How to make money trading stock options

A Simple Guide To Making Money With Options. Over the past few decades, we've seen many advances in how the stock market functions. Today, exchanges and brokerage houses exist almost entirely online, and everyone is competing for microseconds of speed. As a quick example, let's say IBM is currently trading at $100 per share. Now, let's say an investor purchases one call option contract on IBM with a $100 strike price at a premium of $2. The call option gives the buyer the right to purchase shares of IBM at $100 per share. In this scenario, the buyer could use the option to purchase those shares at $100, then immediately sell those same shares in the open market for $105. Because of this, the option will sell for $5 on the expiration date. Using the same analysis as shown above, the call option will now be worth $1 (or $100 per contract). Since the investor spent $200 to purchase the option in the first place, he or she will show a net loss on this trade of $100. If IBM ends up at or below $100 on the option's expiration date, then the contract will expire "out of the money," meaning it will now be worthless. In this scenario, the option buyer will lose 100% of his or her money (in this case, the full $200 that he or she spent for the contract). Profit Amplifier Closed Trades. Aside from a few road bumps, our path to success has been very profitable.

In fact, my readers and I have made an average return of 14.5% on our trades so far, and our average holding period stands at just 40 days -- that's good for a 132% annualized return. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of NASDAQ, Inc. How to make money trading stock options There is a neat trick I learned from a hedge fund trader, and that is Swing Trading deep in the money call options. Here is what this means: first off swing trading means: holding a stock or an option for a time period of one week to one month. Its not day trading but its not buy and hold either, its the holding period that every Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager uses. Secondly, deep in the money call options, are a great way to trade stocks because they give you super leverage up to 20 times for little or no cost, yet with less risk than trading options outright. Basically when you buy a deep in the money call option, you are buying the stock almost outright, a deep in the money call option is a stock replacement method, because the option moves almost 100% in correlation with the underlying’s stock move. How, well there is a options term called Delta, its simply tells you at the current time how much the option will move in percentage terms versus the underlying stock, if the option has a Delta of .50 its means that the option will move 50% of the underlying stock’s move. For example an option that has a .50 delta will move 50 cents when the underlying stock moves a dollar. Now a deep in the money option usually has a delta of .60 or above meaning that the option will move $.60 cents for every dollar move in the underlying stock. Sometimes you can even find a deep in the money call option that has a .95 delta meaning that the option and the stock move almost 100% in tandem with each other. A stock replacement method is when you get an option that moves $.60 to $.95 cents for every dollar move in the underlying stock. By using deep in the money options, as a stock replacement method you are getting free leverage, (because to margin a stock it can cost you up to 7% an interest a year) an option has zero interest or borrowing costs.

Also a real quick caveat, never buy a option whether its a call or put, unless you know that there is going to be an event (i. e. earnings, merger, corporate announcement, or an economic release etc) because you have time decay on an option, basically the longer you hold the option, the more money you lose, since you lose a little bit of money every day when you hold an option. So to summarize to make the perfect options trade, that will make you a 100% in a month you need the following things. 1) A Swing Trade - an option that you are going to hold for a week to a month time period at most. 2) A Deep in the Money Option with a Delta above .60, so that it moves almost in tandem with the underlying stock. 3) An event that is going to occur within the time period of one month or less. 4) and A Cheap Option, and this is very important, basically an option is cheap if the current volatility is below its historical volatility, this sounds confusing, but all it means is this. Is you want to find stocks that have not been volatile or have been trading flat or in a range for the last 2 or 3 months, just pull up a chart and if the stock has been dead or flat, than you know the volatility is low and the option will be cheap. So here is a trade that I am making today, using this deep in the money optionstock replacement method. I am going to buy 10 deep in the money $6 May Sprint ($S) call options for .20 cents an option, so for 10 calll options my total cost is only $200. So to summarize I am buying a call option on the stock Sprint ($S) and with a May Expiration (so I get to hold the option when Sprint announces earnings on April 22nd) and I am buying the option at the $6 strike price.

Here is why I am so excited about this trade, first off Sprint ($S) has traded flat or dead in a range for the last 3 months, so the options are cheap. Secondly Sprint ($S) is announcing earnings on April 22, almmost a month from today, so I know there is an event that will create movement or volatility in this option. Third for just $20 cents or $20 dollars I am controlling 100 shares of Sprint stock on one call option, or in my case I am controlling 1000 shares of Sprint stock for only $200 dollars, that is incredible leverage, since if I purchased 1000 shares of Sprint ($S) stock, it would cost me over $6000 dollars, yet I am controlling that same amount of stock for only $200, thats 30 to 1 leverage.. Awesome.. Also I think based on Spint’s earnings estimates, that Sprint could trade as high as $6.60 after they announce earnings on April 22, that means I would make almost 200% on my option trade in just 4 weeks time. Now thats what I call a Billionaires Trade. To learn more about this secret options method, or what I call the super leverage stock replacement method, where you can make 100% in a month using deep in the money option email me at. Call Option Trading Example. How To Make Money Trading Call Options. Example of Call Options Trading: Trading call options is so much more profitable than just trading stocks, and it's a lot easier than most people think, so let's look at a simple call option trading example. Call Option Trading Example: Suppose YHOO is at $40 and you think its price is going to go up to $50 in the next few weeks. One way to profit from this expectation is to buy 100 shares of YHOO stock at $40 and sell it in a few weeks when it goes to $50. This would cost $4,000 today and when you sold the 100 shares of stock in a few weeks you would receive $5,000 for a $1,000 profit and a 25% return. While a 25% return is a fantastic return on any stock trade, keep reading and find out how trading call options on YHOO could give a 400% return on a similar investment! How to Turn $4,000 into $20,000: With call option trading, extraordinary returns are possible when you know for sure that a stock price will move a lot in a short period of time. (For an example, see the $100K Options Challenge) Let's start by trading one call option contract for 100 shares of Yahoo!

(YHOO) with a strike price of $40 which expires in two months. To make things easy to understand, let's assume that this call option was priced at $2.00 per share, which would cost $200 per contract since each option contract covers 100 shares. So when you see the price of an option is $2.00, you need to think $200 per contract. Trading or buying one call option on YHOO now gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy 100 shares of YHOO at $40 per share anytime between now and the 3rd Friday in the expiration month. When YHOO goes to $50, our call option to buy YHOO at a strike price of $40 will be priced at least $10 or $1,000 per contract. Why $10 you ask? Because you have the right to buy the shares at $40 when everyone else in the world has to pay the market price of $50, so that right has to be worth $10! This option is said to be "in-the-money" $10 or it has an "intrinsic value" of $10. Call Option Payoff Diagram. So when trading the YHOO $40 call, we paid $200 for the contract and sold it at $1,000 for a $800 profit on a $200 investment--that's a 400% return. In the example of buying the 100 shares of YHOO we had $4,000 to spend, so what would have happened if we spent that $4,000 on buying more than one YHOO call option instead of buying the 100 shares of YHOO stock? We could have bought 20 contracts ($4,000$200=20 call option contracts) and we would have sold them for $20,000 for a $16,000 profit. Call Options Trading Tip: In the U. S., most equity and index option contracts expire on the 3rd Friday of the month, but this is starting to change as the exchanges are allowing options that expire every week for the most popular stocks and indices. Call Options Trading Tip: Also, note that in the U. S. most call options are known as American Style options . This means that you can exercise them at any time prior to the expiration date. In contrast, European style call options only allow you to exercise the call option on the expiration date!

Call and Put Option Trading Tip: Finally, note from the graph below that the main advantage that call options have over put options is that the profit potential is unlimited! If the stock goes up to $1,000 per share then these YHOO $40 call options would be in the money $960! This contrasts to a put option in the most that a stock price can go down is to $0. So the most that a put option can ever be in the money is the value of the strike price. What happens to the call options if YHOO doesn't go up to $50 and only goes to $45? If the price of YHOO rises above $40 by the expiration date, to say $45, then your call options are still "in-the-money" by $5 and you can exercise your option and buy 100 shares of YHOO at $40 and immediately sell them at the market price of $45 for a $3 profit per share. Of course, you don't have to sell it immediately-if you want to own the shares of YHOO then you don't have to sell them. Since all option contracts cover 100 shares, your real profit on that one call option contract is actually $300 ($5 x 100 shares - $200 cost). Still not too shabby, eh? What happens to the call options if YHOO doesn't go up to $50 and just stays around $40? Now if YHOO stays basically the same and hovers around $40 for the next few weeks, then the option will be "at-the-money" and will eventually expire worthless. If YHOO stays at $40 then the $40 call option is worthless because no one would pay any money for the option if you could just buy the YHOO stock at $40 in the open market. In this instance, you would have lost only the $200 that you paid for the one option. What happens to the call options if YHOO doesn't go up to $50 and falls to $35? Now on the other hand, if the market price of YHOO is $35, then you have no reason to exercise your call option and buy 100 shares at $40 share for an immediate $5 loss per share. That's where your call option comes in handy since you do not have the obligation to buy these shares at that price - you simply do nothing, and let the option expire worthless.

When this happens, your options are considered "out-of-the-money" and you have lost the $200 that you paid for your call option. Important Tip - Notice that you no matter how far the price of the stock falls, you can never lose more than the cost of your initial investment. That is why the line in the call option payoff diagram above is flat if the closing price is at or below the strike price. Also note that call options that are set to expire in 1 year or more in the future are called LEAPs and can be a more cost effective way to investing in your favorite stocks. Always remember that in order for you to buy this YHOO October 40 call option, there has to be someone that is willing to sell you that call option. People buy stocks and call options believing their market price will increase, while sellers believe (just as strongly) that the price will decline. One of you will be right and the other will be wrong. You can be either a buyer or seller of call options. The seller has received a "premium" in the form of the initial option cost the buyer paid ($2 per share or $200 per contract in our example), earning some compensation for selling you the right to "call" the stock away from him if the stock price closes above the strike price. We will return to this topic in a bit. The second thing you must remember is that a "call option" gives you the right to buy a stock at a certain price by a certain date and a "put option" gives you the right to sell a stock at a certain price by a certain date.

You can remember the difference easily by thinking a "call option" allows you to call the stock away from someone, and a "put option" allows you to put the stock (sell it) to someone. Here are the top 10 option concepts you should understand before making your first real trade: Options Resources and Links. Options trade on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange and the prices are reported by the Option Pricing Reporting Authority (OPRA): Quit Your Job To Trade Stocks? Trading is often viewed as a high barrier-to-entry field, but this is simply not the case in today's market. Now, anyone with ambition and patience can trade, and do it for a living, even with little to no money. Sounds fantastic? It is, and there are so many options available to people with the desire to put in the time to learn. The New Era of Trading. Changes in technology and increasing volumes on the exchanges have brought about a number of very low barriers-to-entry trading careers. In some cases no personal capital is required, and in other cases a small amount of capital will be required to get you started, in order to verify your commitment to trading.

With markets so interlinked, it's always open trading time somewhere on the globe, and many of those markets can be accessed with relative ease. This means that even people who have full-time jobs or children at home can trade - it is just a matter of finding the right market and opportunity. This is not to say that trading is an easy business - it can be very tough to stay in for the long haul. As we look at some different trading alternatives available in today's market, you will see that you are able to enter the market, but your ultimate success depends on you. We will look at these options in depth to see what they offer career wise, or if they can simply be used to generate additional income. The Options Available. People often think that full-time traders with advanced degrees and a high pedigree only work for investment banks. Equally as common is the thought that, in order to trade, you need large amounts of capital and expendable time. It is probably true that to get into an investment bank or onto a major institutional trading floor, you will need to have connections or a prominent educational background that sets you apart. Therefore, this alternative will not be focused on. In this article we will focus on how the average person, with extensive or very little trading experience, can enter into the arena of trading and creating wealth. The first option, and likely the easiest because it is so flexible and can be molded around daily life, is trading from home. However, day trading stocks from home is also one of the most capital-intensive arenas.

This is because the minimum equity requirement for a trader who is designated as a pattern day trader is $25,000, and this amount must be maintained at all times. If the trader's account falls below this minimum, he or she will not be permitted to day trade until minimum equity level is restored either by depositing cash or securities. Therefore, potential traders need to be aware of the other markets that require less capital and have lower barriers-to-entry. The foreign exchange (forex) or currency markets offer such an alternative. Accounts can be opened for as little as $100 and, with leverage, a large amount of capital can be controlled with this small amount of money. This market is open 24 hours a day during the week, and thus provides an alternative to those who cannot trade during regular market hours. The contract for difference (CFD) market has also expanded. A CFD is an electronic agreement between two parties that doesn't involve ownership of the underlying asset. This allows gains to be captured for a fraction of the cost of owning the asset. As with the forex market, the CFD market provides high leverage, meaning smaller amounts of capital are needed to enter the market. The stock market can also be traded using a CFD. While the stock is never owned, the contract allows profitslosses to be reaped from speculating on the underlying stocks or indexes by mirroring its movement. High leverage does mean higher risk , but if a trader does not have a large amount of capital, this market can still be entered with very low barriers.

Educating oneself on the risks involved and building a strong trading plan are absolute musts before partaking in any trading activity, but when you're highly leveraged, it becomes even more paramount. Proprietary Trading Firms. Proprietary trading firms have become very attractive with their training programs and low-fee structures. If the idea of trading from home does not appeal to you, then working on a trading floor might. Under this system, the trader is provided with firm capital (or leveraged capital) to trade and the risk is partially managed by the firm. While personal discipline is still very much required, trading for a firm takes some of the weight off of a trader's shoulders. Working for a firm may also require working in an office during market hours, although some firms allow traders to trade remotely from home. The perks of working with a trading firm can include free training, being surrounded by other successful traders, constant trading ideas, greatly reduced fees and commissions, access to capital and performance monitoring. Many proprietary trading firms will accept people who have shown initiative in their backgrounds and have some education in their prior field. This is because the firm can monitor a trader's risk, and those not showing promise can be released with very little overall loss to the firm. Pay in a firm is based on performance, and is normally a percentage payout of your net profits after fees. Some licensing may be required, but depending on the structure of the company this is not always the case. Passing the Series 7 exam will mean that there are more firms with whom you are available to trade. Each firm operates a little differently, so find one that suits your needs, personality and circumstances.

Some require you to use some of your own capital. If you run a search for a list of proprietary trading firms, you will be able to see what is available to you. Once you've decided which trading method fits you the best, the next step is crucial. If trading from home is the main interest, you must decide what markets you will trade in based on your capital and interests. You must then make a comprehensive trading plan, which is also a business plan (trading is now your business) and decide how you will operate as a trader. From there, explore different online brokers and compare what they offer. Seek out a mentor or someone to help you. Then, it is time to start trading. how+to+make+money+trading. Narrow Your Search.

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You Can Trade Two Types of Stock Options, Calls and Puts. Bulls Trade Call Options and Bears Trade Put Options. Do you expect the price of Google shares to rise above $700 in the future? Then you could purchase a CALL option with a $700 strike price. But if you expect the price of Google stock to fall below $500, you can purchase a PUT option with a $500 strike price. If the stock price changes as you predict, and the price change is enough to cover the cost of the option you bought and the broker commission, you will make money. Traders who were holding puts during the stock market decline of 2008 made big gains. A PUT option also is different from selling a stock short, i. e. selling a stock you don't own. When you want to sell a stock short, you must first borrow the stock to short it. But when you buy a PUT options you are not borrowing anything. How to Exercise Stock Options Before They Expire. Many investors buy and sell their options with no intention of ever exercising the options.

They take their profits simply by trading out of the options. They do not want to take possession of the underlying security. However, you can EXERCISE your option if you want to. If you own a PUT option and want to EXERCISE your option, you can sell 100 shares of your Google stock at $500 per share to the writer of the option. If you own a CALL option and want to EXERCISE the option, you can buy 100 shares of Google stock at $700 each from the writer of the option. All stock options can be exercised at any time before they expire. These are called American-style options. Some index options, i. e., those with a stock index as the underlying security, can be exercised ONLY on the expiration date. These are called European-style options. How to Price a Stock Option, Intrinsic Value and Time Value. How much does a stock option cost ? The price you pay to buy an option contract is the listed price called its premium, and is always less than the price of the underlying stock.

The price is quoted as per share, so the cost of an option on 100 shares is 100 times the quoted price. Two prices are quoted for the option, the bid price to sell an option and the asking price to buy an option. The difference between the bid and ask prices is the spread for the dealer. The Black-Scholes Calculator for Stock Option Prices. Black-Scholes Option Pricing Formula. How Much Money Can You Make Trading Stock Options. Make money with call options. The Role of Your Broker and the Options Exchange. The stock options you buy and sell through your broker are exchange-traded options with standard contracts and with standard pricing. Your broker will settle your option trades in one day, unlike the three-day settlement for stocks. The exchange guarantees that the options contract will be fulfilled. If you decide to execise an option, your broker will arrange for the transfer of shares of stock. Large institutions can enter into private options among themselves, called over-the-counter options, which do not trade on an exchange.

In addition to stock options, you can also trade options based on other underlying securities, like commodity options, bond options, stock index options. There are also interest rate options, options on futures contracts and many more derivative options available to option traders. Stock Options Are for Advanced Traders. Stock options are an advanced financial instrument . There are strategies for the writers of options, strategies to help you hedge your portfolio from loss, and strategies to make money using two or more options on the same stock. Option traders sometimes use exotic trading strategies with names like the butterfly spread, the iron condor, the straddle and the strangle. I wish you a very happy day. You make good things happen. How To Do It Articles - Health, Money, Success, Investing, Business, Happiness, Technology, Music, Books, Biography, Celebrities. 20 Study Tips So You Can Get Good Grades in College.

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Investing in the stock market can be a great way to have your money make money, particularly in today’s economic climate where savings accounts and long-term bank notes do not offer significant returns. Stock trading is not a risk-free activity, and some losses are inevitable. However, with substantial research and investments in the right companies, stock trading can potentially be very profitable. Part One of Three: Understanding the Basics of Trading Edit. Developing Your Stock Portfolio Edit. The above article offers lots of good tips. Note that the article says that "some losses are inevitable." Stock trading definitely carries lots of risk. Do not quit your job until you have demonstrated the ability to make money consistently in trading. Pick a broker who provides a "virtual" trading platform for practicing, as noted in Part 1, Step 4 above. No one, not even your broker, can tell you what the price of your stock will do in the days or years ahead. The best plan is to pick stock of companies likely to prosper in the future and simply wait for them to do so. Your online trading account is linked to your bank account.

It can take as little as $50 to open a trading account at some online brokerages. Shares of penny stocks can be purchased for $5 or less but you need to open a trading account first. A stockholder does not actually gain or lose money until he or she sells the stock they hold. You will receive whatever the price is when you sell shares (less trading costs). Many people make money trading online. Online discount brokers' fees start around $4 per trade and could be twice that at some online firms. Related wikiHows Edit. Trade Stocks Online. Convert IRA to Roth IRA. Begin Trading the Markets. Avoid Investment Trading System Scams.

Get Started Trading Options. Find the Top Day Trading Picks. Pick and Trade Penny Stocks. Buy Stocks (for Beginners) Upload a picture for other readers to see. This version of How to Make Lots of Money in Online Stock Trading was reviewed by Michael R. Lewis on February 18, 2017. What Can I Realistically Make My 1st Year Trading Stocks And Options? The only reason anyone starts trading stock options is to make money, and one of the most common questions people ask is “What can I realistically expect to make in my first year of trading?” It’s a critical issue, but you probably won’t like the answer very much. There is no set figure on what you can make in your first year as there are so many variables. However, what I do know is that without proper trading education and a solid trading plan , you are probably going to lose a couple of years’ worth of income.

New traders tend to dive in, investing their hard earned money day in and day out and unfortunately, most of them end up having to learn the hard way – hell I did myself when starting out. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. What Would Be A Realistic Earning Expectation For Trading Stock Options? Let’s face it every trader starting out will have hopelessly unrealistic expectations if they haven’t done their homework. Whether it’s from films and TV shows about trading, or mates down the pub, or wherever the incorrect information comes from, it fills people with false hope and expectations when setting out in trading stock options. Just because someone traded 1 penny stock five years ago does not mean that a 454% return is normal or even expected. I’ve even had people ask me point blank if making a 25% return each month is reasonable – um let’s see. . . NO! Starting off your trading career with unrealistic expectations inevitably will lead to failure. It’s better to face reality now than be blindsided later. I would say a realistic goal would be to aim for around 20-25% return per year… not per month! Start The FREE Course on "Options Basics" Today: Whether you are a completely new trader or an experienced trader, you'll still need to master the basics. The goal of this course is to help lay the groundwork for your education with some simple, yet important lessons surrounding options. Click here to view all 20 lessons ?

What Do I Need To Know To Make My First Trading Year Successful? Let’s stop talking about how much you’ll make or not and start focusing on education. You need to learn how to trade stock options successfully before you put a penny into the market otherwise you will fail. It’s like any other skill or challenge you find out how to do it first before you take part. As a starting point, listen to this podcast which should help you to put together a game plan and aid you to hack through the options trading learning curve in 3 months. Surely it’s worth spending time learning, rather than rushing in feet first and losing money because you were too impatient? We lay out the complete framework in the podcast and notes page . Next, sign up as a free member to check out our Beginner Video Track which takes you through everything you need to know as a new stock options trader. Make sure you set yourself a trading plan and educate yourself to have the best chance of success in your new endeavor. Learn about technical analysis and trading psychology now. Trust me it will make things much easier down the road. New Trader – First Year Checklist. The figures are a little off depending on who you talk to, but around 80% to 90% (maybe more) of traders end up losers and leave the business altogether. So figure out why they fail and learn to avoid the common mistakes early.

On a positive note, take the time to find out how the successful trader’s trade, the techniques and strategies they use, and any other tips that help you move away from the greater majority. Only a small number of traders are profitable, and that number gets even lower if you look at a 3-5 year average that measures consistency. Don’t get discouraged, we all fell off the bike before we learned to ride it, right? If you are just starting out, you should expect to incur some losses as you climb the learning curve. No question about that. However, what matters the most (and differentiates you from many other traders) is learning from the mistakes and continuing after failing. I always tell my beginning coaching students to paper trade everything first. This way, you learn how to enter orders, adjust trades, and more importantly learn from your mistakes without losing real money. And even then, you need to keep it small once you decide to invest real money. If you can’t trade profitably with $1,000 how in the world are you going to make it with $100,000? Again, I see too many people quitting after a streak of 4-5 losing trades. What? You didn’t think this would be a walk in the park, did you?

Come on people, losing money is part of the game. It’s how you manage your losses that make all the difference. Besides, it is impossible to predict price movements consistently (which is why our strategies don’t need the requirement for success). Listen to the technical indicators, control your emotions, and above all…preserve your capital! Don’t you think it’s completely unrealistic to expect a small account, say under $5,000, to generate consistent income to replace your regular job? I sure do. Rather, concentrate on low-risk, low-frequency trading with income-oriented trading systems. The key to success with options is keeping your trades consistent, and trading them persistently. One of the most effective ways to succeed in options trading is by having a sound trading methodology. Take time to sift through most of the information available on the internet and conduct factually driven research on trading stocks and options. This way, it will be easier for you to set realistic income goals and avoid making too many mistakes. Don’t let your emotions get in the way of the math. What Were Your Expectations When You Started Trading Stock Options? Share your expectations here, however crazy they might seem now – if you have been trading for a few months how has it been?

Share your stories and experiences with us in the comment box below. Kirk Du Plessis. Kirk founded Option Alpha in early 2007 and currently serves as the Head Trader. Formerly an Investment Banker in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group for Deutsche Bank in New York and REIT Analyst for BB&T Capital Markets in Washington D. C., he’s a Full-time Options Trader and Real Estate Investor. He’s been interviewed on dozens of investing websitespodcasts and he’s been seen in Barron’s Magazine, SmartMoney, and various other financial publications. Kirk currently lives in Pennsylvania (USA) with his beautiful wife and two daughters. Sounds like a plan to me! Great work! @Joe Bracco, Thanks Joe. The reality is that if you break-even your first year trading then you did really good. But most people will have an “education” and take a loss. Stick with it though!

Great post Kirk, a. dont understand the share market (as of course these are derivative products based on underlying equities) b. Dont understand how the options market works including how options are priced. c. Short your learning for each method – master each before you move to the next. d. dont have a written trading plan for EVERY options method. e. dont follow your trading plan. f. Dont have s system to choose the right method for prevailing market conditions and YOUR personal circumstances (for we all know there are many options stratgies you can use on a technical buy signal for example) g. Dont have an options specific position sizing calculator (and it needs to be more than just dividing your capital into chunks) h. Dont have a method to record your trading (and this is MORE than PL ..we want your decision making processes recorded) Miss any of the above your expectations should be you WILL lose. simple. Do them all..and you will know what you can realistically expect after 3-6 months of trading. It is complete folly to state a $ figure it is meaningless and will always be unrealistic..celebrate great decision making consistently and what can be real for you will become clear… Be the trader you can be (in attitude, diligence and discipline x Do the right things consistently = results will follow automatically. PS My expectation is most who read this will not take action nor will even take it seriously enough to use it to review their own trading..rather they will believe the ”used car salesman” who bring a bad name to those who are REALLY interested in educating, will perhaps add another indicator for of course that is bound to make a difference to mediocrity in results ..

NOT.. or simply look to the next new vehicle to trade:-) Im a 18 year old college student. Is it unrealistic to think I could make roughly $500 to 1000 a month purely by trading stock? Depends on how much you start with in your account but probably trading stocks that might be unrealistic. lets say we started trading with 500 dollars, would it be possible to make 1000-1500 a month then? even if we nickel and dimed our way to said goal… Is this even a real question? No way! Find me any system that comes close to that overtime and I’ll pay you the difference. You cannot expect to start and account with $500 and make that kind of money! I’m a grad student and I’m also expecting the same outcomes. What will be a reasonable amount to start an account with? Even as little at $1k is reasonable just don’t expect to make another $1,000 off that :) Mate, even if you are a professionalactive Option trader earning 100% on a monthly basis is pretty unrealistic.

However, 5-7.5% isn’t unreasonable if you’re an active trader! Hi Kirk, I think you will find a lot of people are thinking exactly the opposite to what you believe. I am one of those people that have avoided educating myself about the stock market because my expectations are that you make $0.00 money from it. I have made my money from real estate. I really enjoyed reading this though, so I am going to subscribe. Some people have the same unrealistic expectations in real estate. I built my wealth and knowledge up over 30 years and tell people ‘go slow and don’t get burnt’. I had no opportunity for education and therefore no way of earning a decent wage so I had to learn how to make extra income but if I were young, I would just concentrate on my education and getting a well paid job as top priority. Maybe this will teach me how to get a few extra bucks in my retirement which I could pass onto the kids, that would be nice. Thanks for the honest insight Sue (and for subscribing of course!). I agree, an education in any particular area of investing is needed badly. Thanks for adding in here Stephen! Thanks for comment! I agree – I would hate looking at them every day too! good basic intro to options …yes there is to much hype out there regrading options …my advice paper trade until you are getting 710 trades in profit before investing real cash…patience is crucial… it depends the way how you are looking to the time, means how you are looking to one year.

According to me one is long time where you can actually achieve the success and many more. Is it true and possible for some people to make 3% per month consistently? Do you know anyone that does it? Depends on the market you are in but it’s possible though not consistently month after month at the exact same rate. Could be higher or lower each month. I have just left uni and am looking into trading to try and generate some capital. I don’t really know what to expect at the moment. I have spent around a month so far on research and plans to make. Is it realistic that starting with £200 I could make £50 from that by doing day to day trading in a month? I want to start small before I actually commit a real amount of money. Until I can actually get the hang of not losing a small amount of money, I will then consider putting more in. After all it is essentially strategic betting. No James it’s not. That’s a 25% return per month and not realistic unfortunately.

I agree though that you have to start small and 25% per year is a better target. Ah ok thanks. I came across Binary option trading which sells itself as stock trading but in reality it’s not. So many people rush into things like this and lose so much money because they didn’t do their homework. Thanks for the reply anyway. Yep I agree – don’t rush take your time and do it right. I am about to take a equity day trading job just out of college. I will be starting with $100,000 buying power and my pay is all commission based. I understand I will not be profitable everyday, but right in the beginning is it a resonable aim to try to make $2000 in the first month if my method is momentum trading? I am not trying to get greedy everyday to max out my profit. If I make enough return ($500+) at any point in the day then I prefer to stop trading. I am asking because no one can give me an honest answer of what to expect.

Here’s my honest opinion – be careful. Most of these firms use $100k to quickly vet out those who are good from bad and then they will cut you lose quickly. If you are just trading stock (and no options) it’s going to be very hard to day trade profitably. The more trades you make the worse your statistically likelihood of making money will be because more occurrences means that your theoretical win rate will get closer to 5050. That said you are better of (though marginally) making position trades long or short for longer periods of time. Even better still you are better off to use options. Sure maybe luck or good judgement. I just know that long term your odds get closer and closer to 5050 the more “coin flips” you make directionally. High frequency trading firms and prop firms make money with lots of trades (but that are rarely too directional). Sure there are guys that do better than others I would just stay away from it if I were you (again my honest opinion) and find a firm that will coach you through options trading. Hey Diego – I think $500 per month is very reasonable.

Correct. Now of course you could make more if you are more aggressive in your trading but that also means you’ll go through more ups and downs in your account. I think a very reasonable expectation is something along the lines of what you outlined here. But hell even at 20% ROI it’s worth the time and effort! More than enough. Just because something has a high returns doesn’t mean the risk is equal in both so I’m not which one you should go with. So your saying if I start with $1000, I should only expect to make $20 that month. I think making 10% a month is not at all unrealistic. If your trading full time, making $100 a month off should be nothing overly inpossible. Well go for it then – 10% per month and 120% per year consistently while taking decent risk is way unrealistic. Trading full time or not it’s unsustainable without taking considerable risk in blowing up your account.

Welcome to 2015…”It will be great!” They said…I kick myself daily for pursuing a PhD, I should have gone into a trade straight out of high school and by now would have been able to start my own small business. Might be a slightly smaller paycheck but much more potential and no boss to contend with. You’re Education is Priceless and for Life. Money is here today gone tomorrow. Hey Marius! The bigger the return you’re going to shot for the bigger the variance each month will be (as it should work in an efficient market right). So I think it depends on some many factors it’s hard to say market volatility, position sizing, earnings etc. I’ve had months of losing trades and then months over big winners. If you start with $500 can’t you just slowly build up your funds from that and eventually start trading with much more money? Sure you could always start with that – I just don’t want people to have an unrealistic expectation of how fast an account will grow.

"Let Me Explain Option Trading in Simple Terms You Actually Understand. " Discover five ways to achieve financial freedom in five years or less. Just enter your email to the right (unsubscribe at anytime). If you're frustrated with the technical and over-complicated online options trading tutorials, then I understand your frustrations. I never found anyone to explain option trading in simple terms so I eventually pieced together my own definition and that's what I'm sharing with you today. In this lesson I will explain option trading so you can see why some people consistently double their money and others don't. This is Lesson 1 of Module 1 (the table of contents and video lessons are at the bottom of each lesson in this course). You'll learn what I used to turn $600 into roughly $3,000 in a few days. You'll see how you can have a large profit even if the stock moves only 1% in price. And when you finish this module you'll have a complete understanding of how to make money with options trading. Explain Option Trading - The Concept of Buying and Selling Contracts for a Profit. For the purposes of this lesson, I will only be referring to trading stock options, even though options can be traded on other securities such as commodities. A stock option is not a physical thing like owning shares in a company.

Instead, it's a contract between two parties. When you own stock (or shares), you actually own a piece of the company. When the company's value goes up so does your shares price and then you have the opportunity to sell your stock shares at a higher price. However, a stock option is an agreement, or a contract, where one party agrees to deliver something (stock shares) to another party within a specific time period and for a specific price. So trading stock options is essentially the business of buying and selling contracts (stock option contracts). "Real estate investors" buy and sell homes "Stock Traders" buy and sell shares of stock "Option traders" buy and sell contracts. Contract: an agreement made between two or more parties. It is no different than the contract you sign to buy a house or a contract you have with a lawyer or musician. It's just a contract. How option traders make their money is the same way stock traders make their money. Stock traders make their money when the asset they bought (stock shares) goes up in price. Once that happens they sell their shares for a profit. Options traders make their money when the asset they bought (options contract) goes up in price. They then sell their contract at a higher price then what they paid.

**NOTE**: I am only referring to the buying side of options trading. There is a way to make money by purely selling stock options, but this tutorial only covers buying options. If things are still fuzzy no worries, I'll explain option trading some more. The next lesson (trading stock options) will give you example of how you make money buying and selling contracts. That will help you gain a better understanding of how contracts can be traded for money. Message from Trader Travis: I don't know what has brought you to my page. Maybe you are interested in options to help you reduce the risk of your other stock market holdings. Maybe you are looking for a way to generate a little additional income for retirement. Or maybe you've just heard about options, you're not sure what they are, and you want a simple step-by-step guide to understanding them and getting started with them. I have no idea if options are even right for you, but I do promise to show you what has worked for me and the exact steps I've taken to use them to earn additional income, protect my investments, and to experience freedom in my life. Just enter your best email below to claim my  FREE  report:  Five Option Trading Strategies I've Used to Profit In Up, Down, and Sideways Markets. Along with your  FREE  report, you'll also get my daily emails where I share my favorite option trading strategies, examples of the trades I'm currently in, and ways to protect your investments in any market . Products Created by Trader Travis.

Free Options Course Learning Modules. Module 1:  Option Basics. Module 3: ꂺsic Strategies. Module 6:  The 7-step process I use to trade stock options. Copyright © 2009 - Present. The Options Trading Group, Inc. All rights reserved. DISCLAIMER: All stock options trading and technical analysis information on this website is for educational purposes only. While it is believed to be accurate, it should not be considered solely reliable for use in making actual investment decisions. This is neither a solicitation nor an offer to BuySell futures or options.

Futures and options are not suitable for all investors as the special risks inherent to options trading may expose investors to potentially rapid and substantial losses. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in the futures and options markets. Don't trade with money you can't afford to lose. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed in this video or on this website. Please read "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options" before investing in options. CFTC RULE 4.41 - HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER-OR-OVERCOMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFIT OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.