Trader Sam asks: “Dear Sir: Allow me to ask a question about options, as I am a new trader: I have heard that delta neutral strategies are the best approach to trading options but I have less than $6,000. in my trading account and my broker’s margin requirements make it impossible for me to trade iron condors, butterflies and other … Read More
Our interesting times of Risk
Prop traders are the truest of entrepreneurs. We eat what we kill. We do not have clients. We do not sell anything or organize to sell something to someone else. No one in 13 years of trading has ever called or emailed or IMd my desk with a trading tip. Our pay is based solely on our trading skill and … Read More
Clean Up Print
Back in the day trading NYSE stocks and learning to read the Specialist prints one thing we used to look for was the “Clean Up Print”. This was usually the print on an intraday gap in the direction of the immediately preceding trend with big volume. This was a sign of a floor broker possibly finishing working the order and … Read More
Free Options Webinar Today at 5PM EDT. The Options Tribe: Iron Condors using SPX Index Options
September 6, 2011 at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time SMB’s Options Tribe is an online community of options traders dedicated to sharing successful options trading ideas with all of our members worldwide. Each week the community will meet online for the primary purpose of watching live presentations made by outstanding veteran options traders and experts in the world of options … Read More
How Bad Do You Want It?
Traders must be ready to become great. Being an elite trader must be important enough to you so that you do the work required to be special. Your mentor, your firm, your institutional bank or hedge fund cannot make you into a great trader unless it is important enough to you. I had a private conversation about a very good … Read More
Traders Ask: What to Do Before You Start Your Trading Career?
Mr. Michael, I am Alexei, from Paraguay, South America, I’ve been following SMB Capital for a year and now reading your blog posts is a must every day. Recently I have finish reading One Good Trade. I have read so many books about technical analysis and trading and I now you heard this a lot but it was by far the best … Read More
Notice, Explore, Execute
This morning we noticed that shortly after the open CF hit my new low of the day ticker. Hmmm…a market leader getting sold right away into a gap up in the SPY and continued strength in the SPY. I took “Notice”. A little later we see it again, this time joined by MOS, AGU and some others from the sector. … Read More
Trader’s Ask: How should I decide when to increase my tier size?
Hi Bella, If you don’t mind, I have a question for you. How long should a trader trade at a given tier size before they move it up? I don’t want to jump in larger too fast, but I don’t really know what an optimal time frame is for advancing, and I’m sure it varies from trader to trader. Is profiting … Read More