forex fire

Stock option trading is becoming increasingly popular and for very good reason. The options market has become amazingly liquid, transparent, and well suited for the retail investor and trader.

One popular option strategy being pursued by individuals right now is the “iron condor” option trade. While this strategy offers many advantages, there are some pitfalls that you should be aware of if you’re going to trade this strategy so that you can avoid making this “rookie mistakes.”

Rookie Mistake #1 - Trading Without A Plan

One of the most common mistakes that we see over and over again, is the failure to establish a trading plan before opening a trade. The temptation to open a position arises out of an over eager desire to make money.

A proper trading plan provides step-by-step guidance for every market eventuality. It’s focus is upon limiting losses when things don’t work out the way we had expected. We will not always be right about market events, so we must be prepared to deal with things when we’re wrong.

When trading an iron condor, your trading plan must identify when and how a position will be opened and under what circumstances the position will be closed or adjusted. The primary factors to consider are the price of the underlying security and the number of days until expiration.

For example, you might consider closing all positions when there are only a few days remaining prior to expiration or adjusting the trade if the market pulls within a few points of your short option contracts.

Rookie Mistake #2 - Trading Too Much Size

When opening an iron condor, one of the decisions you will make is how many spreads to sell. The temptation is to sell a large number of spreads to bring in a large cash credit or, perhaps, to feed our ego by trading a large position.

The danger in doing so is that we increase our maximum risk of loss with every spread that we sell. When the market moves against the position, you may then have an overly large portion of your account at risk.

Trading too much size is also called over leveraging. The problem it presents for purposes of trading iron condors is that it limits your ability to recover from an eventual trading loss and hinders your ability to respond to changing conditions, which may have otherwise allowed you to maintain your profitability.

As part of your trading plan, you must establish how large each position will be and how you will manage your trading capital during the life of the trade. For example, you might decide to allocate a fixed dollar amount to each trade during a 12 month period and that profits are set aside to offset possible future losses.

There are many ways to approach such a trading plan, but so long as you take the time to establish the plan and limit your position risk you’ll be light years ahead of the average retail trader.

Rookie Mistake #3 - Exploding Risk By Getting “Cute” With Adjustments

We all want to be right and we just can’t stand when we are wrong. Of course, the market is an unpredictable creature and we’re not always going to be right.

As novice traders learn more about options, the begin learning about how experienced traders can adjust or “morph” option positions.

Adjusting just seems so cool!

Combine the “coolness” of adjustments with our natural desire to be “right,” and an inability to admit when we’re wrong, and you’ve got a very expensive lesson that needs to be learned.

The iron condor is a limited risk strategy. If you avoided Rookie Mistake #1 and Rookie Mistake #2, you know precisely how much risk you have and you’ve limited that risk by not trading too large a size.

Position adjustments seem magical, but in reality they are planned strategic responses to potential market changes. A more thorough discussion of these topics can be found on our website at http://www.ironcondorseminar.com/.

Iron Condor Trading Course Videos are available online and can be viewed right now without cost or obligation. In those videos we review the fundamentals of the iron condor strategy, how to calculate risk, reward, and probability of success, interpret the option “greeks” to manage your trade, and more. Click through and start watching the first video now…

With gas prices causing every single item out there to have a higher price tag it is important for all of us to understand how to create a budget the right way. You need to be able to put together a budget for any situation so that you know you can get through tough times that might be ahead with the economic predictions that are out there. Here are some helpful tips to set up your budget.

First, spend a full month writing down each and every penny you spend. At the end of the month total everything up and categorize it. This will give you a good picture as to where your money is going. You can use this as a guideline to make cut backs in areas that you don’t need to be spending as much in and you will also have a very solid estimate as to what everything costs you in a months time.

Next, make sure you save each month for license fees, Christmas spending, and other expenses that might not be monthly. By saving for these each month you will not have to worry about coming up with extra money when they come around. Plus it is not much when you break it down. If your license fees are $120 a year, then you just need to budget for $10 a month. That should be pretty easy.

Last, make sure you leave yourself some entertainment money so you can have a reward for following your budget. This could be used to take your family or wife out or just for something you want if you are not married and don’t have children. You have to be realistic and give yourself enough to have the fun you know you are going to want to have, but don’t take up a large portion of your budget with your entertainment.

Use these tips along with your own common sense to set yourself up a budget to follow. You should also include saving each month and a category for unexpected expenses so when that car repair comes around you are prepared for it. Now you have some of the secretes to how to create a budget the right way.

Discover more about how to create a budget the right way by visiting the follow website:

How To Create A Budget

When looking for the next rising fine art photography stars today, one may need to look in untraditional places. In the past, the large galleries and institutions, like MOMA in New York, set the standards. Now, young fine art photographers are taking charge and promoting themselves and their colleagues.

The first place to start your quest for fresh fine art photography is the world of blogs. Some of the blogs are curated and feature different photographers daily, like iheartphotograph dot blogspot dot com, curated by Laurel Ptek. She features both a photographer of the day and longer features that highlight an artist with three or four pieces and minimal text. A majority of these photographers have their own personal websites and blogs which can be accessed by clicking on the pictures from I Heart Photograph. The photographers rely heavily on word of mouth, found as referrals from other similar blogs and sites, so once you get started on one blog, you are sure to find others. A good blog to start on is notifbutwhen dot com/2 by Chicagoan Brian Ulrich.

Next, head off to the organizations. Many fine art photography lovers have gotten together to keep the art they love alive, by giving young artists recognition. One of the best examples is Humble Arts at humbleartsfoundation dot com. They not only give others the limelight with monthly group exhibitions, they have expanded to sell work and give twice yearly grants.

Now, head to the world of publishing on demand. For most photographers, the dream is to eventually have work shown as a monograph book. The process is long and often involves raising funds from collectors. Today, many are taking advantage of the rise of on demand publishers, such as Lulu and Blurb. With some time and effort, one can make a book and offer it for sale to the public for as little as $19.99 depending on the size and number of pages in the book. Blurb has even started to court photographer, knowing they are making up a large portion of their sales, by starting a contest for the best fine art photography book which includes a cash price of $25,000 for the artists to make more work.

Now, if you are hooked on photography and want to decorate your home with your new love, there are many places to get limited edition prints for a low cost. The most extensive collection of low price prints is at Blindspot dot com in conjunction with their long running seasonal magazine.

The rise of the internet and self promotion can only help the world of fine art photography find a more diverse group of artists where geography plays little to no role and emerging photographers can be found at the click of a button.

Lucy Bushman is an accomplished niche website developer and author.
To learn more about fine art photography, please visit Photography Hobbyist for current articles and discussions.