I first learned of tastytrade in late 2019. It would, however, take me a couple of years to finally open an account. I spent those years wasting money on books, options courses, and fees on other trading platforms before finally opening an account at tastytrade. Learn from my mistakes and don’t waste another minute or dollar buying expensive options trading courses. At least, before you decide, take a look at the priceless (yet free) educational content on tastylive, and then open an account on tastytrade. These are the best places for any active options traders.

In 2020, during the pandemic, I started working from home, and decided to open an options trading account at a couple of different brokerages. I wanted to create an additional income stream to contribute to my financial independence.

I unfortunately delayed opening an account at tastytrade and instead opted for the larger and more widely recognized platforms, one of which already held my retirement funds. However, I found these other platforms (Fidelity and Interactive Brokers) to be clunky, confusing or both. Tastytrade is like the Apple iPhone of trading platforms with its seamless and intuitive user interface. It almost feels second nature.

For example, on Fidelity, I had to inefficiently open multiple windows to enter a simple options trade. Similarly, while Interactive Brokers does offer more products than tastytrade (including orange juice futures), for all of Interactive Brokers’ power, it can be a bit clucky and confusing. For example, it took multiple phone calls to support and tinkering with the platform to finally find the beta weighted delta of my portfolio; something readily streamlined into the user interface of the tastytrade platform.

More importantly both Fidelity and Interactive Brokers lack thought leadership and independent research on how to optimize and efficiently manage risk. While using these less streamlined platforms, I constantly found myself consuming research on tastylive to learn the mechanics and strategies of trading.

Tastylive is a think-tank that goes beyond the typical brokerage experience. They provide live daily commentary and research content that helps me to consistently make profits. Tasty’s research often involves back-testing different trading strategies, running simulations, and evaluating market statistics to form conclusions. This is a much more data-driven approach to understanding financial markets, and it is designed to help investors and traders make more informed decisions.

I have binge-watched all the past episodes of Best Practices, Options Jive, and Market Measures; I recommend you do the same. These programs helped me to learn trading strategies and to properly manage risk. I now comfortably and consistently manage winners, and I don’t panic when some positions are inevitably challenged. I have also watched every episode of Rising Stars, which inspires me to see retail investors, such as myself, be successful using the Tasty mechanics.

Finally, in the summer of 2022 I went fully into actively selling options on tastytrade. I funded my margin trading account with around $200k in June 2022. In six months of selling options, I made a return of roughly $38k or about a 19% return (38% annualized). Meanwhile, the S&P lost 18%. I was hooked and knew this was my way to financial independence.

According to research at tastylive, an actively managed account can reasonably expect to consistently make an 18% return, which is 2–3x the return of passively investing in the stock market or approximately 4x the risk-free return (see link). For the first time (since discovering Bitcoin), I realized I have the tools to escape the corporate rat race and to earn my way to financial freedom with actively selling options.

I had found the holy grail — a way to consistently generate income from selling options. After seeing numerous people laid off during the pandemic (including my former boss and a colleague), it felt good to know I could support my family with selling options if I ever unfortunately lose my 9–5.

I remember wasting money buying lists of daily options trades. Don’t waste your money. The tastytrade platform has built-in watchlists to keep you engaged. Whether you are looking to trade earnings, high implied volatility or futures, tastytrade makes it seamless to find a viable trade. In addition, there is a Follow page, where you can see real-time trades of the expert options traders at Tasty.

Each day, I enter one or two new trades. I first check the various watchlists and if nothing meets my criteria, I check the Follow page to see what trades the Tasty personalities have put on. Unlike day trading, I don’t have to watch the markets all day, and it takes less than 30 minutes to research and to execute a new trade or two each day. This is great because I still work a 9–5. I typically have 10–20 positions in my margin trading account, and given how seamless the platform is, I efficiently scan, monitor, and manage any existing positions.

The customer service at tastytrade is outstanding. Whether I have a question about a complex options strategy or need help navigating the platform, the support team is prompt and knowledgeable. I have even emailed the CEO of tastylive (Tom Sosnoff) and other tastylive personalities like Dr. Jim Schultz, and they have always provided a response the same or next day at most. Also, since joining Tasty, I have attended two live events in NYC, which are fantastic.

Tasty has given me the tools, know-how, and confidence to grow my investment portfolio. It is empowering to know I have another stream of income to support my family by selling options. If you’re keen on embarking on a similar journey, don’t waste time and money like I did initially. Dive into the wealth of information that tastylive offers for free and get trading on tastytrade!

Happy trading.