The Option Alpha Podcast

Being a consistent, profitable options trader doesn't take much.In fact, I'd even go as far to say it takes very little time and effort on a weekly basis. Yet, we've been told in the media (and through other publications and websites) that you have to have lots of money, trade fast or day trade to make it in this business.It couldn't be further from the truth.In today's episode, I want to help show you what it really takes and how you can start to implement simple tweaks to your daily routine to become more consistent and profitable.Plus, we'll cover a recent trade we made in APC with a 70% chance of success selling options far away from the current stock price.

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I had a chance to interview Sarah Potter, Author of How You Can Trade Like A Pro and founder of www.shecantrade.com. This self-taught trader will share her story and why this former futures trader quickly migrated over to options trading because of the better fit with her lifestyle.You'll hear Sarah's strategy for only trading weekly options on "hot" or "popular" stocks as opposed to monthly contracts. Plus, we will dig deeper into how and why she chooses to use multiple timeframes when trading including the weekly, daily and 60 mins charts. It's a can't miss episode!

I completely underestimated the power of how to set financial goals until about a year and a half ago.Since then I've changed the way I look at and set goals in all areas of my life (not just financially) and it's made a huge difference.In today's podcast, I want to really take the time to walk through the Top 10 mistakes people make in the goal setting area which can dramatically alter your chance of hitting and achieving your goals.Again, I wasn't much different from most people who set silly goals at the beginning of the year just to let them wither away and die 2 months later.But I made a huge commitment to myself, and my family, that goal setting would be dramatically different for me in 2014 and since then it's changed my life in all areas.I encourage you to post your goals in the comment section below and share them with everyone here. I'll be posting mine here after a few people comment and share theirs.

You know the name, and the legacy.But what you don't know about Michael Jordan and his impressive career might actually help you become a more successful options trader.I know what you're thinking already. Kirk, how on earth does basketball relate to trading options?You see on the outside they don't but once you dig down a little deeper you'll find that the best basketball players have very similar qualities to the best traders.I've been on a mission studying what true "success" looks like and when I discovered a little more about Michael Jordan's struggles and victories I knew it was too good not to share with you.

You've got a stock position that you want to protect (or shield) from any impending market sell-off or crash.But buying protection or insurance typically costs money right?And in nearly all cases you've been told to buy put options that are far OTM. The only problem is that these options tend to expire worthless (which is why we sell them here at Option Alpha) and if you have to purchase them each month the costs can rack up over time.In today's show, I'll help you think about option strategies a little different then maybe you have before. Specifically I want to show you how to use different options strategies as building blocks to pay for and finance other protective strategies for your portfolio. 

It's no secret that the long-term average investor returns are pretty low. In most cases, the little guy rarely beats the market and for good reason.Frankly we are horrible stock pickers though we consistently try to find hidden value in playing directionally. Long-term this always underperforms an efficient market and the market standard portfolio (i.e. the S&P 500 Index).So what do we do about this? How do we change our mindset given the glaring stats that the media pushes in our faces daily.I believe the first step is to recognize the 3 biggest excuses that average investors have. Rarely spoken these excuses typically manifest in the subconscious part of the brain.My goal on this podcast is to bring out these excuses, shine light on them and help you move past them so you can become even more successful as an options trader. 

Finding great option trades can be tough sometimes, and I get that. That's why in today's podcast I'll show you 10 detailed trades all under $100 of risk each that you can make right now.Plus, we mixed it up with a little bit of everything; bullish & bearish strategies, high & low volatility trades, stocks & ETFs, etc. And for less than $1,000 of overall risk you could have a completely diversified and balanced mini-portfolio of options trades.My goal is to prove that making high probability trades doesn't require having a huge portfolio to start with or taking a lot of risk. In fact, you'll find that I'm an advocated of small positions regardless of your portfolio size. But by the end, you'll see that trading options for income is a completely viable strategy even if you are not starting with thousands and thousands of dollars.

In the past couple years inverse and leveraged ETFs have been some of the most highly traded securities because of their seemingly "cool" concept for speculation. I mean where else can you get such high exposure to financials or gold than with a 3X bull/bear ETF?In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll going to dig deep into how these products are both structured and priced so that you have a complete and full understanding of the "drag" they carry before investing.No this is not to say that you shouldn't trade inverse and leveraged ETFs because I have before and will in the future. Instead, my goal is to make you smarter about how they derive their pricing so that your timeline for trading them might be adjusted or altered.I never promised this podcast would be a walk in the park, so if you are ready to be challenged and take your training to the next level then let's get started.

You’ve often heard us talk about the important of trading liquid options until you are blue in the face right? In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast we’ll put a real dollar figure to this concept and show just how much “slippage” is costing you trading options that are illiquid.Specifically markets that show a bid/ask spread of just $0.20 could end up costing you more than $3,840 each year - and that’s just the cost of getting into or out of the trade!Throw in the risk that the stock doesn't move the way you want it and you can easily see why most traders dig themselves into a whole even before the trade has a chance to work for them.Yet, often times we focus too much on our commission costs and rarely if ever do you “feel” the pain that slippage costs your portfolio. It’s time we start worrying less about commissions and more about slippage by focusing on only highly liquid options and underlying stocks.

 In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I have the great pleasure of interviewing long-time trader and industry veteran John Carter - founder of SimplerOptions.com. One of the many benefits of doing this podcast has been the opportunity to meet and connect with other traders with whom I admire and have followed for years. John has been on my short list of those to contact for this podcast (with many more coming that you all will enjoy!) What's so great about his story is that he never had the "traditional" schooling to trade options. He knew he wanted to figure out how the market worked (and make money in the process) and has been on a constant quest to learn and grow. It's this self-awareness and willingness to change and adapt along the way that makes him such a great guest for our show.