How to Successfully Trade Options Without Timing the Market

smbcapitalJohn Locke, M21 Trading System, Options Education, SMB OptionsLeave a Comment

How to Replace Your Obsession with Timing the Market

You see the enemy every time you look in the mirror.

Your greatest attribute is also your greatest weakness. The desire to be right.

The 2014 market conditions has led the mass of traders to quiet moments of desperation. A funeral march to the proverbial trader’s grave. All inflicted with the same deadly ego that separates the most level headed of men and women from their money.

We long to be the surrounded by a circle of neighbors at the weekend barbeque bragging how we skillfully predicted the latest market gyration and rode it confidently to an easy profit.

What we omitted was the prior three losses that were as ugly as the summer humidity in NYC. 

Market neutral options trading is a great way to substantially increase the odds of a winning trade and make money without calling market direction.

That’s right, without needing to see the future direction, you can earn money. And all this can be done without searching through individual stocks or constantly looking for new ideas and positions.

Done properly, market neutral trades can be entered regardless of market conditions. Also another benefit is that most trade adjustments are not urgent which will greatly reduce your time in front of a screen.

Why Trade Adjustments are a Key to Safely Reducing Risk

Imagine driving a car with the instructions “Step on the gas and keep the wheel straight.”

What if the car drifts? What if the road turns? What if there is another car coming at you?

Disaster isn’t a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.

Most market neutral trading strategies follow a set of rigid rules, and while trading rules are a must, they prepare you for limited outcomes which results in poor performance. 

Successful programs have flexible rules that follow guidelines and concepts with the goal of understanding how, why and when to apply them thereby allowing you to adapt to varying market conditions.

Successful options trading is ultimately about trade management and using the proper adjustment strategies to control risk. Developing adjustment strategies properly means going deeper than simply analyzing the Greeks at the current price level.  The correct adjustments analyze the Greeks along the entire T+0 line as well as the Greek trends to identify risk and determine the most effective adjustments before risk becomes excessive.

Which Scenarios Lead to Improved Reward Potential

The best way to improve your reward potential in market neutral trading is by actually learning to trade. 

Most market neutral trading programs don’t teach you how to trade, they simply give you a set of instructions that work in specific circumstances. These instructions would be great if the market always remained the same, but it doesn’t. And when circumstances change, there goes your money.

 Rather than following a set of instructions, wouldn’t it be better to actually know what you’re doing?

The market is dynamic and constantly shifting. Instead of blindly following instructions that may or may not be applicable to the current situation, get the program that helps you learn how to identify and control risk to improve your reward potential.

The SMB Options Training Program is an eight-month program designed for novice and intermediate level options traders who are seeking an intensive training process to learn how to trade options spreads for monthly income. For more information on this program contact Seth Freudberg: [email protected].

Risk Disclosure
No relevant positions

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