Author Topic: What planning and goals do you have for 2022? (Read 8985 times)

Uncle Pete · « **on:** January 01, 2022, 10:24 »

You can blame Brazilnut for this, he started it?

What I'm asking is not for something like "make more money" or "Delete everything from Shutterstock". I'm wonder what efforts, plans, ideas in the form of self set goals anyone else has for the future and starting in 2022?

1) One I saw and it's from a couple of people, is "Ride My Bike" and take photos locally. (it's a twofer) I find that I drive everywhere, and I see things and I tell myself, "some day I'll come back and shoot that", but I don't. Also I think the slower pace and vision, means I'll see things that I overlooked. I'm going to hang this on the bulletin board to remind myself. It's a bit out of season to be saying, start today. Cloudy this morning. A few snow showers developing during the afternoon. High 21F/-6C. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 40%. But if my goal is not a destination and instead an event, which is shooting photos at a slower pace, that's one I think I need to pursue.

2) Macro and focus stacking. I already have most of the tools but just never sat down and worked at getting things organized and done right.

3) Get the industrial strobe light working and make some time exposures. This may be fun and nothing useful or possibly an area that's not well covered. Not sure of any specific demand, but again, except for the space needed, I have the tools and some rather unique equipment available. (I used to sell printing press strobes, I have the one last, very beat up, high speed demo unit around here somewhere)

4) Go back to the races. Last two years have been pretty limited. First with Covid and then with three of the main tracks, losing events. One of them shut down. Media permission is more and more limited because of perceived liability. Each year less and less photographers are allowed access.

5) Have fun and enjoy shooting photos, which I love to do and did, before I ever heard of Microstock.

I think that's a pretty big list, plus continuing to do other things that I do, for stock images, that I won't be giving up.

Anyone else making notes and collecting plans for the new year?

Level6 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2022, 12:05 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 01, 2022, 10:24

You can blame Brazilnut for this, he started it?

What I'm asking is not for something like "make more money" or "Delete everything from Shutterstock". I'm wonder what efforts, plans, ideas in the form of self set goals anyone else has for the future and starting in 2022?

1) One I saw and it's from a couple of people, is "Ride My Bike" and take photos locally. (it's a twofer) I find that I drive everywhere, and I see things and I tell myself, "some day I'll come back and shoot that", but I don't. Also I think the slower pace and vision, means I'll see things that I overlooked. I'm going to hang this on the bulletin board to remind myself. It's a bit out of season to be saying, start today. Cloudy this morning. A few snow showers developing during the afternoon. High 21F/-6C. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 40%. But if my goal is not a destination and instead an event, which is shooting photos at a slower pace, that's one I think I need to pursue.

2) Macro and focus stacking. I already have most of the tools but just never sat down and worked at getting things organized and done right.

3) Get the industrial strobe light working and make some time exposures. This may be fun and nothing useful or possibly an area that's not well covered. Not sure of any specific demand, but again, except for the space needed, I have the tools and some rather unique equipment available. (I used to sell printing press strobes, I have the one last, very beat up, high speed demo unit around here somewhere)

4) Go back to the races. Last two years have been pretty limited. First with Covid and then with three of the main tracks, losing events. One of them shut down. Media permission is more and more limited because of perceived liability. Each year less and less photographers are allowed access.

5) Have fun and enjoy shooting photos, which I love to do and did, before I ever heard of Microstock.

I think that's a pretty big list, plus continuing to do other things that I do, for stock images, that I won't be giving up.

Anyone else making notes and collecting plans for the new year?

My slow but steady editorial video sales went to zero in September and didn't recover, I still kept producing and uploading though but it didn't recover.

Plans now are to declare bankruptcy, it's a personal bankruptcy as I'm a sole proprietor in Ontario Canada vs Inc and that's 7 years of no credit or anything, it stays on the credit report for that long and then you can rebuild slowly.

Sell off all the gear but keep one camera, i think I can hide one camera from the bankruptcy trustee. I'm hoping eBay works and this is all new to me but I'm going through boxes of everything today and photographing it and will post it for sale.

I will leave my content up as something might still sell one day and maybe shoot the odd clip with the one camera I keep, hobby?, maybe?, not even sure right now.

Go all out on two things.....learning day, swing and options trading (stocks) and finding a real job but if trading takes off then that becomes the real job, others have done it with just $500 left to their name so it's possible but it's a long hard learning curve. The big money is in options trading but it's serious educated gambling, I saw a twitter post last week, a high school student turned $700 into $8000 in two weeks.

New Years Resolution?, NEVER been self employed again, unless stock trading works out and I'm making $3000/week like some of these other day traders but otherwise NEVER been self employed again. Not worth it, when COVID hit the self-employed didn't get any of the government aid, we don't qualify for unemployment insurance, nothing, but we owe taxes and have to pay in to everything.

Rage · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2022, 12:40 »

Definitely working on leveling up my photography and video game this year

1. Learn the magical art of colour grading and shooting in log profiles

2. Figure out ways to get great drone videos. Learn the skills around both flying and composing amazing stuff using it

3. Shoot more often. Often the day job tends to sap all intent to shoot anything requiring an effort. Hopefully overcome that this year

Just_to_inform_people2 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2022, 12:56 »

Create more time to shoot next to main work (did not succeed very well last year)
Finally spent time on splash photography and really sit for it
Hope to travel more and shoot great new things and surroundings

thijsdegraaf · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2022, 13:17 »

I have been photographing insects and sometimes other subjects for years. My old photos are not suitable for Stock. No equipment bought for Stock. So everything is profit. Only since the end of 2019 at Shutterstock (now also at Adobe and Alamy). I see it as a cheap hobby and as a nice addition to my pension that has not increased for years.

resolutions
1) The same as last year: Cycling through the area (dunes, meadows, city of Alkmaar). See if I find new topics. That will be difficult.
2) When on holiday, pay extra attention to topics suitable for Stock (unfortunately the holiday has been canceled for a known reason in the last two years)
3) When visiting the area, just like last year, also shoot for Stock. And fingers crossed for better summer weather than in the previous rainy summer.
4) Besides photographing insects with the macro lens, use that lens more often for plants/flowers, because I have noticed that they sell better (not very well) than I thought.
5) Sell more than last year, without losing the fun.

cascoly · « **Reply #5 on:** January 01, 2022, 13:27 »

1. hope to travel again, though I've already had to cancel 2 of the trips I was leading this spring due to clients' concerns about covid. but i still have a trip to Morocco in Mar & planning to lead trips to Turkey, Africa & India/Bhutan in fall

2. do more micro-photography - digital microscopes still aren't the greatest & need post-processing, but results are different from usual images; but mostly it's fun. thanks to amazon i was able to test 6 digital m'scopes before finding a decent one, but was able to return all the others at no cost

3. continue ebay & amazon selling

cascoly · « **Reply #6 on:** January 01, 2022, 13:38 »

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 12:05

...
Sell off all the gear but keep one camera, ... I'm hoping eBay works and this is all new to me but I'm going through boxes of everything today and photographing it and will post it for sale.
...

in addition, there's a seldom used section here to sell gear - and save the 15% eBay fees. also, you might be able to sell some gear on amazon

one nice feature on ebay is you can look for completed sales to help with pricing. but ignore ebay's pricing suggestions as they don't always compare similar items. and forgo any of the extras they say will increase sales (2nd category, bold title, 'gallery plus')

cascoly · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2022, 14:42 »

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 12:05

...

Go all out on two things.....learning day, swing and options trading (stocks) and finding a real job but if trading takes off then that becomes the real job, others have done it with just $500 left to their name so it's possible but it's a long hard learning curve. The big money is in options trading but it's serious educated gambling, I saw a twitter post last week, a high school student turned $700 into $8000 in two weeks.... unless stock trading works out and I'm making $3000/week like some of these other day traders ...

Be VERY careful!

the stories of overnight riches, even if true, are similar to other get-rich -quick schemes - when do you hear from the vast majority who fail? When you place a day trade, you're betting that the random price movements of a particular stock will trend in the direction that you want. Realistically, to make it, you may need $50-100K to be able to survive a series of losses

How much money you start with: If you start trading with $2,000 your income potential (in dollars) is far less than someone who starts with $20,000.
How much time you put into your trading education: To create consistent day trading income—where you have a solid trading plan and are able to implement it—will likely take a year or more if you dedicate yourself to it full-time. If you only practice part-time, it may take a number of years to develop real consistency and attain the type of returns discussed below.
https://vantagepointtrading.com/how-much-money-can-i-make-as-a-day-trader/

and from the usually overly optimistic Motley Fool:
Day trading is not worth it for the vast majority of day traders. Anecdotally, it's been widely estimated that 95% of day traders ultimately lose money, and it's been empirically demonstrated that about the same percentage of unprofitable day traders continues despite losing money. If you're thinking about day trading for the first time, it's important to know that day trading profits are hard to come by. You can make money day trading, but you'd be in very limited company.
https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/stocks/day-trading/

TANSTAAFL abides

Level6 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2022, 16:37 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 01, 2022, 14:42

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 12:05
...

Go all out on two things.....learning day, swing and options trading (stocks) and finding a real job but if trading takes off then that becomes the real job, others have done it with just $500 left to their name so it's possible but it's a long hard learning curve. The big money is in options trading but it's serious educated gambling, I saw a twitter post last week, a high school student turned $700 into $8000 in two weeks.... unless stock trading works out and I'm making $3000/week like some of these other day traders ...
Be VERY careful!

the stories of overnight riches, even if true, are similar to other get-rich -quick schemes - when do you hear from the vast majority who fail? When you place a day trade, you're betting that the random price movements of a particular stock will trend in the direction that you want. Realistically, to make it, you may need $50-100K to be able to survive a series of losses

How much money you start with: If you start trading with $2,000 your income potential (in dollars) is far less than someone who starts with $20,000.
How much time you put into your trading education: To create consistent day trading income—where you have a solid trading plan and are able to implement it—will likely take a year or more if you dedicate yourself to it full-time. If you only practice part-time, it may take a number of years to develop real consistency and attain the type of returns discussed below.
https://vantagepointtrading.com/how-much-money-can-i-make-as-a-day-trader/

and from the usually overly optimistic Motley Fool:
Day trading is not worth it for the vast majority of day traders. Anecdotally, it's been widely estimated that 95% of day traders ultimately lose money, and it's been empirically demonstrated that about the same percentage of unprofitable day traders continues despite losing money. If you're thinking about day trading for the first time, it's important to know that day trading profits are hard to come by. You can make money day trading, but you'd be in very limited company.
https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/stocks/day-trading/

TANSTAAFL abides

Thanks for that and yes it's not easy, options trading is even harder. I do see many traders posting their losses as well and often it's many thousands in a matter of minutes, yesterday a bathroom break cost one options trader $35,000.

Hard part is knowing beforehand which stocks are gonna run, we can all be on Finviz https://finviz.com/screener.ashx?v=111&s=ta_topgainers but the money is not in chasing but being there before it runs and not all run.

Last year around this time I guess there was the biggest momentum trade of all when AMC and GME ran, $2 stocks went to $72 and $480 but that's so rare and probably won't happen again.

Option is where the big money is but I'm not even close at this point, watching these high school and college students bank though and they're doing it on their phones in class!, https://twitter.com/PBInvesting https://twitter.com/Mini_Tradez https://twitter.com/STXRBOY999

Anything pays more than stock video right now though, have to try.

Level6 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2022, 16:40 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 01, 2022, 13:38

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 12:05
...
Sell off all the gear but keep one camera, ... I'm hoping eBay works and this is all new to me but I'm going through boxes of everything today and photographing it and will post it for sale.
...

in addition, there's a seldom used section here to sell gear - and save the 15% eBay fees. also, you might be able to sell some gear on amazon

one nice feature on ebay is you can look for completed sales to help with pricing. but ignore ebay's pricing suggestions as they don't always compare similar items. and forgo any of the extras they say will increase sales (2nd category, bold title, 'gallery plus')

Thanks, I didn't know that, I've have a lot, I don't have a lot to sell anyways just might as well get rid of the stuff I'm not and won't be using before it's too old to see for anything.

I still enjoy working outside and filming and wish I could keep doing it full time but September 1 2021 was like April 1 2019 all over again, pennies.....that's all.

Level6 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2022, 20:20 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 01, 2022, 14:42

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 12:05
...

Go all out on two things.....learning day, swing and options trading (stocks) and finding a real job but if trading takes off then that becomes the real job, others have done it with just $500 left to their name so it's possible but it's a long hard learning curve. The big money is in options trading but it's serious educated gambling, I saw a twitter post last week, a high school student turned $700 into $8000 in two weeks.... unless stock trading works out and I'm making $3000/week like some of these other day traders ...
Be VERY careful!

the stories of overnight riches, even if true, are similar to other get-rich -quick schemes - when do you hear from the vast majority who fail? When you place a day trade, you're betting that the random price movements of a particular stock will trend in the direction that you want. Realistically, to make it, you may need $50-100K to be able to survive a series of losses

How much money you start with: If you start trading with $2,000 your income potential (in dollars) is far less than someone who starts with $20,000.
How much time you put into your trading education: To create consistent day trading income—where you have a solid trading plan and are able to implement it—will likely take a year or more if you dedicate yourself to it full-time. If you only practice part-time, it may take a number of years to develop real consistency and attain the type of returns discussed below.
https://vantagepointtrading.com/how-much-money-can-i-make-as-a-day-trader/

and from the usually overly optimistic Motley Fool:
Day trading is not worth it for the vast majority of day traders. Anecdotally, it's been widely estimated that 95% of day traders ultimately lose money, and it's been empirically demonstrated that about the same percentage of unprofitable day traders continues despite losing money. If you're thinking about day trading for the first time, it's important to know that day trading profits are hard to come by. You can make money day trading, but you'd be in very limited company.
https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/stocks/day-trading/

TANSTAAFL abides

The more I think about it and as hard as learning the charts are I have to try, this industry is going from bad to worse, look at the Alamy 7 cents thread, it's one thing after another. All my editorial video ended up with a "trusted Global partner" in China known as Bytedance, same company that owns TikTok.

So there's that plus the recession, worst recession since the depression, COVID is getting much worse and fast, not as lethal with omicron but most are since in bed for 7 days and the economy will shut down again due to massive numbers of people to sick to come in to work. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/01/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html

But I wonder what effect this will all have on the stock markets both stock video/photo and the stock exchange, how long can this economy continue like this?

Anyka · « **Reply #11 on:** January 02, 2022, 03:10 »

I officially retired on 1st Sept. 2021, which means the Belgian government will be paying me a pension every month. So I will do fewer client photo sessions and the spare time will be used to :
1) do stock shoots again, but only the fun ones
2) do super fun projects, like rent a castle for a day and shoot historical costumes (if I can afford it)
3) sell the props and stuff that's piling up in my studio, but only after "milking the cow" (= photographing it for stock)
4) go back to my portfolio and create templates and overlays to sell to other photographers
5) if travelling is still not safe : do more day-trips in Flanders to get the vacation-feeling
6) spend more time in the garden on sunny days!

Looks like I'm going to be busier than before my retirement!

thijsdegraaf · « **Reply #12 on:** January 02, 2022, 04:18 »

Quote from: Anyka on January 02, 2022, 03:10

I officially retired on 1st Sept. 2021, which means the Belgian government will be paying me a pension every month. So I will do fewer client photo sessions and the spare time will be used to :
1) do stock shoots again, but only the fun ones
2) do super fun projects, like rent a castle for a day and shoot historical costumes (if I can afford it)
3) sell the props and stuff that's piling up in my studio, but only after "milking the cow" (= photographing it for stock)
4) go back to my portfolio and create templates and overlays to sell to other photographers
5) if travelling is still not safe : do more day-trips in Flanders to get the vacation-feeling
6) spend more time in the garden on sunny days!

Looks like I'm going to be busier than before my retirement!

Welcome to the club (pensioners). Sounds all right.
Bruges is my favorite city in Belgium. I mainly know the other cities because I drive on to France, Spain.
We want to go to Ghent or Antwerp for a few more days. Just wait and see.

tätarätä · « **Reply #13 on:** January 02, 2022, 04:49 »

Quote

The more I think about it and as hard as learning the charts are I have to try, this industry is going from bad to worse, look at the Alamy 7 cents thread, it's one thing after another. All my editorial video ended up with a "trusted Global partner" in China known as Bytedance, same company that owns TikTok.

So there's that plus the recession, worst recession since the depression, COVID is getting much worse and fast, not as lethal with omicron but most are since in bed for 7 days and the economy will shut down again due to massive numbers of people to sick to come in to work. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/01/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html

But I wonder what effect this will all have on the stock markets both stock video/photo and the stock exchange, how long can this economy continue like this?

There is an inflation on the way. The Fed is still at a position to act against inflation. In the EU there are some countries with high levels of dept. The EZB was financing this countries with low interest rate and buying government bonds. This countries still did not recover. Raising interest rate by the EZB are not possible for a long time.
So is guess we will see high inflation maybe even hyperinflation in the Eurozone area soon.
It ist not a bad idea to achieve a second income in USD like microstock. The microstock income will probably continue to decrease. But it is a worldwide market paid in USD.
So my goal for 2022 - continuing microstock, even it is getting harder every year. Even if there is an economic crisis coming, micrsotock will not be hit so hard than macro stock. Because it is cheaper and economy has to save money at crisis.

Anyka · « **Reply #14 on:** January 02, 2022, 05:00 »

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on January 02, 2022, 04:18

Welcome to the club (pensioners). Sounds all right.
Bruges is my favorite city in Belgium. I mainly know the other cities because I drive on to France, Spain.
We want to go to Ghent or Antwerp for a few more days. Just wait and see.

If you go to Ghent, spend the night there, because Ghent is FABULOUS at night - they even won a Unesco prize with their evening lighting of the historical buildings ... (but don't forget to bring your tripod!)

Mimi the Cat · « **Reply #15 on:** January 02, 2022, 05:56 »

After 10 years of this I'm getting out of stock. The agencies made it a waste of time.

I'll go find a proper job I already have one but its casual

NoNameIsGood · « **Reply #16 on:** January 02, 2022, 06:47 »

To upload 2000 new images.

Digital · « **Reply #17 on:** January 02, 2022, 06:49 »

No goals, really. I'm doing this just for fun, because I'm an artist at heart.

Plus stock agencies will always find new ways to let us down, and we have no control over this.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #18 on:** January 02, 2022, 07:02 »

Much more travel, a drone and a Nikon Z9...hope that I'm not asking for too much

Astrantia · « **Reply #19 on:** January 02, 2022, 08:22 »

Spending more time on my stockbusiness- means more travelling, taking more pictures and uploading more pictures. Back to my 2019 level would be great. I was way too busy doing other stuff in 2021.

Getting back to more macro pictures as I did in the beginning. Might mean finally buying that macro lens for my sony 7Rii. I now only have a macro for my old 77i.

And finally taking more pics of "usual" stuff, not only the very special and beautiful things I come across. When surfing other people portfolios I often come across those "normal" subjects I also see but always forget taking a shot of.....

Looking for new markets is also a plan. Applied for stocksy yesterday a second time after beeing turned down in 2019.

And if I need a new mobile in 2022 I want to buy one with a real good camera. Although my Sony Experia should take good pics at 19 MB it does not fulfill this at all and I keep missing good scenes while not carrying my Sony 7Rii with me all the time...

Let´s go for it!

OM · « **Reply #20 on:** January 02, 2022, 08:46 »

Pete's #1...definitely me too. I rarely go back to visit by bike or on foot when I should.

Anyka and Thijs in same pension boat in NL. Fortunate to have retained a client from the past and working for them 6 weeks/year doubles my pension. Must get more organized in 22 and look carefully at the sort of stock that the non-micros want to see and whether I can get in there. Think I might go back to trying some high quality food shots of anything that's 'IN' before it's really 'IN' and done to death by everyone else!.
Like Anyka I too have cupboards full of props (much food related) and later this year I will be moving house and downsizing...so some stuff will have to go.

I've been revisiting my old travel photos (all 35mm slides) of which I have tens of thousands. Many are rubbish, some are OK and I think I would love to travel again but with a digital camera. Unfortunately (for me) there are just so many excellent travel photographers out there now and the competition is overwhelming. Anyway, travel photography frequently demands physical fitness and at 70+ mine isn't what it was so I think I'll just have to dream instead of doing.

thijsdegraaf · « **Reply #21 on:** January 02, 2022, 09:56 »

Quote from: OM on January 02, 2022, 08:46

Pete's #1...definitely me too. I rarely go back to visit by bike or on foot when I should.

Anyka and Thijs in same pension boat in NL. Fortunate to have retained a client from the past and working for them 6 weeks/year doubles my pension. Must get more organized in 22 and look carefully at the sort of stock that the non-micros want to see and whether I can get in there. Think I might go back to trying some high quality food shots of anything that's 'IN' before it's really 'IN' and done to death by everyone else!.
Like Anyka I too have cupboards full of props (much food related) and later this year I will be moving house and downsizing...so some stuff will have to go.

I've been revisiting my old travel photos (all 35mm slides) of which I have tens of thousands. Many are rubbish, some are OK and I think I would love to travel again but with a digital camera. Unfortunately (for me) there are just so many excellent travel photographers out there now and the competition is overwhelming. Anyway, travel photography frequently demands physical fitness and at 70+ mine isn't what it was so I think I'll just have to dream instead of doing.

I'd take the bike anyway if I were you. When I lived in Pumerend and worked at Bruynzeel in Zaandam in my younger years, I went to work every day on my racing bike.
You live in an interesting city to photograph with industry, old buildings, the Zaan, the North Holland Canal with shipping and meadows.. Only they might sell a little worse than your photos of treats.

cascoly · « **Reply #22 on:** January 02, 2022, 14:08 »

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 20:20

...

But I wonder what effect this will all have on the stock markets both stock video/photo and the stock exchange, how long can this economy continue like this?

the stock market will do just fine w its usual ups & downs - most of the trillion (unpaid for) tax cut giveaway went to the 1% and few industries did anything helpful - most used the money to buy back their own stock, notin vest in workers, infrastructure or even research

Level6 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 02, 2022, 14:32 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 02, 2022, 14:08

Quote from: Level6 on January 01, 2022, 20:20
...

But I wonder what effect this will all have on the stock markets both stock video/photo and the stock exchange, how long can this economy continue like this?

the stock market will do just fine w its usual ups & downs - most of the trillion (unpaid for) tax cut giveaway went to the 1% and few industries did anything helpful - most used the money to buy back their own stock, notin vest in workers, infrastructure or even research

I guess it will be interesting to see how the market reacts next week to the omicron numbers and the real economy (disaster). if something will trigger a massive crash or they will be able to keep kicking the can down the road for awhile. If omicron peaks quickly then maybe good news.

I'm trying to learn, day, swing and options trading but my blood pressure is so high at times my vision goes blurry and I can't even see this screen well let alone the stock charts on Tradingview or Finviz.

In the US it's what? 11 million unemployed (media: businesses can't find workers) and I'm not sure what it is in Canada or my province (Ontario) getting a job is a mystery here but same thing from the media "businesses can't find workers". I can start tomorrow.

With my background as self-employed /camera work I've been turned down for literally everything from driving to deliver work, grocery store, war wash, fast food, you name it.

My only chance now is the stock market.

OM · « **Reply #24 on:** January 02, 2022, 16:30 »

Level 6 be careful with trading the stock market/options/futures. If you think that microstock CEO's are greedy and grabbing, wait until the Wall Street Boyz hit you. I did stocks and options for a few years in the late 90's and early noughties. Made 20K in a couple of days just after 911 for a couple of hundred bucks in put options and had a few other successes in trading stocks at the time but the thing about the financial world is...they want it back and they'll usually get it and more!

Eventually I couldn't stand the stress.....losing a fortune by taking a toilet break can easily happen! The thing that really got me out was the way the big options traders could move the goalposts if the value of options went against them.

At around 2000 there was some 'guru'/fraudster who was telling the wealthy that the easiest way to make a lot quickly was to sell a very in-the-money 4-year index put option....index at 700...sell 4-year put 800 and get €10K +4 years time value (€2K). The prediction was that the index would go to 800 maybe even in a matter of months so you could buy back your put option for much less than you sold it for. Easy money! Except it didn't work out that way after 2001.
I took the opposite side of that trade and bought those 4-year mucho-in-the-money 800 puts when it was still a bull market. But when the index dived after 2001, those puts which I had and which I also used to cover some smaller short-dated puts I had written (for the premium) were no longer deemed to be covering so I couldn't do that any more. And the long dated in the money puts I had were not going up in value as the market declined because the time value of 4 years meant that in that time the market could go back up again and so my long-dated puts were now worth less than in the money puts at the next following expiration.

In the meantime the dealers who sold me those puts were trying to get me to sell them off. Because I could no longer use them to collect premium on other short-dated options I wanted to write, they also became pretty useless as a way of producing regular income. At some point I sold them for almost no profit whilst the market dive should have made them worth a lot more....but if the optionsboyz decide that they don't want to lose money then you have to. Had I had the mental courage plus enough valium and held out until expiration in 2004, I would have indeed made around 4X what I paid...but I didn't. At the urging of my wife I stopped all stock market activities in 2003, having given back around €80K. The big guys (with their nano-second executions and servers next to hubs) just love the small 'investors'/speculators and are really practiced at taking your money. The small guy is truly easy prey....so beware!

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Author Topic: What planning and goals do you have for 2022? (Read 8985 times)

Uncle Pete

Level6

Rage

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thijsdegraaf

cascoly

cascoly

cascoly

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thijsdegraaf

tätarätä

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Mimi the Cat

NoNameIsGood

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Brasilnut

Astrantia

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thijsdegraaf

cascoly

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