So I had (once again) these grandiose plans of finally getting down to some sort of series of articles on options/etc., but (once again) the weekend went awry…this time devolving into extreme all-day/night nerdgasms of C++ coding (for work), CSS learning & stealing from others (for me), and 4am FML gaming sessions with other football (the one with more kicking) fans (as yet another aside, speaking of FML, here’s a different one from said game, but universally much more appealing and entertaining: fmylife.com).

Anyway…one advantage of all this was that I instantly felt 5-10 years younger, getting transported back to high-school & college.  The disadvantage was that I neglected most things market related (except for checking out everybody’s “swine flu plays”).  (Not that it matters, as the put/call ratio also neglected me by finishing in the chop zone (1.24, to be exact) for the 6th straight day!)

Oh, and I also finally got around to reading the latest issue of the excellent thinkMoney magazine that all thinkorswim clients get for free (an actual publication; I believe the web version is free to all).

Amidst all the usual options mumbo-jumbo, there was an excellent article (“The Diary of Joe Trader”) about a real-life ‘experiment’:  give a man of essentially zero market/options knowledge 2 weeks and 5 large, and see what happens.

Yes, a rather contrived experiment (with obvious references and plugs for thinkorswim – not that there is anything wrong with that), but a good, quick read nonetheless.  It has humor, drama, action, excitement – what else do you need?  And I’m sure many of us are able to relate to these experiences.

Some highlights/excerpts:

My first day as a trader, I’m nervous, but also fired up.  I’ve read my overgrown pamphlet and practiced with the thinkorswim platform’s PaperMoney [...] but now that I’m going live, there’s no ego-redeeming “reset all positions” button to erase my mistakes.  [First trade: HAL calls]  I spend the next six hours staring at flickering prices.  When HAL pops up over $20, I’m thrilled.  When it drops to $19.99, I despair.

[...]

It’s an up day in the market, and I’m watching other stocks – including two I’d almost picked – move up nicely, while XLB sits around on its no-account ass.  It’s beyond frustrating:  holding hands on prom night.  I need action, baby.

[...]

This seems like a favorable payout to me, until I realize the strike prices are so far in the money that the chance of capturing all that profit within my time frame is slim.  I’m getting 2:1 odds on what [...] I’d call a 10:1 shot.  Las Vegas was built – and lavishly furnished – on transactions like this.

[...]

Some joker on the TV over my shoulder is shouting about Owens Corning [...] I sell another put spread, hoping for a run-up in days to come.

[...]

The psycho-emotional factors in trading can’t be overestimated.  It’s easy to mesmerize myself staring at the colorful numbers on the screen, wrap myself in charts and studies, bathe in relentless stream of news – but this game, it occurs to me, is being played largely inside my head.  And my toughest opponent is me.

And that’s just the first 5 days!

**SPOILER ALERT**
Unsurprisingly he ends the 2 weeks in the red; but he’s hooked and well on his way to trading addiction.