Options Traders Share the Hardest Lessons They’ve Learned
WallStreetBets moderator Noor Al had a message for aspiring options traders during a panel discussion last Friday: “It really pays to be a stupid trader.”
At an event held by retail trading platform Moomoo, in partnership with the famed Reddit investing forum, options traders revealed the biggest lessons they’ve learned while navigating the high-risk corner of the market.
Ananya Kaul, founder of prop trading firm Vanquish Trader, told the audience about a time he lost more than $250,000 on bitcoin options after being inspired by astrology influencer Maren Altman’s takes on crypto. The losses were steep, but he says they motivated him to keep going. The episode ultimately taught him that “It’s a blessing to lose.”
Al, meanwhile, who has moderated the popular subreddit for years, revealed that he initially saw big gains from the stock market slump that followed the Liberation Day tariffs. He said during the discussion that he grew a position from $10,000 to $250,000 but ended up giving back roughly a 40% of that when the market reversed course.
He said a lesson to take away is that excessive optimism can pose a risk for traders, as it can keep them in a struggling trade and lead to further losses.
“That was a big lesson for me because sometimes you need that incredible optimism that can’t be defeated, but sometimes you need a little bit of humility,” he said. “A good lesson there is to always reexamine your priors and when markets shift against you, take a moment to step back.”
Julian Ritossa, the CIO of a Switzerland-based investment firm, recalled a time when he took a loss on the stock of a shipbuilding company in the midst of a short squeeze, costing him about $1.5 million in roughly a six-hour period.
“A lot of it was during dinner, so I would leave dinner, I’d go to my office, and I’d see them down another quarter million bucks,” he noted. “I would put on a brave face, go back to dinner. The lesson I learned was that I didn’t let it take me out of the game. It almost did, but it didn’t. I got back on the horse and, thankfully, I’m still here to trade another day.”
All three stressed the importance of persevering as a trader and not letting losses completely discourage you from investing. Noor noted that although the Liberation Day fallout felt like a “once in a lifetime” moment in markets, he now sees that there will always be other opportunities to recoup losses.
“The truth is that there’s always another trading day,” he said. “There’s always going to be another opportunity of a lifetime. If you haven’t really thought enough about something, it’s okay to just sit back and take more time to think about it, because there will always be other opportunities.”
