The market is extremely volatile right now.
It might be scary to trade in this environment …
But let’s get something straight: You should be scared of yourself, not the market.
New traders are always their own worst enemy. The patterns we use to trade stay the same, it’s the trader who deviates from the plan that gets burned.
I spent two decades on Wall Street turning a small stake into hundreds of millions of dollars. And with a team that didn’t have a losing quarter for ten years.
That wasn’t luck. We used popular patterns to build smart positions on the strongest setups. Patterns that kept us safe from our emotions.
After years of pulling gains as part of a team and on my own, I’ve identified seven emotions that quietly sabotage options traders. The seven deadly trading sins. And simple counterpunches I use to stay in control.
If you’ve ever chased a stock, forced a setup, or copied someone else’s trade without truly understanding it, this will feel uncomfortably familiar.
But this time, in a good way.
The Loud Mistakes: Pride, Greed, Wrath
These three mistakes are the most obvious …
Pride is overconfidence in strategies that a trader barely understands yet. The feeling that they deserve to win, they’re too good to lose, all with a strategy they have limited experience with.
We saw this a lot with the recent boom and bust in silver and gold prices.
The fix: Start simple and small, backtest your trades, size up only when your edge is proven. After all, the market is rigged in our favor.
Greed wants jackpots overnight. That’s how traders buy overextended plays and ill-positioned soon-to-expire contracts that torch their accounts.
The fix: Pick strikes and expirations that fit your thesis, then give the trade room to work while respecting those levels.
Wrath is the revenge spiral. Broken rules, fire-at-will trading, and doubling down to “get it back.”
The fix: Step away, breathe, and demand liquidity. Volume and open interest are guardrails for our strategy, not suggestions. When emotion spikes, your size should shrink or go to zero.
The Quiet Killers: Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth
These mistakes are less obvious …
Take a hard look at your strategy and compare them to these trading sins. This is the kind of detriment that slowly eats away at your account.
Envy is copying someone else’s strategy without their context. Markets reward understanding, not mimicry.
The fix: Build your own plan, then let others inform instead of drive it.
Lust is the siren song of selling naked options, especially naked call options, where losses can be theoretically unlimited.
The fix: Stick to our tested plan. Don’t veer off the path because you see something shiny. If there isn’t a trade to make, sit on your hands and live to trade tomorrow. Here are some good trade examples to study.
Gluttony is treating options like stocks and ignoring implied volatility. IV is the tide beneath your P&L. It directly impacts our positions and potential percent gains.
The fix: Understand your environment before you trade. Especially the IV. Know what it’s doing to your premiums before you click that order.
Sloth is the silent account killer. Options favor the prepared. Those with a macro view, understanding of major catalysts, and disciplined pattern recognition.
The fix: Study while others scroll. When you have down time, work at improving your skills.
There’s a more in depth report of these seven deadly sins in our trading portal.
That’s where you’ll find all the information you need to tackle this market.
Stick with me, and you’ll realize the market isn’t as scary as you might’ve thought.
Master your emotions, and our trading strategies will start to offer peace of mind while we ride the biggest moves … Instead of the usual anxiety that new traders feel.
That’s the edge. A clear head, armed with repeating patterns.
Stay Street Smart,
Jeff Zananiri
*Past performance does not indicate future results, Not typical.
