General Options Blog

Friday Morning Reads – 1/2/15

The first trading session of 2015 is upon us.   A new year provides the opportunity, or to be more precise, an excuse to start anew.   The two constants from 2014 are starting off 2015 the same way.   Crude oil is plunging to new 6+ year lows, and the US dollar is hitting fresh 9+ year highs.

Stock futures are higher to start 2015.  Prices have yet to get back to the highs we saw the last day of 2014, before we had a nasty late day sell-off.

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Option Millionaires Chatroom
Gold Members and above can enter the chatroom where all of the action happens! Listen to the Rockstars on audio as they talk you through plays that they are currently in or watching, and interact with others in the room. Below are some basic tips for chatroom use.

Not a Member yet? Start a FREE 3 Day Trial and check out the room!

Mobile App Setup

  • The mobile app ID is 506 and the Chatroom ID is 3126
  • You will need to be sure that Adobe Air is also installed on your phone.
  • Download the Android Chatroom App
  • Download the Apple Chatroom App
  • For more detailed mobile app instructions, click here.

chat-desktop

  1. Download the Desktop Chat Client. The desktop works best on Windows operating system.
  2. This 20MB download is a very quick installation process. Save the file and run the application following the given steps.
  3. You'll need to login with your OM username and password the first time, but you can set it to remember you for all consecutive entries.

chatroom-tips

  • Full Screen: Click on the full screen tab under Live Chat in the main menu to view the chatroom in a separate window at full width and height.
  • Profile Settings: Click on your name in the left hand side, and you can set your gender (so the secret question mark icon by your name disappears), and you can also add some other details if desired. The Chat Avatar settings are there as well. You can choose from one of the options or upload your own image if desired. All settings will be saved and appear automatically each time you login.
  • Private Chat: You can click on a users name in the side list or chat itself and select the private chat if desired. This will open a popup window where you can chat with them privately. You also have the option to whisper a message, ignore, view their profile, etc.
  • Personal Reply: If you want to stay in the room with everyone but reply to a specific question so everyone can hear, simply click on that person's name and select "Personal Message". When you are done using the personal reply, be sure that you have "All Users" selected over your profile image where you enter text.
  • Text Editor: You can expand the text area by clicking on the three little dots above where you enter text and dragging it to the desired position. All of the options in the bar should be pretty self explanatory, but please let us know if you have questions.
  • Friend List: Click on a member's name from the left column and click the friend button within their profile pop-out to set them as a friend. You will then have a quick list of Friends in that column you can click on to message friends you talk to regularly.
  • Social Connection: You can invite Facebook or Twitter friends to the chat by clicking on the appropriate icons at the top of the room. You can sync your Twitter account to the chatroom so that all your new posts get automatically tweeted by clicking on the little bird icon just above the text editor.
  • Personal Room Preferences: You can control audio and other personal room settings by clicking on the wrench icon in the upper right hand corner and choosing the options you would like to edit.

Getting Started With Options

Getting Started With Options? Here's How!

If YOU are a new trader, this is what you need to do to get started Today:

  1. Study, Study, Study: Go to CBOE Options Education Center or Investipedia OR Investipedia Options University and start studying the tutorials. You will need to log in with a signon at CBOE although it is free. Investopedia tutorials are completely free with NO sign on required.
  2. Memorize Basic Terminology: Bookmark and start learning these Options Terms. You will want to save this link as a great "dictionary" for options trading. Obviously you wont need 90% of this, but its there if you ever need to look up a definition. We STRONGLY suggest that you take a full week to learn the terms and nomenclature of Options trading.
  3. Sign Up for Level 1 and Level 2: With your existing broker, sign up for level 1 and level 2 Options Trading. At this point this is ALL you need! If you have an Ameritrade account, you can get TOS for free. TOS is a one stop site for ANYTHING pertaining to options, however because of that it can be a bandwidth killer and is slow and cumbersome at times. Diamond Members of OM, we have three separate TOS videos available under the Diamond Training Video Library.
  4. Look for a Virtual or PaperTrading Options Site: We highly recommend OptionsHouse.com or ThinkOrSwim. If you have an Ameritrade account, you can get TOS for free. TOS is a one stop site for ANYTHING pertaining to options, however because of that it can be a bandwidth killer and is slow and cumbersome at times.
  5. Start Small: We highly recommend that you begin trading options with a small CASH account of $1000-$1500 dollars. If you use your existing brokerage account and that account is a margin account (Under $25,000) you WILL be hit with the Pattern Day Trader (PDT) Rule so just DONT DO IT. EITHER change your account to a CASH account OR open up another brokerage account with an Options broker and channel $1000 into the new account.
  6. Once you have done all the above you are now ready to begin Paper Trading which we will discuss in the next chapter!

As you can see, getting started with options requires a little effort on your part. But the potential reward is well worth your time and effort!