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Why Boring Trades Are the Best Trades (After 22 Years of Options Trading)

Options Trading 101 - The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Options

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by Gavin in Blog
September 15, 2026 0 comments
boring options trades

Nobody makes a YouTube video about the trade they placed on a Monday, checked once a few weeks later, and closed for a quiet profit four weeks later.

There’s no drama, no shocked face thumbnail, nothing to talk about.

And yet that trade is almost certainly better than the one where someone stayed glued to their screen all day, made five adjustments, and ended up flat after commissions.

In this video, you’ll learn why the options traders who consistently make money are almost always the ones who do the least, and why boring trades are almost always the best trades.

📈 What You Will Learn

The Problem With 0 to 7 DTE Trading

  • Delta moves fast – a 1% move can turn a high probability trade into a loser before morning coffee.
  • No time to react, roll, or think – your only options are close for a loss or hope.
  • Hope is not a strategy – and this style requires full-time screen attention.
  • Why the excitement you see on YouTube and social media doesn’t show you the full picture.

What Changes When You Go to 90-120+ DTE

  • Delta moves slowly – a bad week might move your delta from 30 to 38, not a crisis.
  • You check the trade less – some longer-dated positions are checked only once a week.
  • Adjustments are cheaper and less urgent – you’re not making decisions under pressure.
  • Why pressure is the single biggest enemy of good trading decisions.
  • Enormous quality of life improvement for traders with jobs, families, and different time zones.

The Real Numbers – Nvidia Comparison Across Three DTEs

  • 7 DTE: high annualised return, very little margin for error, close to the stock price.
  • 46 DTE: ~10% decrease to break-even, ~12% annualised – the sweet spot for most traders.
  • 137 DTE: lower annualised return but much bigger buffer and far less stress.
  • Why headline return potential isn’t the whole story – time, stress, and transaction costs matter.
  • A 9-10% annualised return with no management often beats a 15% return that demands your attention.

The Case for 12-24 Month Puts

  • Check once a week, large premium upfront, massive break-even buffer.
  • Stock has to fall significantly AND sustain that fall for over a year before you’re at real risk.
  • Why this is one of my favourite strategies.

Vacation Trades – Designed for Real People

  • Set up the trade, go on holiday, come back to a minor tweak or an automatic profit.
  • The Rhino strategy – a broken wing butterfly with a very flat T+0 line.
  • How to build a portfolio that doesn’t require you to be at a screen all day.

The Deeper Point Nobody Talks About

  • YouTube, social media, and brokers all benefit when you trade more – their incentives aren’t yours.
  • Measure results by net profit after all costs – financial and emotional.
  • The best traders over 22 years are calm, systematic, and by any exciting definition – boring.

Timestamps

  • 00:00 – Start
  • 00:55 – The Problem With Short-Term Option Trades
  • 01:41 – 90+ DTE Changes Everything
  • 03:13 – CSP Comparison Across 3 Expirations
  • 05:14 – Selling Yearly Puts
  • 05:56 – Vacation Trades
  • 07:24 – The Mindset Shift

🔗 Helpful Resources

🎥 Related Videos

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Options Trading 101 - The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Options

Download The 12,000 Word Guide

Get It Now