The Coolest Guy in the RoomQ: How long did you trade options on the side before you came
to the conclusion that this was a pretty losing proposition for a
retail trader?
Q: About a year.
Q: How was that process? Did you break even? Did you lose
some money? What was the end result?
A: You know, I think that, looking back, I probably did all right
for a while. But like a lot of beginning traders, I ended up losing
all of my profits on one or two trades by getting stubborn.
Q: Were you trading news events? Would you buy options in
anticipation of some positive news?
A: I was probably more of a technical trader. I never considered
myself very good at interpreting news, even today.
Q: How did technical trading come into your skill set? How did
you gravitate to that right away?
A: Oh, that is a great question. Well, let me add to that a little bit.
I think that almost every trader whom I mentored as far as stocks
or futures go wants to make it a science. They want to be able
to look at a chart, study, work hard, find some magic indicator of
solving the market. In the end, I don’t think that’s how successful
traders trade. But in the beginning, it seems that everyone goes
through that process.
Q: They try to engineer a profit, right?
A: Absolutely, and I see it all time with new traders. And no
matter what you tell them, you can tell them up front that this is