Trading Chronicles 📈

I trade on Thinkorswim (TOS) — which is the trading platform under Charles Schwab now.

If you're curious:
https://www.schwab.com/thinkorswim

But honestly, use whatever platform fits YOU.

I started with $5,000.

Not because I’m fancy.
But because I bought AMD around $64/share, held it, made a profit, sold 50 shares, and then took $5K of those gains to fund my options account.

This is crucial:
I did NOT fund this from my paycheck.
I used profit from previous investing.

If you’re starting fresh, I genuinely believe $2,500 is enough to start learning options — especially if you’re going to:

• Play longer-dated contracts
• And focus on understanding / learning from your mistakes

No FOMO.
No “all in.”
No YOLOing weekly expiration lotto tickets (please… don’t).

Because I'm not the type of person to sit on the computer staring at charts all day...I like using my time to LIVE life by design not by default.

Which is why buy and hold is my #1

This is why I chose options, it's allow me to:

• Buy time (6–18 month contracts = LEAPS)
• Be directional without needing to trade daily
• Participate in big trends
• And still sleep at night (mostly)

Options felt like the middle ground between long-term investing and short-term opportunity.

Listen… everyone has their own thing.

Some people need practice reps first.
I need skin in the game.

Paper trading teaches mechanics, yes... but it does not teach emotions.
And markets are majority emotional.

I’m the type where once I see real money move, my brain wakes up like:

“Oh, this actually works!"

So I put in a small amount, made small mistakes, and learned faster because I felt it.

If you prefer paper trading first — perfectly valid.
If you need to experiment with real dollars to learn — also valid.

Just know yourself.