I first began trading options in 1975; just two years after the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) opened its trading floor. My strategy of choice was writing covered calls.
In late 1976, I was employed by Monsanto Company as a research chemist when a friend bought a seat on the CBOE. We had lengthy discussions about his new venture. Long story short, he gave me an opportunity to come to Chicago and trade as a market maker as the nominee for someone who owned a seat on the exchange, but who did not want to trade himself. I accepted, quit my job and drove to Chicago. That was December 20, 1976 and my life changed forever.
I'm still in the options business, 37 years later. I left the CBOE trading floor in the year 2000. Since that time I've been trading my own account — just as you do — as a retail customer. But, I added something new when I began writing and teaching others how to trade options with a conservative bias. My first book was published in 2002 (The Short Book on Options) and others followed.
Update. I am now retired from trading.
I published a blog for several years, and the contents are still available. My current projects include a) developing this blog at about.com and would love to hear from you with comments, questions, requests for topics to discuss, etc., and b) writing a series of eBooks on individual option strategies.
My books:
• The Rookies Guide to Options, 2nd Edition (2013)
• Create your own Hedge Fund (2005)
• The Short Book on Options (2002)
My eBooks:
• Introduction to Options: The Basics (2014)
• Writing Naked Puts (2014)
• The Short Book on Options (2002, 2014)
• The Option Trader’s Mindset: Think Like a Winner (2012)
• Lessons of a Lifetime: My 33 years as an Option Trader (2010)
Iron Condors is the 3rd book in a series that offers hands-on education for the most useful option strategies. It is intended to be very different from all other books you may have read on iron condors.
Learn the basic concepts:(1) Select the options to trade; (2) Select the spread width; (3) Choose the underlying asset, expiration date and strike prices; (4) The importance of managing risk...
Writing naked puts is an option strategy for two types of investor: (1) Those who want to buy stock at below (current) market prices. If the stock is not available at that low price, then the investor earns a cash profit as a consolation; and (2) The shorter-term bullish trader who wants to earn a profit even when the stock price does not rally.
Ideas that improve your decision-making process when trading. Develop a mindset that leads to more-profitable trades and avoid common mindsets used by less successful traders.
Some suggestions are easy to adopt. However, others may seem to be against common sense. Think through these ideas and they will make sense. They work for me and I trust they will work for you.
A very basic introduction to options. The primary purpose of this small book is to allow readers to determine whether using options is suitable for them. Options are risk-reducing investment tools and are appropriate for a vast number -- but not all - investors and traders.
The Short Book on Options is a detailed primer on how options work and how to adopt Covered Call Writing. The emphasis is on how a reduced-risk strategy leads to more frequent profits.