I had been a professional trader for nearly 15 years before I fell into trading options seriously. After a decade and half of a constant, high-stakes grind, I sold my stake in a successful trading firm and decided to take a year off from trading to recharge.
It was during that year that I became close friends with a neighbor of mine. He was a market maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). He gave me a behind the scenes look at his operations — along with his trading statements — and I was blown away.
Despite all of my experience, I realized then there was a whole world of trading I hadn’t tapped into — options trading. I spent months managing his book for free, and after I got my sea legs, I decided to set out on my journey to become a market maker myself.
What drew me to options — and what keeps me coming back even after all these years — is their incredible versatility. Unlike stocks, options allow you to express a range of opinions about a stock’s future. Will it rise? Fall? Stay flat? With options, you can craft strategies to profit no matter the scenario.
This flexibility is why I now consider options the ultimate trading vehicle. They offer the perfect balance of leverage and risk management, which makes them the perfect instrument for traders to use their experience and creativity to find setups with truly explosive potential.
