Creativity Sparks Ingenuity

Sean McLaughlin
November 8, 2022

Am I being creative with my trading?

Am I tinkering with new ideas, new money management algorithms, new mindsets, new products, new timeframes, or new workflows?

We don’t need to be trying all new things all the time. But spending time thinking about divergent ideas is a valuable practice.

When we exercise our creative muscles, we might find nothing other than a journey down an empty rabbit hole. But sometimes, we have epiphany moments that change the way we operate. These can be minor, value-added ways – or maybe even drastic, wholesale change kinds of ways.

I’ve experienced a bit of this in recent weeks with my index options trading. I’ve been banging my head against the wall trying to make money via short premium and theta decay strategies for quite some time.

I made a complete 180-degree turn last month and became a net buyer of options with a focus on being long gamma.

So far, the results have been incredibly encouraging. Was the timing of my shift fortuitous? Were market conditions simply extra accommodating to the idea? Possibly. But expressing and harnessing my creativity – and having the courage to try out new ideas – is still yielding great results.

What are some ideas you’ve been thinking about?

Maybe it’s time to give them a try.

~ @chicagosean

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