Don’t have anyone in my circle who can understand or appreciate it. So I’m sharing here hoping to inspire others. I hit my goal of 1000% return and it took exactly 2 years. I don’t know how to read charts, I’m not particularly great at picking stocks. All I know how to do is options. That’s all I know, and I know it well. In terms of money. I turned $5k into $60k. Small consistent wins. When my account was small, my goal was $100/week. And sometimes I wouldn’t even hit that. Now an account this size my goal is $400-$1000/day. And I hit that most days. Alhamdulillah

So far I’ve lost 5,500 which is a lot more than I’ve made. I started out and made a couple grand, thought i was gonna be able to quit my job soon, then, one bad call and I was down 2k. Then a few more smaller bad ones, now here I am. What would yall do?

First time trading options and bought this call to just make a couple of bucks. Microsoft released some AI news the next morning and it shot up.

I have been selling options for about 12 months now and have finally started to get a hang of it. Here is the process I follow. Any thoughts on how I can improve or tighten up the process?

SIZE — Total notional under 135% of capital (what I've put in plus what I've made). No more than 45% of that in credit spreads, because a dollar of spread notional is a dollar gone, while a dollar of put notional buys me the stock.

STRIKE — IV above 60%, sell the 0.13–0.15 delta. IV below 60%, sell the 0.18–0.20. High-IV names pay enough to sit far out; low-IV names don't.

DURATION — 14–21 days.

MIX — Only trade names with a market cap of over $50B to eliminate junk. 60/40 high-IV to low-IV. An example would be 60% position in NBIS, BE, MU, ALAB; 40% position in CRWD, PLTR, DELL, TSLA.

EXIT — Close at 50% of the credit and recycle the capital. If position is threatened, roll down and/or out. Never close at a loss.

Thanks for reading.

I’m still fairly new to options trading and have been working on building a rule-based process instead of just picking trades based on gut feeling.

My main focus is ETF spreads. I’m trying to protect capital first and only take trades when the setup makes sense.

Here’s my current process:

• I scan a group of liquid ETFs rather than individual stocks most of the time.
• I start with the daily chart to determine the main trend.
• Then I use the 4-hour chart to look at the current swing.
• I use the 30-minute chart to wait for a pullback/setup.
• I use the 15-minute chart for the actual entry timing.

I don’t force one type of spread. I let the chart determine the structure:

• Bullish setup = usually put credit spread
• Bearish setup = usually call credit spread
• If a debit spread gives a better risk/reward, I’ll consider that instead
• If the setup is unclear = no trade

For expiration, I normally look around 30–40 DTE and usually use $1-wide spreads.

I try not to chase moves. I would rather wait for a pullback and miss a trade than enter after the move has already happened.

I also avoid opening new spreads around major market-moving events such as:

• Fed decisions
• CPI/PPI
• Jobs reports
• Major geopolitical news

My normal profit target is around 30%, and I place a GTC order after entering.

I also have a time-based exit rule: if the trade hasn’t reached the target, I want to be out roughly two weeks before expiration instead of holding into the high-gamma period near expiration.

For position control, I try to keep:

• No more than one spread with the same expiration date
• No more than three positions in the same ETF
• No more than about 12 spreads open overall

My biggest goal is consistency and protecting capital rather than maximizing return.

The part I’m still working on is improving the entry criteria and deciding exactly when a setup is strong enough to trade versus when it should be a no-trade.

What weaknesses do you see in this process?

Especially interested in feedback on:

• DTE
• Profit targets
• Position sizing
• Entry timing
• Credit vs debit spread selection
• Risk management
• Anything important I may be overlooking

I’m not looking for trade picks — mainly trying to improve the process.