Crazy gains (and losses): $40K to $2.1 million. Back to $800k

[BETA1019]

Getting this out is somewhat cathartic as I haven't been able to tell anyone about this. Here goes...

I've been an all-in investor in Tesla since 2013. I'd built up a pretty significant stake of about 1k shares (pre-split), but for a number of personal reasons I won't get into now, I had to liquidate and give it all up around Q4 2018.

My conviction in Tesla was rock solid and finally, near the end of 2019, I was getting back on my feet.

So in January 2020, I opened a new brokerage account with a view of rebuilding my Tesla stake.

I funded the account with $40.5k USD over 5 months from savings and income.
(Jan: 11.5k, Feb: 6k, Mar: 3k, Apr: 7k, May: 7k, Jun: 6k).

I had some experience with options, though not much. But I traded options around Tesla anyway...

Things were going really well until covid hit, but I was somewhat lucky enough to foresee a correction (was closely following covid developments in Asia) and I banked a lot of money from S&P put options, which I then reversed back into Tesla leaps.

By January 2021 my account was worth $2.1 million USD.

I did learn a lot along the way, but not enough, and that lack of options experience hurt immensely.
My account has since dropped from $2.1m at peak to $800k (as of this writing).

Depressing as hell, but I'm grateful I haven't completely blown up my account.

That said, I've always loved investing, trading, and the financial markets, and I've always hated my job. So I've quit in the hopes of pursuing a career in day-trading.

I've taken 100K out of my account to use as a safety net and I'm now moving to a low-cost location. My account has 700K leftover and is tied up in Tesla stock and leaps.
(Taxed filed and paid separately - also, ouch)

I'm now doing the free options alpha course with a view of refreshing my knowledge / starting over again.

Free Options Trading Courses | Option Alpha

100% free options trading courses on-demand. Self-paced, guided learning paths that help you reach your goals and make smarter trades.

optionalpha.com

Beyond that, does anyone have any strong recommendations on resources to learn from? I've been following a bunch of accounts on Twitter that seem to do well calling out trades, so I figure paying for 'membership' with them and learning from others will help.

And I'm also curious to see if there's anyone else out there that has a similar story (I know Emmet Peppers made a killing in a similar way, but he's already big-time). Anyone else out there who's made crazy gains from Tesla, quit their jobs, and are now going after the trading thing full time?

 

[UltradoomY]

Congrats on making some money again with the market. That said, she is like the sea, beautiful but can be deadly.

If options are your thing, check out the wheel thread and start from the beginning - it's getting to be a long one now but will give you some valuable knowledge from the wins and losses accrued by others already and some strategies you could start to implement.

 

[CLK350]

Congrats on your move. Those lucky enough to have been good at options when the SP started to zoom have been handsomely rewarded. The now closed but still useful thread is Paydirt's (Tesla) options investing guide; the current active thread is Applying options strategy 'the wheel' to TSLA.

I've made some gains and lost a good chunk of these during this year's meltdown. My take is that this is a *very* dangerous time to learn/ trade options, because the SP is so completely manipulated now by the MM's, so the wheel approach isn't going to be as cut and dry; and my guess is that some of the big players have gotten better at recognizing TSLA's potential. Add to that the insane lawlessness of the markets with basically the SEC at the beck and call fo the established players, it really is getting harder to capitalize on the disconnect between the public view of Tesla and what we think is really happening.

Wishing you the best of luck still.

 

[Favguy]

Getting this out is somewhat cathartic as I haven't been able to tell anyone about this. Here goes...

I've been an all-in investor in Tesla since 2013. I'd built up a pretty significant stake of about 1k shares (pre-split), but for a number of personal reasons I won't get into now, I had to liquidate and give it all up around Q4 2018.

My conviction in Tesla was rock solid and finally, near the end of 2019, I was getting back on my feet.

So in January 2020, I opened a new brokerage account with a view of rebuilding my Tesla stake.

I funded the account with $40.5k USD over 5 months from savings and income.
(Jan: 11.5k, Feb: 6k, Mar: 3k, Apr: 7k, May: 7k, Jun: 6k).

I had some experience with options, though not much. But I traded options around Tesla anyway...

Things were going really well until covid hit, but I was somewhat lucky enough to foresee a correction (was closely following covid developments in Asia) and I banked a lot of money from S&P put options, which I then reversed back into Tesla leaps.

By January 2021 my account was worth $2.1 million USD.

I did learn a lot along the way, but not enough, and that lack of options experience hurt immensely.
My account has since dropped from $2.1m at peak to $800k (as of this writing).

Depressing as hell, but I'm grateful I haven't completely blown up my account.

That said, I've always loved investing, trading, and the financial markets, and I've always hated my job. So I've quit in the hopes of pursuing a career in day-trading.

I've taken 100K out of my account to use as a safety net and I'm now moving to a low-cost location. My account has 700K leftover and is tied up in Tesla stock and leaps.
(Taxed filed and paid separately - also, ouch)

I'm now doing the free options alpha course with a view of refreshing my knowledge / starting over again.

Free Options Trading Courses | Option Alpha

100% free options trading courses on-demand. Self-paced, guided learning paths that help you reach your goals and make smarter trades.

optionalpha.com

Beyond that, does anyone have any strong recommendations on resources to learn from? I've been following a bunch of accounts on Twitter that seem to do well calling out trades, so I figure paying for 'membership' with them and learning from others will help.

And I'm also curious to see if there's anyone else out there that has a similar story (I know Emmet Peppers made a killing in a similar way, but he's already big-time). Anyone else out there who's made crazy gains from Tesla, quit their jobs, and are now going after the trading thing full time?

Well I made crazy gains and quit my job, but that was just from holding an investment of £30k or so from early 2012 and borrowing and adding another £50k or so early last year. I daren't day trade or use any technical instruments or leverage, I'm just too dumb! I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor!

 

[adiggs]

Congrats on your move. Those lucky enough to have been good at options when the SP started to zoom have been handsomely rewarded. The now closed but still useful thread is Paydirt's (Tesla) options investing guide; the current active thread is Applying options strategy 'the wheel' to TSLA.

I've made some gains and lost a good chunk of these during this year's meltdown. My take is that this is a *very* dangerous time to learn/ trade options, because the SP is so completely manipulated now by the MM's, so the wheel approach isn't going to be as cut and dry; and my guess is that some of the big players have gotten better at recognizing TSLA's potential. Add to that the insane lawlessness of the markets with basically the SEC at the beck and call fo the established players, it really is getting harder to capitalize on the disconnect between the public view of Tesla and what we think is really happening.

Wishing you the best of luck still.

I'll add as a regular participant in the wheel thread - its more of a selling options thread than it is a wheel thread. As a practical matter few of us are actively turning the wheel week to week, month to month.

Starting with that OA educational series is a great place to start (MHO). It will at least get you exposure to the basic concepts in a systematic way - just in case you've missed some of them in your previous experiences. DO realize that OA is also teaching a particular trading strategy and approach (I believe they call it selling volatility; the point is that they are primarily selling options rather than buying) and that is true for the participants in that thread. You don't need to be implementing their strategy to get good value from the education, but its still a component of their educational series.


Selling options can be a good way to generate regular cash flow / steady earnings. It won't turn a $40k account into a $2M account in a year though. If its going particularly well it might turn $40k into $80k in a year (100% return in a year is .. uhmm ... great; especially if it is somewhat repeatable). Then again any strategy that would reliably turn $40k into $2M would be slurped up in full by the bigger / faster / better funded fish in the sea.