Important! NEVER Get Rattled.
From GM
Lions.. on days like today many traders make mistakes by getting rattled. One way to overcome this is NEVER trade with cash you cannot afford to lose. Closing long positions in the middle of a sharp sell-off is generally a bad idea- instead you may consider opening a HEDGE on your long positions.
Lions.. IF you are concerned about current positions, you may consider hedging them with ‘protective puts.’
You do this by buying puts with an expiration say a month out, IN THE MONEY 10% of the overall trade.
For example.
You own out of the money calls on XYZ June 18, 2021 value 10K
You buy in the money puts on XYZ November 20, 2020 value 1K
In this manner you remain net long but with a hedge.
I've learned timing is important when your trading on days like today. If I'm buying a put, to hedge, I wait till a consolidation period so the volatility lowers and the premium comes down. If you buy during a freefall and you get the beginning then it's ok, but if you buy towards the bottom, you pay a massive insurance premium. And if it goes sideways after, then you lose even more to premium decay.
Time to buy puts to have hedged to either protect profits or protect your position was a few days ago based on knowing there would probably be volatility going into the election. Bad advice GM to recommend doing today.