Chapters
Quick summary
is what you buy when you think the price goes up. is what you buy when you think it goes down. Her way of remembering it: picking the phone UP, PUTting it down.
Her first trade made about $2,000 in an afternoon — and she calls it a bad trade, because she had no reason for taking it. A win you cannot explain teaches you the wrong lesson. Two rules come out of this one: never put more than about 10% of your account in a single trade, and decide your exit before you need it. You cannot reverse a loss, but you can always take another trade.
Lesson 1 of 5
My first trade, and the feeling
Phone up is a call. Phone down is a put. That is the whole vocabulary to start.
DraftKings, two thousand dollars in an afternoon, and why that was more dangerous than losing.
Words she uses
Call
An option you buy when you think the price is going UP.
Like this: Putting a deposit down on a house at today's price. If it is worth more next month, you still pay the old price.
Put
An option you buy when you think the price is going DOWN.
Like this: Insurance on your car. You hope you never need it — but if the value crashes, you are covered.
Contract
The agreement itself. You are holding the right to buy shares, not the shares.
Like this: A concert ticket. It is not the concert. It is the right to go, and the day after it is paper.
Stop loss
A price you choose in advance where you get out. It fires whether you are watching or not.
Like this: The automatic shut-off on a kettle. You do not have to stand there to stop it boiling over.
What to take away
- Calls if you think it goes up. Puts if you think it goes down. Phone up, phone down.
- Her first trade won — and she calls that dangerous, because she had no reason for it.
- Size: on a $10,000 account she says no more than 10% in any one trade.
- You cannot reverse a loss. You can always take another trade.
Call or put?
Her way of remembering it: picking the phone up is a call, putting it down is a put. Six of them. Tap the direction you would be buying.
Check yourself
Answer all of them to unlock the next one. Getting one wrong is fine — the explanation is the point.
1You think NVIDIA is going to drop this week. Calls or puts?
Puts. Her way of remembering it: you are putting the phone DOWN. The whole appeal of is that you can be right in either direction.
2Her first trade made about $2,000 in an afternoon. Why does she call it a bad trade anyway?
Her words: “I had no reason to take that trade. I just jumped in blindly and I was gambling.” A win you cannot explain teaches you the wrong lesson.
3You have a $10,000 account. By her rule, what is the most you put in one trade?
Ten percent. $1,000. The point is not the number — it is that one bad trade must never be able to take the account.
4A trade is down 40%. You are sure it turns around. What does she say?
Her rule is a tight stop decided in advance, around 10–15%. Nothing stops you re-entering if it turns. You cannot reverse a loss.
0 of 4 answered
Answer the questions above to carry on.
