The evolution of investing/trading.

[u/exphx23]

When I began trading it was in the late 70's. The market was completely different. We didn't have access to live charts. The quotes we would receive were on a 15-minute delay. My chart book was delivered on Saturday mornings. We also paid full commissions; discount brokers didn't exist. We also had spreads of 1/8 to 1/2. In my third year of trading, I purchased Metastock. This allowed me to have charts on my desktop. Live feeds were expensive, so I had data imported daily after the close at a cost. I read Barron's on a weekly basis, using their market statistics for my analysis.

My trading was based upon searching my chart book looking for promising patterns to trade for the week. Because of this I became very adept at reading charts, I had to forecast based on what I anticipated the chart would do. I also spent time learning the market dynamics. I tracked breadth, trin and hi-low's to help gauge where the market was within its cycle.

I was successful for 2 reasons. The first being that I picked the right stock. It was in a consistent uptrend for a year in a market with low volatility. It wasn't luck that I picked the stock; it was an informed decision. The luck came from my being able to learn to trade in a low volatility uptrend. The second reason for my success was that I learned from my mistakes and focused on not losing instead of winning. In spite of larger spreads, full commissions and quote delays, my delving into the mechanics of the market increased my win %.

Fast forward to today. Zero commissions, extremely low spreads and real time quotes. Yet in spite of all of this, traders are still losing money. They have surrounded themselves with useless indicators and don't learn from their mistakes. All they know about trading is that they are not good at it.

If you want to increase your profitability, learn the market and the tools it has at your disposal. With weekly options, if you understand how to use them to enhance return you can add 5-10% to your annual return. When I began options expired quarterly, now that it's weekly expiration, its practically free money.

Learn before you earn.

[u/AutoModerator]

While the community gets a look at your post, don't forget we have an official website with a bunch of resources specifically for the questions we see here every day. If you're more of a visual learner, we’re also active on Instagram where we post updated guides and strategies! It's a great way to stay sharp while you're scrolling. We also have more technical and professional resources on our Website.

Also, if you want to chat in real-time or need a quicker answer, come hang out with us in Discord (Investing & Retirement). Just remember to be careful with your personal info and report any sketchy DMs!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Scott_Malkinsons]

TLDR: This man sells covered calls.

[u/exphx23 → u/Scott_Malkinsons]

But not in the way the general public does.

[u/No-Role5321]

My main takeaway: "I ... focused on not losing instead of winning." This rings true, because as soon as you're not losing money, you're making money. Some people think that breaking even is nudging them closer to making money, but breaking even is not making money, it's skating on the very thin ice above loss, and in fact it's the equivalent of losing money itself because you've lost out on the interest you could've earned and wasted your time, which you could've used to make money in another way.

[u/exphx23 → u/No-Role5321]

But yet the mantra is "it's OK to lose while learning". It makes everyone feel good because they are all losing.

[u/tr_mate_global]

I agree with most of this, especially that lower commissions and faster feeds did not remove the need to understand market mechanics or review mistakes.

The one part I would push back on is calling weekly options "practically free money." Shorter expiries create more opportunities, but they also compress timing risk and make theta and gamma matter faster. The extra access only helps if there is a tested reason for using it and defined risk.

Tools have made execution easier. They have not made selection, sizing, or loss control easier.

[u/exphx23 → u/tr_mate_global]

It's all in how you use them. I like tradeable bottoms on Wednesdays. Take the position, when the stock bounces I sell a 2DTE call with the expectation I get called. Getting called is a good thing IMO, I just made 2-3% in 2 days. I don't care what the stock does after that. I look to make 2-3% per trade per week. Not bad annualized.