Following the Trades

You don't need to be an options expert to follow a trade. You need to know these ten words.

A stock alert is simple — ticker, entry, stop, target. An options alert has more pieces because every contract has a strike and an expiration. Miss one and you're in a different trade than me.

1.1Match It Exactly

The most common way people lose money following alerts: they buy a slightly different contract. A different strike, a different expiration, "close enough."

It is not close enough. If the alert says $150 Dec 18, you buy $150 Dec 18. Same four pieces, every time.

1.2The Exact Format You'll See

When I post or update a trade in the channels, it looks like this. Here's every line, word by word:

It's the same illustrative NVDA call from the anatomy above — made-up levels, just to show the format.

• [Trade 1] — STILL OPEN — the trade's number in the update, and its status (open or closed).
• 🎯 Ticker: $NVDA Calls — the stock (Nvidia) and the direction. Calls = a bet it goes up.
• 📈 Strike: $150 — the price the contract is locked to. It gains as NVDA pushes toward and past $150.
• 📅 Expiry: Dec 18, 2026 — the deadline. A monthly contract about 2–3 months out — the kind I use for my swings. The contract is alive until this date. Then it expires worthless, or, if it's in the money, it's exercised automatically — so sell before then (3.3).
• 📦 Contracts: 2 — how many contracts. Each one controls 100 shares. That count is sized to my account, not yours (Chapter 2).
• 💵 Cost / Contract: $3.50 — the premium, which is quoted per share. One contract is 100 shares, so ×100 = $350 for one contract.
• 💰 Total Cost: $700 USD — the full dollar cost of the position (2 × $350).
• 🔺 Current: +20% (+$140) — the live profit/loss at the time of the update: +$140 on the $700, which is up 20%.
• 🟢 Take Profit — TP1 / TP2 / TP3 — up to three stock-price targets to scale out at. Trim a chunk at each; aim to bank 50–80% across them and leave a runner.
• 🛑 Stop Loss — the stock-price level where the trend flips and the trade is wrong. If the stock gets there, you're out — no hoping.
• 📍 Posted in — the channel the trade lives in (here, johnny-alerts, where my monthly swings go), so you know where to watch for trims and updates.

Updates use the same lines — only Current changes as the trade moves, and the status flips to CLOSED when we're out.

1.3Theta — The Clock Is Ticking

Theta is time decay. Every day that passes, an option loses a little value — even if the stock doesn't move — because there's less time left for the bet to work. The decay is slow when expiration is far away and speeds up in the final weeks.

This is why you can be right on direction and still lose if the move takes too long. Theta is the rent you pay to hold the contract. Long-dated contracts (LEAPS, a year or more out) decay slowly, so the thesis has room to breathe; short-dated contracts bleed fast, which makes them far riskier. My swings use monthly calls about 2–3 months out, picked from how the stock has moved before. It's also why I take profit at resistance instead of waiting on a higher target — the shorter the date, the sooner (3.2).

1.4Following Demon Options

Demon Options posts fast, simple alerts. They look like this:

• BTO — "Buy To Open." You're entering a new position.
• $UNH — the ticker (UnitedHealth).
• 420c — the $420 strike. The c means Call (bullish); a p would be a put.
• 06/12 — the expiration date.
• @1.28 — the entry premium: $1.28 per share, so $128 for one contract.
• The note ("lighter swing, also looking for daytrade") — the plan: size it light, hold it as a swing, but he may scalp it intraday.

To follow: buy the same contract (same strike + expiry), size it to your account, use a limit near the listed price — don't chase — then watch the channel for updates. If you're green, don't wait for an exit post (see below).

Here's another one — a put this time:

• BTO — Buy To Open (you're entering the position).
• SPY — the ticker.
• 03/10 — the expiration. These fast alerts play the closest expiration ~99% of the time.
• 389p — the $389 strike. The p means Put (betting down); a c means Call. This letter matters most — don't mix them up.
• @.81 — the premium, quoted per share: $0.81 × 100 = $81 per contract.

1.5Following Sniper Charts

Sniper Charts calls are chart-based — the setup is marked directly on the chart (entries, levels, zones). To follow them, you first need to be able to read a chart: support, resistance, trend, and key levels.

Read the Technical Analysis Volume →

Once you can read the chart, you follow the marked plan the same way: enter near the level, set your stop where the idea is wrong, and take profit at the marked targets.

1.6Following Photon (#photon-options)

Photon's alerts come with a letter grade and a confidence read, then scale out in thirds:

• BUY / SELL — open or close the position.
• AAPL 06/08 315C — ticker, expiration, then the $315 strike Call.
• @ $2.58 — the entry premium.
• [B GRADE] — Photon's quality grade for the setup. A is best; a B is solid but not top-tier.
• Quantum Wave X/10 — a confidence score built from agreement across timeframes (scalp, day, swing, position). Higher = stronger; a low or "conflicting" read = be cautious or skip.
• SELL … 1/3 — Photon scales out in thirds, trimming a third at each target (+9%, then +49%), then ALL OUT closes whatever's left.

To follow: enter on the BUY, then trim a third each time Photon posts a SELL 1/3 and close the rest on ALL OUT. That's Photon's own thirds rule — not the 50–80% trim at target in 3.2. Respect the grade and confidence: lower grades or conflicting waves mean smaller size, or sit it out.

The number one mistake new members make is copying the contract count instead of the percentage. The alert says "2 contracts." That does not mean you buy 2 contracts.

Your account	1% per trade	3% per trade (the cap)
$1,000	$10	$30
$5,000	$50	$150
$10,000	$100	$300
$25,000	$250	$750
$50,000	$500	$1,500

These are premium paid. When you buy an option, the premium is the amount at risk — the contract can go to zero. There's no fixed size inside the range: where you land depends on your conviction in the setup. The range is the cap, so you're never over-leveraged at one time.

3.1Entry — Don't Chase

When an alert drops, the contract price can spike for a minute as people pile in. Use a limit order near the listed entry — not a market order. If price already ran past the entry, wait for the pullback or skip it. You don't have to be in every trade.

3.2Exit — Trim at the Target

I trim at the target — not randomly on the way up. When the trade hits the target I posted, take 50–80% off to lock in the bulk of the gain. What's left (the other 20–50%) is the runner: the piece you keep after the target is hit to chase a bigger move on house money. If it keeps running, great — if it gives it back, you already banked most of the win. Only own one contract? Your "trim" is simply selling at the target. Taking profit there is never wrong.

Resistance counts too — take profit at resistance levels, even before the posted target. The stock might reach the target eventually, but theta eats the option away while you wait. So take profits sooner rather than later — and the shorter the expiry, the sooner.

This is the rule for swing alerts — my monthly and LEAPS swings. The fast Demon Options alerts are different: there you take green when you see it (1.4). Photon follows its own thirds rule (1.6).

3.3The Stop — The Stock Decides

My stops are set by the stock's price action, not the option's premium. Two rules get me out of a losing trade:

• The trend flips — you're out. This is the most important rule. The stop in the alert is the stock level where the trend breaks. If the stock gets there, sell the contract. No hoping.
• It isn't moving in time — feel free to exit. If the stock isn't moving your way within the expected time, you don't have to wait for the stop. Theta is charging you rent the whole time (1.3).

On the way up, take profit at resistance (3.2). Some alerts — especially the fast channel ones — also quote a premium stop. Treat it as a reference: the stock's price action still decides. The members who lose more than they planned almost always do the same thing: ignore the stop, hold a loser, and watch it bleed to zero by expiration. Set your stock alert when you enter. Every time.

• Watch the stock's price: a regular stop order on the contract triggers off the contract's price, not the stock's. Use a conditional order that watches the stock if your broker offers one — or set a price alert on the stock and sell the contract yourself when it fires.
• If you also put a stop on the premium: use a stop-limit sell order on the contract. Once the stop price is hit it becomes a limit order, so a wide option spread can't fill you at a terrible price — but if price jumps past your limit, it may not fill at all. It's a reference, not the rule — the stock's level still decides.
• Stops can't protect you from gaps. If the stock opens past your level after news or overnight, a stop order becomes a market order and fills at the next available price; a stop-limit may not fill at all. Size every trade so a gap won't sink you.
• Sell before expiry. An option $0.01 or more in the money at expiration is exercised automatically — each call contract buys you 100 shares, and each put sells 100 (a short position if you don't own them). A small account usually can't cover that, so your broker may sell it for you near the close or hit you with a margin call. Sell to close before the final day's close.

Protect the account first. Profit comes second. No money tomorrow means no trades tomorrow.

4.1The Rules

• Small slice per trade. Each options trade stays inside 1–3% of my portfolio, and LEAPS 2–3% max. Those are leverage caps, not fixed sizes — conviction decides where you land inside them.
• Copy the %, never the contract count. The same alert is a totally different risk on a $1K vs a $50K account.
• One contract that fits beats two that don't. Too pricey for your size? Skip it — there's always another trade.
• Stop set on entry. Every time. It's the stock level where the trend flips. A loser you won't cut bleeds to zero by expiration.
• Never average down an option to "make it back." Honor the stop instead. Averaging down is only for researched stock positions — see Stocks, Ch3.
• 3–5 options positions max so one bad trade can't sink the account.

If options feel like too much, you don't have to trade them. Take the illustrative alert NVDA Dec 18 $150 Call — that's just a bet NVDA goes up. The stock version: ignore the strike and expiration, and buy NVDA shares.

The trade-off is smaller gains — options move faster in both directions. Shares are the calmer, slower version of the same idea. There's no fixed size here either: size shares by conviction — confidence you earn from your own research, not from my alert. High conviction is where I go heavy (10%+ in my own account); everything else starts smaller. See Stocks, Ch3.