(02-28-2019, 09:39 PM)crimsonghost747 Wrote:I won't laugh at you because it isn't funny. I do admit to reading the "what did you buy today thread", and sometimes thinking "Seriously?.... what were you thinking fool, that pig is gonna sink like the Titanic for at least another week for sure".(02-28-2019, 01:55 PM)fenders53 Wrote: Thanks for looking over my shoulder Crimson. I ask myself what you would think before I pull the trigger lol.Seriously though I will always be honest here. I appreciate that you actually read my posts seriously and understand what I profess to be my goal. I will never stop learning from my mistakes, and publishing my decisions in advance causes me to be less impulsive.
I've noticed it too... before I press the transmit button on my order I think "are the guys going to laugh at me in a week or two?"
I hope that it will limit some of the stupid moves I would otherwise make, then again stupid moves have the tendency to be quite profitable if the market goes the right way. And most certainly lead to big losses when things go wrong.
I've really learned a lot about conservative option strategies the past six months. Not that I had never done it before, but not in this volume. If I am doing basically the same strat with 15 or more different stocks in a month, I am statistically eliminating the blind luck, or bad luck. My strategy is basically sound, or it isn't. Half of my plays are very conservative, so the winning percentage is very high. (as Mike stated last week). That also means half the monthly payoffs are fairly small, so I have no room for numerous bonehead moves when I play with a high dollar, fairly volatile stocks like AAPL. I find some comfort that I was able to navigate out of months when the market moved 10%. 10% is not a normal month, but you have to be prepared for the what if this market goes in the wrong direction scenario. Dow (DWDP) is my only real regret the past year. I had no real interest in owning it for a day, never mind long-term. I cut and ran with a fairly large loss, and got out before it dipped more, which it did. Rule #1 was violated. That wiped out the profits that had to be made up with 6-8 more conservative plays. Basically cut an entire months income in half. An favorable market month was wasted.
I'm bad about beating myself up, but dwelling on the bad idea that didn't work out sears them in my memory and it helps next month. Covered call strategy is my next self-improvement project. Overall they are working out fine, but I think I am pulling the trigger too fast on the stocks I wish to keep. I think I forced a few trades in late January. The straight up market is my excuse, but that will happen again. Sure I can avoid being exercised, but it can take months to dance out of a bad trade by selling more time. HD handed me a very quick fix because it moved as I thought it would around earnings. Not always that easy. AAPL and MO will end up being a three month project if things go well. I need AAPL to pull back a bit, and MO to head a couple dollars higher. That's asking a lot of the market during the same time period.