Everybody likes New Year's resolutions. I don't know why the New Year should be a particular point at which to start what you should have been doing all along -- eating healthy, losing weight, yada yada, but people like the notion that since the year is "new," they should be doing something "new," "different," or "radical."
For my part, I'm not resolving to do anything "new" trading wise, but there really is never a bad time to reaffirm "good habits" and to self-lecture oneself on the bad ones.
1. Trade Small. Single trade size kills. Total amount of trades on relative to your buying power kills, too. It isn't rocket science, and the web is full of handy rules of thumb for per trade sizing, etc., and I won't repeat them here.
2. Trade Quality. I'm a premium seller. Premium selling relies on high implied volatility somewhere -- the broad market exchange-traded funds, in sector funds, or in individual underlyings. If it isn't there in "quality," high liquidity products, don't dig for gold in high implied volatility "junk" that will cause you headaches down the road. You know who you are: (1) underlyings with no weeklies; (2) underlyings with wide bid/ask; and (3) underlyings with limited strike or oddball strike availability (e.g., 2.5 wide strikes). Juicy as the premiums appear "at the door," the attractiveness of these plays fades dramatically when you're forced to roll or otherwise manage these intratrade.
3. Trade Often, But Only When Trading Often Makes Sense. The general rule for premium sellers is to put on premium selling setups in high implied volatility environments. Low volatility environments are generally more favorable to things like debit spreads, calendars, and diagonals. My experience, however, is that these low vol strategies generally aren't nearly as productive as the high vol ones. I've got no statistical basis for that; it's just my anecdotal "feeling."
For me personally, "trading often" implies that there is high implied volatility there to be traded. With no vol, there can be no "often," and there's no sense in forcing "often" with low prob trades that I don't like and don't consider all that productive. Hand sit if you have to; there should be no FOMO if you're really not missing out on anything.
4. Be Efficient With Your Time. Hop on, check your portfolio for the condition of your trades, run your screens for possible trading candidates, run setups on those candidates to see if a play would be worthwhile, and then get the hell off if you want to devote minimal time to your trading.
That being said, if you do enjoy sharing your knowledge with others as I do, engage in a little "grassroots effort" by posting your trade ideas somewhere. If someone can benefit from them -- great. You're maybe saving someone else a bit of time.
For my part, I'm not resolving to do anything "new" trading wise, but there really is never a bad time to reaffirm "good habits" and to self-lecture oneself on the bad ones.
1. Trade Small. Single trade size kills. Total amount of trades on relative to your buying power kills, too. It isn't rocket science, and the web is full of handy rules of thumb for per trade sizing, etc., and I won't repeat them here.
2. Trade Quality. I'm a premium seller. Premium selling relies on high implied volatility somewhere -- the broad market exchange-traded funds, in sector funds, or in individual underlyings. If it isn't there in "quality," high liquidity products, don't dig for gold in high implied volatility "junk" that will cause you headaches down the road. You know who you are: (1) underlyings with no weeklies; (2) underlyings with wide bid/ask; and (3) underlyings with limited strike or oddball strike availability (e.g., 2.5 wide strikes). Juicy as the premiums appear "at the door," the attractiveness of these plays fades dramatically when you're forced to roll or otherwise manage these intratrade.
3. Trade Often, But Only When Trading Often Makes Sense. The general rule for premium sellers is to put on premium selling setups in high implied volatility environments. Low volatility environments are generally more favorable to things like debit spreads, calendars, and diagonals. My experience, however, is that these low vol strategies generally aren't nearly as productive as the high vol ones. I've got no statistical basis for that; it's just my anecdotal "feeling."
For me personally, "trading often" implies that there is high implied volatility there to be traded. With no vol, there can be no "often," and there's no sense in forcing "often" with low prob trades that I don't like and don't consider all that productive. Hand sit if you have to; there should be no FOMO if you're really not missing out on anything.
4. Be Efficient With Your Time. Hop on, check your portfolio for the condition of your trades, run your screens for possible trading candidates, run setups on those candidates to see if a play would be worthwhile, and then get the hell off if you want to devote minimal time to your trading.
That being said, if you do enjoy sharing your knowledge with others as I do, engage in a little "grassroots effort" by posting your trade ideas somewhere. If someone can benefit from them -- great. You're maybe saving someone else a bit of time.