I am working professional in IT. I need to establish trading strategies with minimum maintenance or adjustments. I have basic experience of options and Future. But not as long term setting up and iterating same approach for better handling without affecting my IT work.
Does any training, or books, or videos to this and gives hands on? I have attended sessions and walked videos but are all basics or advanced. But how to carry them as Professional trading approach?
Thanks.
Disclaimer: Not a pro trader, just someone who’s thought about this.
Honest answer- trading is not a part-time job. If you’re looking for something to run alongside IT, the realistic path would be fully rule-based & automated strategies. Discretionary trading will either eat into your work hours or blow up when you’re not watching.
What actually works for working professionals is defined strategies with pre-set entry/exit rules. No screen-watching.
For resources, Natenberg’s Option Volatility & Pricing is an excellent read(and there are some other books as well but need to understand derivatives in and out, if you’re exploring to trade on such products). Beyond that, the real edge comes from tracking your own positions and understanding their behaviour- Greeks, P&L behaviour across market conditions. Most retail traders skip this entirely, then wonder why the same strategy works sometimes and doesn’t other times.
I’m also amazed by how many tools claim to give you “real edge” through chart patterns, AI signals etc. which is overwhelming and mostly nonsensical, so don’t fall for those. If the edge is public and easily accessible then it’s not an edge. The real edge comes from understanding your own risk, not from another indicator.
Thanks a lot for your honest feedback.
My main aim is, to to hedge my investments in index funds or Large cap funds.
At the same time, use Options in LEAP or quarterly / half yearly, so that it can reduce my screen time.
As you suggested the book, I bought last week. started reading the book.
Thanks.
Ok, that makes sense.
One issue in India on LEAPs is that they don’t really exist here the way they do in the US. NSE’s longest expiry is around 9 months and liquidity beyond the near month is very thin.
For hedging an index/large cap portfolio, a more practical approach is buying puts around key events, such as- RBI policy, budget, fed decisions, earnings season etc. You avoid paying the heavy premium that long-dated options command but still protect yourself from the tail events that actually matter.
The key here is identifying which events may threaten your portfolio and sizing the hedge accordingly. Not hedging everything all the time which eats away your returns.
Curious- would a tool that tells you exactly how much delta hedge your portfolio needs at any point be useful to you?
yes… Good question. even I am also trying to find. But What i noticed is, In the beginning of year, that strike price for dec is around 10% of ur 1 Future. Hence if u sell 1 call for dec in Jan, It can give u 10% cushion,. But if Market moves above 10%. Then real, greeks strategies to be implemented.
As of now, I am trying for Dec Ratio spreads or diagonals. But they are not acting as Hedge but at least not making loss with These strategies.
) because this is exactly what I’ve been building- you can see your portfolio delta, simulate how your positions behave across spot and vol moves, and toggle your holdings delta in. The hedge sizing becomes a lot cleaner when you can see the full picture.
Still in beta but would love your feedback if you want to try it — thetix.trade
Thanks. Is it free ware or paid version?
It’s free, You can now connect your Zerodha account to try all the features.
