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This table does not apply to all traders, but for those that have a strategy that is very buying power intensive. It takes in consideration that IBKR and other brokers actually limit us to 25% margin in several volatile tickers, so this table is actually conservative on what could possibly be done with consistency. I made this table to clearly display what the ideal scenario is for someone who has a successful strategy that is reliant on the upper limit of their buying power available. Several of my win days are larger than my goal amount ( x3 ) and some are SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than my goal amount ( x10 ), so I decided to simplify this table and go with a "If I never lost a single day at bare minimum goal amount" approach. With a starting balance of $25,000, 0.05% risk per trade, 5R goal amount, and big winners every so often, you would still have to wait probably at least 2 1/2 years before living off of this income was easily achievable. (assuming you want to continue to build the account while living off of the income) At first the numbers seem way too conservative, but then all of a sudden they seem unbelievable. Year $ Gain Risk Bump @ +10% Intervals Goal Amount 5R Risk Per Trade 0.05% Total Trading Days Years Months Days $15,263 $25,000 $63 $13 40 0 1 28 $27,500 $69 $14 80 0 3 25 $30,250 $76 $15 120 0 5 23 $33,275 $83 $17 160 0 7 21 $36,603 $92 $18 200 0 9 19 $40,263 $101 $20 240 0 11 16 $27,039 $44,289 $111 $22 280 1 1 9 $48,718 $122 $24 320 1 3 7 $53,590 $134 $27 360 1 5 4 $58,949 $147 $29 400 1 6 32 $64,844 $162 $32 440 1 8 30 $71,328 $178 $36 480 1 10 27 $47,901 $78,461 $196 $39 520 2 0 20 $86,307 $216 $43 560 2 2 18 $94,937 $237 $47 600 2 4 16 $104,431 $261 $52 640 2 6 13 $114,874 $287 $57 680 2 8 11 $126,362 $316 $63 720 2 10 9 $84,860 $138,998 $347 $69 760 3 0 1 $152,898 $382 $76 800 3 1 29 $168,187 $420 $84 840 3 3 27 $185,006 $463 $93 880 3 5 25 $203,507 $509 $102 920 3 7 22 $223,858 $560 $112 960 3 9 20 $246,243 $616 $123 1000 3 11 18 $165,367 $270,868 $677 $135 1040 4 1 10 $297,954 $745 $149 1080 4 3 8 $327,750 $819 $164 1120 4 5 6 $360,525 $901 $180 1160 4 7 4 $396,577 $991 $198 1200 4 8 31 $436,235 $1,091 $218 1240 4 10 29 $292,958 $479,859 $1,200 $240 1280 5 0 22 $527,844 $1,320 $264 1320 5 2 19 $580,629 $1,452 $290 1360 5 4 17 $638,692 $1,597 $319 1400 5 6 15 $702,561 $1,756 $351 1440 5 8 12 $772,817 $1,932 $386 1480 5 10 10 $518,994 $850,099 $2,125 $425 1520 6 0 3 $935,109 $2,338 $468 1560 6 1 31 $1,028,619 $2,572 $514 1600 6 3 28 $1,131,481 $2,829 $566 1640 6 5 26 $1,244,630 $3,112 $622 1680 6 7 24 $1,369,092 $3,423 $685 1720 6 9 21 $1,506,002 $3,765 $753 1760 6 11 19 $1,011,372 $1,656,602 $4,142 $828 1800 7 1 12 $1,822,262 $4,556 $911 1840 7 3 10 $2,004,488 $5,011 $1,002 1880 7 5 7 $2,204,937 $5,512 $1,102 1920 7 7 5 $2,425,431 $6,064 $1,213 1960 7 8 33 $2,667,974 $6,670 $1,334 2000 7 10 30 $2,264,355 $2,934,771 $7,337 $1,467 2040 8 0 23 $3,228,248 $8,071 $1,614 2080 8 2 21 $3,551,073 $8,878 $1,776 2120 8 4 18 $3,906,181 $9,765 $1,953 2160 8 6 16 $4,296,799 $10,742 $2,148 2200 8 8 14 $4,726,479 $11,816 $2,363 2240 8 10 12 $5,199,126 $12,998 $2,600 2280 9 0 4 With a 3k account this last year I was able to make 34k (Totaling 37k), paid off my debt, and then made another 6.5k from only 8k starting balance in the last 3 months. I'm only 'flexing' these numbers because there isn't very much announced success on here to the point that it can be discouraging. I wasn't profitable for 3 years, and before I started making money I literally lost all of my money and money that wasn't mine. If you are someone reading this that doesn't have very much money, I would really encourage you to find good investments rather than day trading, while you learn to trade. Learn to do the conservative routes like selling covered calls and selling puts so you can get the confidence under your belt and build your equity. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Eventually you will stumble upon opportunities that are obvious rather than forcing trades because you won't have the stress of 'making it' as a day trader. Those opportunities will build your account and give you peace of mind while you chip away at this skill. All that being said, this table is actually achievable. Stay the course my friends. Bailey Nevener

TastyTrade is legit and Tastyworks is also amazing. They make the whole option process so simple. With theta being a factor in spreads, it really makes swing trading much more controllable. As for the OP, I'm assuming they are talking about Long OTM Call options. If you for some reason come across a stock that is slowly trending down, and for some reason you know that it is about to have a major bounce, then you can get OTM call options for extremely dirt cheap. Make sure that the expiration date is 56 days out or more otherwise you may not see an increase in the price of the OTM Call option even if there is a major bounce. Also make sure it is 56 days out or more because the theta really starts to work against you any sooner than that, so there is significantly less love in being wrong on the timing of the bounce. It is a good idea to have a delta of .15 or higher because of the aforementioned lack of responsiveness to price movement if it is too unlikely to hit the strike price. IMO it is probably better to get an OTM call option that has a very good chance of being in the money at the top of whatever bounce you are expecting, so that you can hold onto it if the trade continues to work. If you don't do that then the theta and implied volatility will swiftly chop your profit and your head off in the middle of the trade. Also trade management for Long OTM options (with a relatively close expiration): profit NOW is way better than profit later. Unless you are in the money: then profit now is still better than profit later. If you think you'll make an extra 15% if you hold on, just get out. If you think you'll make an extra 100% if you hold on, then consider holding it very strongly, and then sell half. Also anyone that says you can't make money consistently from long call options (including Tom Sosnoff) is almost always talking about at expiration. Duh. It is true that it is difficult to make money with OTM call options because there are lots of factors and you need to be right basically immediately. However, not for one second, does that mean you can't do it consistently. It just means you have to do it with these things in mind. I'm not an expert, but I did make 25k in two weeks from 3k with OTM options once. LOL.

Hi all! Mike has posted that he will be in AZ on Aug 7th and is inviting all for happy hour. Anyone interested can Use this link to RSVP or just search for Phoenix on forum & you can find it. https://bearbulltraders.lt.acemlna.com/Prod/link-tracker?redirectUrl=aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZmb3J1bXMuYmVhcmJ1bGx0cmFkZXJzLmNvbSUyRnRvcGljJTJGMzAwNi1waG9lbml4LWF4LW1lZXR1cC1hdWd1c3QtN3RoJTJG&a=66163922&account=bearbulltraders.activehosted.com&email=VwOM8ZLzozOJ1ZotD9CPiIvy7T5YEJ8ohjC9vauJg30%3D&s=458a7db9657eaaa5f208362c31f542a6&i=995A1889A2A8865

This is almost the identical post I just wrote for a different BBT member, but the questions are closely related. Sorry for the delay in responding, but I am just getting back into reading the forum again. Hopefully you will still read this. When I started with a small account I only used vertical spreads. It was perfect for a small account since you get quite a bit if leverage with a built in max loss. Since you are only paying for the spread not the option they are dirt cheap and easily affordable for a small account. I recently bought GDX for about $40 a contract (40 cents per share) with a long call vertical spread with a 6 week expiration. I have an account with Tastyworks , I really like their platform. I also like their TastyTrades channel.