inclined to do the T/A on and pay it very little attention. Like you my goal was to get something going to add to the retirement years. On the west coast the market is over at 1 oclock so lot's of time for a round of golf. This has turned into a lot of fun, my mornings are busy like most retirees, I'm just happier making money than woodworking ha! Everyone has there own goals, good luck.

The Steady Options website itself is the best tool. Historical trades going back 9 years, lots to read. One of the chart subscriptions is the next best for recognizing good entry points, there are two of them. If you are a complete beginner you need nothing else. Read up and paper trade until you get the mechanics down pat. Follow the trades as they are presented. After awhile, if you are the analytical type consider One for analyzing and setting up your own trades. I would imagine it would take months to be proficient enough to bother with that being a beginner. There are plenty of official and unofficial trades to follow. Don't try and get into any unofficial trades unless you fully understand them. The official trades are fully vetted but you still need to know the mechanics of building the trade as well as a basic understanding. Good Luck.

Posted July 27, 2016 For those of you getting frustrated and a bit confused on how Steady Options operates I would suggest you reduce your size until comfortable with the mechanics, theory etc of the community, model portfolio, trade alerts etc. iIf you choose to just follow the model and alerts you will do OK, I found I averaged about 80 to 85% of the models returns due to the competition to get the exact same fills. After a few months when I started taking advantage of the advice and knowledge on the rest of this site I can happily report I consistently beat the monthly performance of Steady Options. Have patience. I posted this a bit over 4 years ago and it still holds. This isn't rocket science. I am a member of the KISS crowd. There are enough tall foreheads around here lol. Obviously you need to pay the subscription fee. A big time saver is one of the charting programs for about 50 bucks. I use nothing else. Glancing at the value of my account right now I figure I am up over 10% this past month. I consider 100% returns annually the benchmark by applying what I learn here to trades that don't make the official but I do on my own. Right now I have 26 orders in the market but have had no fills since Monday. Somebody said Dog Days of Summer ha! It's only as complicated as you want to make it. You don't have to be an expert on the greeks and volatility, you just have to have a general understanding that they affect the price of the options and wait for that price to come to you. This probably holds true whether you are with Steady Options or not.

IF I was you I would just open an account at Interactive. They might not be the best at all things but they have been pretty reliable for me for more than six years. Why make life complicated. They haven't hurt my bottom line. If you want to get more fussy later, sure, go ahead. I can assure you that they won't be the difference between a good income and a lousy one.

You do a great job @yowster, especially on the analysis. Thanks.

Tax forms aren't ready in Canada yet either. It is a bit early. When they are ready they are downloaded from the site. Taxes aren't due up here till April 30.

I not having any problems with IB

They were close to forty delta for the 282.5 Dec 8 calls so I bought. Wasn't sure if it was the right expiry though as others were talking about a week later. I'm just starting to use this thread. I seems quite profitable for small size.

I just got filled on an AVGO Dec 8 282.5 call at 4.95 for 40% profit since yesterday. Wasn't paying much attention, it looks like it is on the move today after slow start.

Cuegis, do you not get automatice updates when you log in everyday?

Have had same issue since Friday, thought they would have fixed it by now.

Having the same issue with two symbols, with the rest being OK. Waiting to see if one of my offers moves to the bid without being filled. Calendars.

Even with a 20,000 model portfolio, ADBE nor FDX would fit using a 3:1 ratio. The math is easier using a 10,000 size, especially for newer traders. The more experienced traders here can more easily do the math on oversized trades and make the proper adjustments. Myself, I don't follow the suggested allocations exactly as I have been doing it for awhile. I just make sure my total allocation to all positions doesn't exceed 60%.

I don't understand how posting by month of earnings is really going to simplify things. I do realize that it is only one thread but most of the other threads created will only be in the spotlight 4 times a year,except the more generic ones like VXX diagonals etc. If you are interested in the less generic trades and discussions like specific straddles or calendars like NVDA for example,, a person will have to do a lot of searching

I strongly support Rappers quote above. Especially the ability to track a trade over a number of cycles in one thread. There are many trades that probably won't fit the Steady Options parameters but can still be profitable with a little finesse which these discussions enable. When or if a member spots a good opportunity they know where to go and what to compare to without the clutter of navigating the rest.

I have no problems with it.

On the top row of your TWS window, the same row that has the time on it. Also has Booktrader Mktscanner booktrader Optiontrader etc.Click on Combo.