Selling Stock Options
When I first learned about investing, trading costs were so high for options that they weren't a practical investment vehicle for the non-rich, so I set options aside and didn't bother with them. Costs have come way, way down for Americans and some Europeans. I understand that Canadians still have to do a lot of shopping around.
I have been learning about selling stock options since the beginning of December. I don't want to make the mistake of giving investment advice, thus leaving myself open to being blamed when things go wrong. Nevertheless, once I began learning about them, I felt strong regret that I hadn't learned about them ten years earlier. Therefore, I am now telling you all to look into them. Much lower trading costs have made options viable for the individual investor. Make your own decisions. I am not an investment advisor.
Since December 7, 2020, my personal returns have been about .0013 (.13%) of my options bankroll per day, weekends included, and I'm still a beginner. I'll leave it to you to do the compounding. Note well that we have been in a strong bull market.
Before December, I did about a month's worth of reading and watching videos before I invested anything.
Resources to get started learning:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/
https://www.investopedia.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/options/
https://www.tastytrade.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcmZHsuUt_DOzcgIcLd0Qnw
Comments
As someone who is fairly conservative, financially, I don't see myself getting into stock speculation and day-trading... But, MAN... would I like to go back to December and buy some GameStop stock...
I need a time machine.
You can use stock options for speculation and day trading, but you don't have to. Options are versatile. You actually can use them to be slightly safer than investing in stock directly. For instance, if you sell cash secured puts on a exchange traded index, you are getting money up front, so it is a bit safer than investing in the index directly.
As for GME, I didn't want to touch the stock at all, and I have no regrets. I did sell a few puts on it, but I was so careful that they weren't any more lucrative than many of the other puts I've sold.
I'm curious if apps like RobinHood will survive in the long term after this.
Thanks Bill:
The Streets is a buzz with this RobinHood fad [costumes and pompomsgalore].
My position here is mostly observational.
This was some good reading.
This needs a oral thermometer edit