Dan can remember exactly when the lightbulb went off. It didn’t take long to realize the positive impact automated trading could have for him.
“It was one of the live orientations Kirk did. It was a 90-minute program. I was 90 seconds in thinking, ‘If this is real… it is the BEST INVESTMENT OF ALL TIME.’”
“It makes trading more fun”
Dan has been an active trader for three years. Trading has provided a way to supplement his income and is a genuine passion in his life.
“The goal of trading is to build an options business.”
However, managing a portfolio of securities was difficult with the responsibilities of everyday life.
“I used to be up to my shoulders, constantly checking positions. Now, I can hand off the tactical side of opening and closing positions to the bots so I can explore more strategies. I couldn't do that before automation because I was so busy managing positions.”
With the demands and responsibilities of life, it wasn’t always easy to manage a portfolio and grow the trading business.
Automated trading has enabled Dan to spend less time on the “drudgery” of trading so he can focus on strategy development and optimization.
“It makes trading more fun. I’m so glad I found you.”
"Pounce on the bounce"
Dan’s trading strategy is relatively simple and straightforward. If a stock is down more than 1% from the previous day, he enters a long call or debit call spread.
Along the way, it became too much work to track a universe of 50-75 tickers. So much so that Dan had to dedicate 2-3 hours each morning to the strategy’s set up. He spent an additional 5-6 hours a day monitoring the ~20 positions in his portfolio.
Then he discovered Option Alpha, started using bots, and quickly realized the power of automating his strategy.
“Arty never rests”
Dan loves bots so much he even named them “Arty,” short for artificial intelligence.
“When Arty places a trade, I can rest assured the bot got in at a better price through SmartPricing and checked all available strikes to potentially get a discount.”
Before bots, a typical morning involved exporting a list of eligible tickers from one website, importing them into a brokerage platform, checking multiple criteria, optimizing strike prices, and manually entering orders.
Now, once the day’s tickers are identified, Dan can simply change the ticker inputs in a scanner automation and let the bots do their thing.
“It is very easy to work opportunities into the bots from outside resources.”
Before bots, managing so many positions was “too much of a job.” Now, Dan saves countless hours with monitor automations.
“My favorite thing is letting Arty manage all the trades, checking in on each position every 15 minutes, 25 times per day.”
And the best part? “Arty is the key. Arty never gets tired. Arty never takes a day off. The bots don’t make mistakes.”
“It’s a very flexible platform”
Dan was amazed at how easy it is to use the platform.
“The only real learning curve is taking the time to understand the various parameters and processes of the platform, but it is made much easier by the simplicity of the software, educational content, and support team. It’s a very flexible platform.”
Dan stays active in the Community and is very aware of what other members are doing and creating. Cloning bot templates has also allowed him to expand his trading strategies.
“I don’t have the time to discover and create new strategies from scratch.”
This is where crowdsourcing strategies through the Community makes such a big difference.
“It’s hard to believe there’s a product like this”
The number of new opportunities in Dan’s investment universe has increased because the bots have allowed him to scale at a much faster rate.
“Option Alpha has helped me get into more trades and determine the right moment to enter with SmartPricing. Bots have made it more efficient, and ultimately more profitable, because I can enter so many more positions than I ever could manually.”
After working 70+ hours a week throughout his life, Dan looks forward to how much time bots will save him.
“At my age, it’s time to start having fun, and automation is the key.”
Thanks to automated trading, Dan’s entire daily routine has been reduced, giving him an additional 6 hours a day to focus on more fulfilling tasks. The bots handle the rest of the daily operations.
“I cannot adequately express how transformational automations are in changing my trading and more importantly, my life, allowing me more work-life balance.”
The hope is that trading will eventually replace his income. In the meantime, bots are making life a lot easier, and Dan is no longer “tethered to the computer.”
Option Alpha has helped create a “lifeboat” for the journey to full-time trading. “It’s hard to believe there’s a product like this.”
