I trade actively every market of the day of the year, and that trading is within the confines of a hedge fund I manage.
A month ago, however, I opened up a tiny ($10,000) options account for a personal trade here and there. I haven't traded options in a long, long time – – but, for whatever reason, I decided it was time to give it a shot, and I deliberately did so with an amount of money I didn't need to care about.
I'm glad I did, because I find myself in this situation:
+ I started off with a $10,000 account on April 11th;
+ I built it up to a 50% gain last week and, out of the blue, I decided to wire myself back those $10,000 in original funds.
+ Thus, I am left with "pure" profit in the account (which currently is just a shade under $7,000, meaning about a 70% gain in a month's time).
I've only placed a handful of trades in the account, and most of them have (obviously) worked out. I trade conservatively, purchasing deep in-the-money options that don't expire for a while. The irony here is that my "conservative" trading has yielded results like this. It's a nice feeling.
But the far better feeling is this: no one can hurt me in this account. Abby Joseph Cohen can't. Mark Zuckberberg can't. Lloyd Blankfein can't. And, most of that, that disgusting waste-of-life Benjamin Bernanke can't. Because I've got my principal back, you blood-sucking leeches.
I've never done this little "trick" with an account before, in which I extract the principal. And, yes, I realize it's probably a rookie mindset to think of this as "house money". But the cold fact of the matter is that my disposition toward this account is marvelously detached.
I shall keep you posted, from time to time, as to my continued progress on this little psychological experiment of mine.
