| What is more important? A. Finding the trade or B. Managing the trade Both are important. But it is not easy to find trades unless you have a system in place. And here is where is gets confusing. What should you base your process or system on? Technical analysis? Seasonality? Earnings? Volatility? Answer: All of the above. "Wait a minute Allen, there are thousands of option-able stocks, how can you say trading takes just a few minutes a day when you have to know all this about all these stocks?" Easy, you don't. You focus on a core group of stocks that you pay attention to. Over time, you get to know their habits. You learn how they react to news. You discover what cycles they operate on. And so when they start to misbehave, your sixth sense picks it up. And so you stay away from those stocks until they start acting like normal. When I first started trading, I was doing only covered calls. And the only thing I was interested in was the return. I didn't care what the company was and many times I did not even know what the company did or made or sold. If I could make 3% on a 30 day covered call I was in. Guess what happened? Some trades worked great. I have made 10% a month in covered calls. But then the losses took it all back and a lot more. The losses were great enough that I gave up on covered calls for a while. What I did not understand at that time, is that you should not go chasing the most volatile stocks for covered calls or any option selling strategy for that matter. In hindsight I can say "Du'h! What the heck was I thinking?" But I just did not know any better. So take this lesson to heart. Do not go chasing the hottest stock. Create a watchlist of many stocks that you can get familiar with. Watch these whenever you can. Go over their charts. Get familiar with them. Remember, trading is a game that will be here forever and one you can play until they put you in the ground, so take your time. How many names on the watchlist? 30-40 would be good to start. Companies that you would want to own. Companies that are strong, stable with consistent earnings Dividend payers are good bets. This does two main things. 1. It helps keep you out of bad trades. (You will still have those, but they will be fewer). 2. It helps cut down on the time needed to find new trades. - No more watching shows, reading blogs, sitting in chat rooms trying to find the next trade. Need a watchlist to get you started? We've got your covered. Just download this one. Simon and his crew spent hundred of hours combing through all the optionable stocks to find the best ones. They were judged on over a dozen factors, like volatility, open interest and volume, premium, how many strikes are available to trade, what exchanges do they trade on, and on and on. Get your copy of the Best Stocks To Trade Options On. Trade With The Odds In Your Favor... Allen Sama OptionGenius.com | 