Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Stock Option Trading

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Are you one of those individuals who invested everything into the stock market only to lose it a short time later? Do not worry, most people are like this and you are definitely not alone. They invest in the stock market and make some profits in the beginning; but, in the end they still end up losing more than they gained. Why, you may ask? Simply put, trading stocks is a risky endeavor.

You may be sitting there right now wondering why trading is so risky. Well, that’s because there is always a chance that right before the expiration date of a stock, it could take a dramatic drop and you may not even have time to react or make a counter move. If you invest all of your money into one stock, then there is always the chance of losing it. While stocks are great leverage, throwing all your money into one stock is not a great choice. So how do you get around losing everything you have invested? Easily, just apply the “golden rule” of stock options trading.

The golden rule of stock options trading is to use only money you can afford to lose. While there are some options such as trading out of money that seem to end up being worse investments than others, anyone who is trading should follow this rule. For example, if you know that you can only afford to lose 7% of your account, anytime you invest in a different stock you should use no more than 7% of your account. While this somewhat reduces the amount of money you could gain, it greatly reduces the amount of money you could lose. It can often be tempting, no matter what kind of trading you are doing, to bet everything on a stock you are sure of, it is never a good idea. As they say in Vegas you should never bet against the house. Winning a little less may seem bad; but the other side of that is that you are also losing a lot less.

There are benefits to this rule. For one, you will probably sleep better at night knowing that you are not going to lose your entire life savings if a stock plummets. You have the power to decide how much you choose to lose. Secondly, you will be able to handle the tough times when your stocks drop and possibly gain more afterwards because stocks usually come back with a vengeance when the market rallies. Remember to stick to the golden rule of stock options trading and your stock experience could turn out to be both a successful and wealthy endeavor.

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