Comments on: Year End Account Summary - 2007

By: OptionPundit

OptionPundit — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:26:26 +0000

Congratulations on a great set of results. Wishing season’s greetings and all the best for the year ahead.

Profitable trading, OP

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 19:35:45 +0000

Nice returns, maybe I should pay closer attention to what you are saying?

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:02:14 +0000

I have traded stocks and shares in a more traditional sense in recent years. However, by using leverage responsibly and trading through Options a savvy investor can make a quicker return without tying up capital. Great blog, lots of good tips and congratulations on your continued success with Stock Options.

By: Teamrivers

Teamrivers — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:05:54 +0000

One thing that’s hard for many to understand is gain vs ROI. Your return on invested dolloars is higher than total gain on the account value. One thing that options can allow is much higher gains on few dollars invested. You’ve done awesome this year given the market ups and downs. Wish I had quit at the end of January of last year. I’d be sitting pretty. I get to write losses for this year, as well as carrying forward. 2008 must be a catch up year…..

By: Alex Fotopoulos

Alex Fotopoulos — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:44:30 +0000

Shishir, there’s no easy way, but to read a lot and practice. You can go back and read my previous posts to catch up some for my trading model. Be careful though, what works for me might not work for you.
You might also want to start with the “Beginners” section in the Category group on the left sidebar. I tag those specific posts especially for those just getting into options and investing.
I am not a financial advisor and am not certified to give financial advice. Trade using your own research at your own risk.

By: Alex Fotopoulos

Alex Fotopoulos — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:41:17 +0000

Mule65, Yes you missed a couple of things. The biggest is time value. I list when I made each deposit and how much each was on my Current Portfolio page (http://mytradersjournal.com/stock-options/current-portfolio/). Your math assumes that $40,500 was in the account from the beginning, but I made monthly deposits, including $10k in early December. That is why your math is different. That’s why I use Quicken.
My starting figure was from before I started this blog, but had my trading journal in Word and all trades in Quicken also. I list my beginning balance and my pre-blog deposits on my Current Portfolio page too.
If you have the time, I welcome the audit. I posted each trade since I started within 8 trading hours from when I made it and most within 1 hour. Load my details in Quicken or any other software that accounts for time value and you’ll see my claim is accurate.
On the capital gains mention, I have more in capital gains than I have in paper gains right now since I have a few long positions I’m sitting on a loss right now for the individual stocks, but am working them with covered calls now. Those will be losses in 2008.

By: mule65

mule65 — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:14:20 +0000

You started with 43,573 on 4/8/07, made 40,500 deposits and end balance of 89,470, for a gain of 5,397 or 8.11% — 11.09% annually. Did I miss something?

By: Shishir Patel

Shishir Patel — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:34:57 +0000

I am new to Option Trading. I have learnt Option basic and started with Vertical Spreads.

I am interested in learning your way of Option Trading. Would you please give me some guidance, where I can start learn about your “My Trader’s Journal” and put my real trades?

Thanking you in advance for you any help

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:52:17 +0000

Congrats on crushing the indexes. 10 or 15 years like that and you’ll be able to retire