A Day In the Life of a Retail Options Trader

What is it like to trade for a living? Trading options can be both exciting and dull and both are good. See how one retail trader spends his day.

I recently came across an article that described a day in the life of a trader. The author trades from Europe, so his or her day is a bit different than mine. Further, the author appears to trade stocks, whereas I trade options for income. I thought it would be fun to document and share my trading day and week to give another perspective.

Monday, 6:00 AM PDT

The alarm on my iPhone goes off. I have the volume set to two bars so it does not wake my wife. Slipping quietly out of the room, I make my way down the hall to my home office where I login to my Mac Pro (with an additional external monitor for more screen real estate) and then into my Schwab account. I launch Schwab’s trader tool, StreetSmart Edge (SSE) and because it remembers my previous configuration, the stocks in my watchlist are pre-loaded in a SSE Symbol Hub panel.

It’s too early for coffee, but I have a pitcher of ice water on my desk to keep me hydrated for the next couple of hours. While I wait for the market to open, I look at several indicators of the day’s direction, including:

• Dow and SP500 futures