i spent a month only trading options where i had a specific catalyst and stopped trading purely on technicals and my win rate went from garbage to okay

i want to be careful here because "okay" is not impressive and i'm not claiming i figured options out. but the difference between garbage and okay is real when you're paying tuition to the market

my problem for a long time was that i was trading options like i trade stocks. see a technical setup, buy a call or put, wait for the move. the issue is that options have a time component that stocks don't and a directional move doesn't always translate to profit if your timing is off

i'd buy calls on a clean chart setup. the stock would consolidate for two weeks while theta bled the option. then it would make the move. then i'd be at breakeven at best

the shift i made was deciding i would only buy options when there was a specific event within my holding window that was likely to force a move. earnings, fda decision, conference presentation, macro data release, anything with a date attached

this did two things. first it forced me to think about timing not just direction. if i'm buying options for an earnings move i know exactly when the event is and i can size and time my entry accordingly. second it gave me a thesis that was testable. the catalyst either produced a move or it didn't. not "i think the chart looks ready to go"

my hit rate on catalyst-based options trades over the past 30 trades has been around 48% which sounds terrible but with my sizing the winners are big enough relative to the losers that i'm net positive. that was not the case with pure technicals where i had similar direction accuracy but worse timing which killed my p&l through theta

if you're newer to options i think the question of "when is the thing that forces the move going to happen" is more important than "does the chart look good"

what's your process for timing options entries. do you focus on catalysts or do you try to time purely on technicals or some combination

small size, still learning, not recommending anything to anyone