By Jeff Clark, editor, Market Minute I was only 19 years old when I made my first options trade. I had a gut feeling the market was going to go higher… so I bought four S&P 100 call options at $1.50 – a total investment of $600. A few hours later, the options were trading at $4.50. I sold and took the $1,200 profit – a 200% gain. And I was hooked on options forever. My next trade was in IBM. I bought 10 calls for $1. This time, it took a couple days to double my money. Next, I bought Digital Equipment put options… which nearly tripled in just a few days. I made 17 trades during my first six weeks as a trader. Every single one was a winner. Going 17 for 17 was a remarkable feat for a rookie trader – especially since I wasn't using any sort of fundamental or technical analysis. I was just going with my gut. But I was careful not to put more than $1,000 or $2,000 into any single trade. And I still managed to turn my $5,000 brokerage account into $50,000 in just six weeks… Recommended Link | An Urgent Briefing Dan Denning here, Bill Bonner's longtime colleague. This is the most dangerous – and potentially profitable – market that could come around in our lifetime. Bill and I teamed up with some of the brightest investment minds who appear to have predicted exactly what's happening right now… …and who are showing their readers how to make (or preserve) money, instead of losing it in the midst of what could be the worst crisis of our lifetime. To hear from these experts, and find out what you can do to profit, click here to read Bill's urgent briefing. | | - | And then I decided it was time to get serious. No more tiny trades. I was too good for the small stuff. For whatever reason, I had figured out a way to beat the market. Heck, I had just rattled off 17 straight triple-digit winners. So I decided to take the $50,000 in my account, add to it my $25,000 in savings, and put it into a handful of options trades. You can probably guess what happened next. The stock market has a habit of humbling folks who think they've figured it out. For me, the humbling started right away. At first, the positions started slightly moving against me. It was nothing to be concerned about. One good day would put everything back in the profit column. You Don't Need Gold Coins to Profit From This Gold Boom But then, one by one, each position blew up on me. It was too painful to watch. I kept the television off and avoided reading the newspaper for fear I'd see something bad about the stock market and my positions. When I finally got up enough courage to call the branch manager and check on the status of my account, I learned all the gains I had built up over the previous six weeks were gone. “Just sell everything,” I said. Recommended Link | Major Flaw in Tesla’s Gigafactory? In Tesla’s massive Gigafactory, where they make batteries for their popular electric cars… There is something strange… One wall of the factory is far different than the others. Maybe it was a mistake. Or a flaw in the design. But there’s a secret reason for it. And it may have something to do with a tiny company – sitting on a $35 billion fortune. | | -- | That was an expensive lesson to learn. But it's one every options trader learns at some point. I was just fortunate it happened to me early in my career. You see, that experience changed how I looked at trading. Instead of using options as vehicles for speculation – a way to juice my returns and get more bang for my buck – I started using them the way they were intended to be used: as a way to reduce risk. Today, I still do my fair share of speculating. But I'm not focused on how much money I can make. I'm focused on how little I can lose. That's a huge difference. It has allowed me to trade options successfully for nearly three decades. And it allowed me to retire at 42. Best regards and good trading, Jeff Clark Editor, Market Minute P.S. It’s no secret technology has improved since I first started trading the markets. Today, most of the trading is done by computers that know exactly when to buy and sell for the best profits. However, I’ve discovered a way to beat the computers at their own game. Using my new strategy, I can predict when the buy and sell signals will flash – before the computers… Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to feedback@caseyresearch.com. In Case You Missed It… The Best $49 You Will Spend This Holiday Season For just $49… You could learn how to 172X your money. It has to do with a new kind of investment account. One that will allow you to earn up to 8.6% interest. That's 172 times better than the average savings account. Thanks to a recent landmark decision… More and more people are investing in this account. In just minutes… you can learn how to set up your very own, high-yield account. Click here to find out more. |
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