How Can The Average Guy Succeed Trading Options?

In sports there is a natural progression to the elite level.

For example, in baseball the transition might go something like this: Little League, Babe Ruth League, American Legion, High School, College, Single A Minor Leagues, Double A Minor leagues, Triple A Minor leagues and then Major League Baseball.

As you progress to each stage, the competition gets stiffer and only the best of the best move on.

According to High School Baseball Web: Less than 3 out of 50 high school baseball players will move on to play college ball.

Out of that elite group of young athletes, only 11 out of 100 will get drafted by a Pro team…and that’s just getting drafted…there is no guarantee they’ll ever play a game in the big show or even stick around.

Now, we go back to option investing, what is the natural progression?

Well…. there really isn’t one. Sure, some Wall Street firms might hire Ivy League college grads as traders because they might be competitive, think quickly on their feet or are good at math…but that is no guarantee that they will be successful at beating the markets.

Some of the best traders I met when I was down working at the CME didn’t have college degrees or above average IQs…but were street smart, knew how to manage risk and take quick profits while keeping their emotions in check when the heat was on.

You see, in baseball, there are certain skills and physical traits that make a player a desirable prospect. In fact, they’ve got scouts monitoring the progress of players at an early age.

However, when it comes to options trading and investing there is none of that.

How do you know when you’re a successful option investor?

Well, one barometer might be when you start beating the returns of the 95% of the mutual funds and hedge funds that underperform the market. However, comparing yourself against others will never get you far.

The reason is because you never know how much money or risk they are putting on to achieve their results.

There is no little league for options investing…not even a minor league. We are all competing in the same markets amongst the best traders and institutional investors in the world.

Think about that for a second. Pretty wild right?

You know what else? I get a ton of emails from new option investors asking me about my approaches and in depth courses I teach.

They usually want to know if they follow my techniques will they be able to make $1,000 a week or some other arbitrary number; or they might have heard success stories of other investors and are wondering how long it will take them to achieve that level of financial freedom if they learn from me.

Some are even more hopeful…like, if I learn the SIZZLE Method will I be able make 3 to 1 on my option investments? They might as well be asking how long do you think it will take me to consistently hit a 90 mph curveball.

Earlier I mentioned there is no little league for options investing. However, you can get big league experience without doing too much damage to your account.

This can easily be done by opening a trading account and starting off real slow…

Sure, you can also try with a demo account. However, there is one problem with demo account trading…and thats that most people won’t take it seriously…they’ll end up doing stuff that they wouldn’t do if real money was on the line.

Personally, I don’t really care much or believe in demo accounts. I believe when you have a $1 in the game, you will learn more than with using play money.

Which I discuss in more detail in, “The Ugly Side Of Unusual Options Activity“.

With that said, for most, its best to start off investing with real money. However, it’s got to be very small amounts because you’re bound to make a number of mistakes.

I know this will be difficult for you…because I know you want the fast money… those exceptional returns that you read about online or see on TV.

Write this down, you don’t jump from the little leagues to the big leagues overnight.

The statistic is that only .5% of high school baseball players get drafted to play professional ball and most of them play in the minors for a couple years before getting called up to the big show.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting off small.

If you actually want to have a higher chance of making this work… this is a must! You might think your friends and family might pick on you because you’re trading small…don’t let that get it you.

They actually will admire your approach because most will not do this. Just remember, it takes time to develop into a successful options investor and you will want another income source coming in for you while you learn your craft.

Plus, you’ll feel a lot better when you make big mistakes and it only costs you a small amount of capital. It’s part of paying your dues, which everyone pays.

Without a doubt…the most effective learning comes from placing small trades in a real money account.

It’s better than any book or course you’ll ever take.

One reason experience is the best teacher, is that option investing success requires that you have your emotions in check. Unless you’re in a trade…how will you know how you feel emotionally?

Imagine reading a book on falling love…even if you read about the emotions one experiences when they’re in love…you’ll never know how it feels until you actually experience it.

When professional athletes warm up…they’re mechanics are almost perfect. However, things change when fatigue settles in and the pressure of the game intensifies.

Sure, you’ll need to have some basic knowledge of how options work…but you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get an education. In fact, there are a lot of great free resources and practical information on the OptionSIZZLE website that is applicable in today’s market environment.

Not only does OptionSIZZLE offer the basics…but our articles cover techniques and strategies that I’ve tweaked over the years–through a painful and costly process (trial and error).

With that said, as you’re learning the basics and trading a small account…by reading the articles you can also build a framework to further strengthen your knowledge.

Today, option investors have access to the same technology and analytic tools the pro’s use. The markets are more liquid than ever and commission rates have dropped significantly over the years.

This is by far, the best time in history to be an option investor.

In fact, one could argue that the playing field has never been this equal between the retail and professional trader.

To make your learning easier I’ve categorized some of our best content:

The Basics

• What Every Investor Should Know About Options!

• Why You Should Avoid Trading Options All Together

• Stock Options Vs. Stocks • Why Style Drifting Can Kill Your Success & Ban

k Roll

• How Much Money Do You Need To Get Started Trading Options

• What’s an Options Order Sweep • How To Trade Candlestick Patterns & Charts • How to Underperform the Market and Get Pai

d Like a Rock Star

• Buying Options Vs. Selling Options – Which Is Better?

Execution• What Are The Best Stocks To Trade Weekly Opt

ions?

Trade Structuring• The Ugly Truth About Buying Options • Don’t Trade Earnings Before You Read This • How To Trade A Broken Wing Butterfly With W

eekly Options

• How to Buy Options for Better Results • Long-Term Options: Better For Investing or Tra

ding?

• Covered Call Strategy – Best Way To Use Covered Calls

Money & Position Management

• Why Size Matters; Especially In Options Trading

• Greater Profits In Less Time On Your Option Trades

• 3 Ways To Keep More Profits & Know When To Sell

• How To Sell Put Options For Max Profits In Shorter Time

• When to Stop Out of a Trade and Take a Loss • How To Avoid Frequent Trading Losses & Panic

Selling

• Trading Goals: Yours Could Be Hurting Your Options Trading

• 4 Steps To Having A Profitable Trading Mindset

Unusual Options Activity• Why I Only Follow Those Who Have Skin In Th

e Game• The Truth About Unusual Options Trading Acti

vity• Was This 2 Million Dollar Options Trade Ethical

• Why You Keep Losing Money Following Trade Ideas

• The Ugly Side Of Unusual Options Activity

…and much…much more….

From little league to the Pro’s, each level has something in common and that is coaching. Think of OptionSIZZLE as your personal trainer to the options market…we can guide and show you what I believe works…but you still have to put in the work to reap the benefits.

My goal is simply to get you to your destination faster and more efficiently.

Ponder on this…… a pro ball player might have a hitting coach, fielding coach, nutritionist, strength and conditioning coach…they utilize these instructors to help improve and be the best at their craft.

However, when it comes to investing and trading…individual investors feel like they don’t need guidance or they can figure it out on their own. Sure, you might be able to…but it might take a long time and there is no guarantee of success.

The knock on people like myself is that if I was so good at my craft, why would I spend time teaching others. For me, the answer is easy.

When i was 15 my dream was to become a professional wrestler. I began training with my uncle in Chicago…I trained from 15 to the age of 19. For me, it was very serious…I paid $2,000 to a school in Chicago to train me called (PCW).

I joined a circuit and if I was lucky I would get paid $10, but I was given the chance to wrestle in front of a live audience. My dream was to make it to the WWF (now WWE).

Of course, the WWF was like the major league of wrestling at the time. However, there was no clear pathway back then on how to reach that level. Most wrestlers in my area, worked the circuit in the Midwest hoping to get discovered.

But it was tough….promoters would take advantage of young wrestlers and not pay them anything. All I wanted to do was travel and wrestle in front of a crowd…to hear the boos and cheers from the audience.

Sadly, I realized there was no clear pathway…

I witnessed the wrestlers I looked up to getting washed up–still chasing the dream. It became clear to me that becoming a big named wrestler like The ROCK (Dwayne Johnson) required a lot of luck and hard work.

Most of the indy wrestlers struggled to make it financially.

By the age of 19, I was going through growing pains and confidence issues…I was so insecure that I became scared to wrestle in front of a crowd. With that said, I left my first dream and continued to work at a pizza place as a delivery boy.

One day my boss (and still great friend) told me “If I wasn’t doing this, I think it would be cool if I was a stockbroker” This was my Aha moment. Still being young…I felt I could do this, for the both of us.

I began doing some research on what stock brokers do and, of course, that research came from watching movies like Wall Street and Boiler Room.

I won’t spoil the story for you, but If you’d like…you can read the rest on how I got my big break here.

I take a lot of pride in helping individual investors even though I know, by dividing my time between trading and teaching, I might be sacrificing gains that could be realized by focusing solely on trading my personal account.

When I was a stock broker, I remember talking to individual investors on the phone and them not having a clue about how to use options successfully. This bothered me so, at that point, I was driven to show them how options leverage could be used to smooth out returns and structure high probability trades with less capital.

Unfortunately, the firm I was with, at that time, was more concerned about generating commissions than helping investors out. My inclination to help others and not being employed by a firm eventually lead me to create OptionSIZZLE.

Wealth is great and I’m on that same journey, but so is goodwill and a legacy.

I understand there is no clear pathway to becoming successful as an options investor…the subject is very near and dear to my heart as I’ve experienced the same thing when I chased my dream to become a professional wrestler.

The reality is OptionSIZZLE is something I want to do…not something I need to do.

Of course, people will question my intentions or knock the methods which I teach…that’s O.K. I know from the emails that I receive that there are a lot of grateful people who are benefiting from the OptionSIZZLE articles.

There is no minor leagues in the financial markets…and there is no guarantee in life. However, I believe that everyone who puts in a whole-hearted effort deserves the opportunity to be successful.

If you’re struggling with options and are on the verge of giving up your dream, let’s talk first. Let’s see if I can help get you back on track in the right direction.

By the way, how is the journey going for you?

I know for some it’s been difficult…but I’d love to hear how you’re doing and what we here at OptionSIZZLE can do to better assist you.

I’ll be hanging out in the comments section below.

P.S. Because I was so young looking at the time, I wore a mask like you see Lucha Libra wrestlers wear. My wrestling name was El Blanco Raton and when I came out, I flicked tortilla shells at the crowd saying, “quieres tortillas?”

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