Before Shares,There Were…………………. Traded Options!

UK exchange traded options are listed here:

https://www.theice.com/index

When LIFFE existed they had a booklet that described the history of options and how they were traded in the coffee houses in Amsterdam, and the options were traded on ships’ cargoes, long before shares, and the South Sea Bubble.

However, the old UK options exchange used to be called LIFFE. Then it became Euronext-Liffe.

Then it became EuronextNYSE-LIFFE. Now it’s the ICE.com-as frosty and bleak as its name suggests? Nah.

This is where it all changes……

We aim to provide a ‘one stop’ shop for traders new and old. The content here will be as truthful as possible-prices taken from the exchange. We will express opinions, share past trades- good  bad and excellent. We will show real life examples,not cherry picked from the past, but from the present.    Warts and all.

Options are Risky

Whenever someone tells you that just ask them about their experience with trading options. How many years? How many trades? Index or equities?

Any endeavour in life carries risk. Eating peanuts kills around 10 people a year in the UK. Rental properties- great until you cannot control the one tenant who wipes out 10 years of profits. Pensions- great until your fund goes belly up or gets stolen. Tax laws change. Nobody seems to think those are risks.

Options give you control.

You can make any number of decisions/adjustments, not blindly buying or selling. In time this will be explained in understandable detail with real examples. Rather than be the driver who stamps on the brakes halfway round the corner and loses control, we learn to brake before the hazard.               Like professional drivers. Buying shares gives you one hope and one hope only, mitigated if you £ cost average in over many years. Property and stock markets crash– those are our opportunities.