Want to learn how to trade options the right way but feeling overwhelmed? It's like this big giant elephant is standing in front of you and you have to figure out a way to consume it. And the best way to do anything in life, like eating the proverbial elephant, is to tackle it one bite at a time. So today, I want to introduce two ways of learning how to trade options: using frameworks and using concepts. Both are effective ways to quickly process information, and more importantly, retain the information so you continue to build your knowledge base for trading. Plus, either one I feel could be done start to finish, including coverage of all options trading topics, in less than 90 days.
Key Points from Today's Show:
- The concept of "eating an elephant" as applied to options trading, is that you should be learning in bite-sized chunks.
- Repetition helps to drill down the habits until they become part of your core.
- In options trading, the way to do this is by using frameworks or concepts.
- You’ve got to systematically and methodically go through a process or framework for learning.
Framework Learning:
1. Tracks
- Tracks are guided learning paths that take you step-by-step through the entire process, start to finish.
- Using tracks is the best way to start learning how to trade options.
- Framework learning "holds your hand" through the entire process.
2. Course Modules
- The course modules dig deeper into specific topic areas or categories.
- In the case of course modules, you can go into a course and learn everything there is to know about trade adjustments.
- It goes through why you make trade adjustments, the big picture strategy, and how to adjust different trades.
- The modules are essentially blueprints that guide you through each type of strategy.
3. Live Trades
- As you become more comfortable with the basic foundations of trading, the next step is to watch trades in action.
- These live trades allow you to get into the mind of the trader, giving the experience without any risk on your end.
- This gives you a guide to mimic or take ideas from when you do your own trades.
4. Audio/Podcasts
- Audio triggers different things and has different reactions in your brain compared to visual representations.
- This gives you yet another way to learn -- podcast episodes versus blog posts.
- Podcasts are a great way to supplement a lot of the other training that you already have.
5. Research
- Our research is used to prove strategies and also dispel myths about options trading.
- This supplements a lot of the concepts that we already teach.
Concept Categories/Learning:
- With concept categories, there is a strong focus on drilling for muscle memory.
- This means taking a specific concept across all of the different frameworks.
Example: If you want to learn how to exit a trade that's gone back or make a trade adjustment, take that concept -- exiting trades or making trade adjustments -- and work that concept across all of the different framework disciplines.
1. Go through the tracks on adjustments, look at course modules of course adjustments.
2. Then go through live trades and look at only the live trading videos that have to do with adjustments.
3. Look up podcasts and look up everything that has to do with trade adjustments. Go to the research page and look up all the research we've done on trade adjustments.
- Essentially, you are taking the one single concept, trying to hit it from a million different ways.
- You are taking a true concept and you are learning everything you need to know about that concept across many different areas.
Concept-Learning:
- With concept-learning, you learn about options basics first, across all disciplines.
- Next, you learn about entries, then managing positions and your portfolio
- Position size, spreading out trades over different securities.
- Then you learn about exiting
- Adjustments and rolling contracts, exiting for dividend risk assignment
- Finally, you learn about portfolio management
- How much cash to keep on hand, what return you should be targeting, how to use leverage, how often to trade.
