r/options • u/clavidk • 5d ago

Soo... anybody became an overnight millionaire?

Crazy to see all these puts that turned $10k to $3M+ (e.g. https://x.com/EpicTradeAlerts/status/1908266500370424120)

And it's not like these were dumb luck degenerate yolo trades, I feel like there was at least a 10% chance Trump's planned tariff announcement would've crashed the markets and then subsequently another 10-20% chance a megapower like China would retaliate somehow.

A $10k bet would probably have been a very reasonable bet given the risk-reward of the options available. So I'm assuming there's a number of you who made over $1M overnight.

Regale your tales/inner thoughts here

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u/Affectionate-Leek-40 5d ago

The SPY puts I bought in Jan are perfectly keeping my retirement account stable. Up 1% today actually. But week over week it's keeping things stable which is what I wanted.

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u/HugeAd5056 5d ago

Did you buy puts with a long expiration date? Like a “put leap?”

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u/Affectionate-Leek-40 5d ago

Exactly. I wanted stability so they were 15 months out.

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u/tcopple 5d ago

Sell them while vol is high and rebuy when it falls. The oppo of pennies in front of a steam roller.

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u/HugeAd5056 5d ago

Sell puts when volume is high? Why based on volume and not the shape of a graph or wick of the candle?

Maybe I missed what you were trying to say entirely, not sure.

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u/DeMayon 5d ago

Vol = volatility.

You can be a buyer or seller of volatility

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u/HugeAd5056 5d ago

Ah thanks. So you’re selling to get the premium from high IV and buying it back when the premium value is lower. Am I getting it right?

I thought about doing that on ATT today: selling ootm puts based on the high IV… would have probably worked pretty well, especially on a Friday with theta eating the value over the weekend. Didn’t decide to do it though.

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u/tcopple 5d ago

Yes. When you buy an option to protect your investment, you’re effectively buying insurance.

The storm came an ravaged your retirement. Time to cash in on the insurance policy that you bought.

You bought the option in a low volatility environment. You now take profit and sell it in a high volatility one.

The risk you run is that you sell the option and vol stays elevated and things keep falling, but you’re unprotected.

In reality vol rarely stays elevated for too long, which means even if you hold on to your puts, their value will soon start decreasing.