I have a saying I like to use in my Group Coaching class, and I repeat it frequently throughout the week. The saying is, “know exactly what you will do no matter what happens.” What this boils down to is having a trade management plan in place before you enter a position. As we have talked about so many times in this blog, having a trading plan is imperative to your potential success as a trader because it is mandatory to remove the emotional part of trading. This is why knowing what you will do and actually doing it can improve your success and profits.
Here is a quick example using the chart and option chain below:
Let’s say a trader was bullish and expected the stock to rise. He (or she) decides to buy a June call as his choice to profit from an expected move higher. He buys the call and pays 2.30 (see below).
Based on the chart, the stock has potential support at around the $96.50 area, or about $2 below where it is currently trading. His management plan if the stock moves lower (against the position) would be to consider closing out some or all of the position if it closes below that potential support level. In addition, he could also choose to manage some of the position by risking 25% of the cost. In this case if he rounded up, it would come out to close to $0.60 a call option. If the position declines to about $1.70 (2.30 – 0.60), close out some or all of the position.
On the profit side, the $100 level can sometimes act as support and in this case potential resistance. If the stock moves up to $100, consider taking some potential profits at that level. In addition, since 25% may be risked on the stop loss, 25% (or $0.60) may be used as a potential profit too. In this case, if the call’s value increased to about $3.20 (2.60 + 0.60), consider taking a profit.
This is just a quick example of how having a plan in place can potentially improve your trading outcome. Just make sure you know how you will handle every conceived situation before it happens, and I promise you will be better off and less anxious about your trades.
John Kmiecik
Senior Options Instructor
Market Taker Mentoring, Inc.
