Whether you’re new to options or a seasoned trader wanting ideas and strategies for trades, check out Options News Network. They have short, well-produced, informative videos covering all facets of options trading, including breaking news in the current market.
The primary advantage of options is leverage. You can make (and lose) money in options much faster than in stocks, and for much less money invested too. A 10% move in one day in a stock is highly unusual, yet such moves can easily happen with options. I’ve had options that moved up 50-100% in one day. Other advantage is you can make money if a stock price is falling down. (You can also do this by shorting stocks, but again, options cost less and, unlike with shorting, your risk is not limitless.)
ONN.tv is impressive. They have a number of educational videos for those new to options as well as hardcore advice for traders, and the videos are short and fun to watch.
What ever happened to investing in a company for the long term, perhaps because you believed they put out a good product? Everything now seems to be how can I make the most money by the end of trading today? Instead of decisions for investment being made on the basis of what the COMPANY is actually DOING, this short term hyper-speculation is based too much on predictions of what the mob psychology will be in the next few moments, and how does that work for/help me? Wall Street (including ALL so called investment networks) has become the world’s biggest casino, where only the rich can afford to play because the average person is too busy trying to figure out how she can feed her family because those same rich people played a huge role in driving up the cost of food. As usual, the poor get poorer and the rich get life handed to them simply because they demand it.
Most investment pros, including Jim Cramer, advise that the trading stuff should just be a small part of a portfolio, with long-term holds, bonds, t-bills, etc. comprising most of it. I agree.
Warren Buffett has made billions with long-term value investing. George Soros has made billions speculating on currencies and almost tanked the Bank of England once when his mega-bet against the pound won. So, yeah, it’s decidedly a mixed bag.
I trade options because I seem to have an aptitude for it, enjoy it, and made all the rookie mistakes years ago.
This site is awesome.
Finally a site that focuses on the options trader and the info they need to know.
Love the Mad About Options clips. I wonder why Cramer didn’t think of this.