Hey everyone, setting up this month's AMA to catch up with everyone and chat about trading! It's scheduled for 11Sep at 3pm PT.
Some broad market observations from August and beginning of Sep.
Breadth looks weak right now across all indices. Russell was showing more strength which has capitulated over the last couple days.
https://preview.redd.it/oge72xti8eoh1.png?width=1551&format=png&auto=webp&s=cf9e530f0a9293697ef61e840d5727896a270476
30D VRP is higher within XLE, XLI, XLB, etc and constituent VRP is notably higher than sector.
https://preview.redd.it/vlgnj6598eoh1.png?width=1537&format=png&auto=webp&s=ffcebad8badc3e0753c90dec9167520bc759cbf7
My core allocation remains covered strangles in TQQQ and GME. TQQQ position is lightly utilized at 45% (long shares 49% and 36% CSPs no ratio short calls out) and GME is 85% utilized full CS).
Most of my recent trading has been a bit shorter-term in nature focusing on short index vol, earnings release long and short vol, some commodity trend following with futures, and shorter term reversals and pairs.
*Background for those interested:*
My name is Erik. I'm a Marine Corps veteran and full-time options trader. I've been trading since 2007 and have been active in [r/options](https://www.reddit.com/r/options/) since 2020. I've maintained a high 20% CAGR over this duration, my emphasis has been on consistency vs upside returns.
I grew up in a low income single-parent household. A high school teacher introduced me to investing and it changed my life.
Over time I built capital through manual labor jobs, flipping cars/motorcycles during college, and eventually expanding into real estate investing. I view wealth building through three levers: Savings; Investing; Income
Early on, savings rate matters most. As capital grows, compounding returns begin to dominate.
Trading is harder than most people initially expect, but it’s also far from impossible. With the right framework and enough time invested, it can absolutely become a viable career.
For transparency: I do run a YouTube community, but I’ve been posting in [r/options](https://www.reddit.com/r/options/) for years and enjoy discussing markets regardless. This AMA is just to talk trading.
**Happy to discuss things like:**
* How my trading changed as my capital grew
* Position sizing frameworks
* Managing volatility exposure
* Building consistency over time
* Strategy development / testing
* Mistakes that slowed my progress
Or anything else options related.
Below are some previous posts that lay a basic foundation for trading.
1. Trading Options for a Living- Provides a high level overview of my trading approach: https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1gejy0q/trading\_options\_for\_a\_living/
2. Stop Wandering Aimlessly- Offers a general learning syllabus for new options traders: https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1c3hgfh/stop\_wandering\_aimlessly/
3. Failure rate of options traders -Summarizes common sources of trader failure: https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1iaqtzx/failure\_rate\_of\_options\_traders\_3\_causes/
Looking forward to it!