Hi 007,
Looking at the website:
On the one hand, Guy Bower is well respected and has a lot of credibility around the traps.
This following passage sounded really good as to their approach to option trading:
<<<<<At Option1, we do not have what you might call “smash and grab” trades. These trades are where you can make a lot or lose a lot in a very short time. We do not aim to hit a home run with every trade. We also do not quote cumulative or annualized returns.
Occasionally you hear of some traders making 20%, 50%, 100% etc in the markets. What you don’t hear is how much risk you have to constantly take to make that sort of money and you certainly don’t hear about the big losses.
Option1 trades are a little different. Our recommendations do not promise overnight riches but a more risk friendly approach to trading options.>>>>>
But a couple of little red flags for me:
1/ The calculation of their 1st years results as + 35% profit is very nebulous. It simply adds up all the individual trades to get this figure. If the profit results are % of total capital, then that is reasonably impressive and also reflects some sort of money management. If not, then it's a pretty dishonest presentation.
But it does not say how this is calculated so it leaves me guessing.
2/ Their is this example of one of their trades:
<<<<Silver Short Calls
Here is a simple trade that lasted only 8 days. It involved selling call options in Silver when option prices appeared overvalued.
On the 13th Feb, Silver futures were trading near 660. We recommended selling the 750 calls with 11 days to expiration for about $100us per contract. Only a very small amount was traded. In the following trading session, the 17th Feb, we recommended adding to that position by selling the 725 calls for about $115per contract.
Even with the market on a slight increase, the call premium fell to nothing almost instantly. This was thanks to very sharp decay of the time premium of the option and the simple fact we spotted these options at these inflated price.
On average the trades made about 2.14%. From the trader’s points of view, it was easy. Just place the orders, and then do nothing. The options expired worthless and the profit was made within days. >>>>>
Short silver calls is something I just would not trade without spreading it off. It is one of those markets that is capable of spiking up big time and if unfortunate enough to be caught up in one of these spikes and short calls, it could do some serious damage to your account. That is a low probability, but, the risk is real and sooner or later.......a lot of traders have blown up this way.
From memory you used to be a futures broker didn't you? What do you think?
Cheers
Wayne