Long term small investor here with a regular 9-6 job. Lately I’ve been feeling this weird mix of jealousy, FOMO, and frustration seeing people I know make what looks like stupid amounts of money trading options.
I’m in my 30s, put in long hours every week, try to save/invest the “right” way, etc. Meanwhile I’ll open Instagram or Twitter and see acquaintances posting screenshots of turning like $3k into $20k in a week off some random NVDA or SPY calls. And the way they talk about it makes it sound so casual too, like it’s just free money if you know what you’re doing.
I know logically I’m probably only seeing the wins and not the losses. I get that nobody’s posting the account they nuked or the times they lost half their paycheck in 2 days. But even knowing that, it still kind of gets in my head sometimes and makes me question whether I’m wasting my time grinding at work while other people are making my monthly salary off a couple trades.
What makes it worse is some of these people genuinely don’t seem smarter, harder working, or more financially responsible than me. They just happened to get into options and now it feels like they’re operating in a completely different financial universe.
For people who’ve dealt with this mindset before, how do you stop comparing yourself?
Not looking for therapy answers lol. Just curious if other people in here have had the same thoughts.
Anyone else feel mentally messed up seeing people casually make insane money trading options?
byu/savingrace0262 instocks
Posted by savingrace0262
25 Comments
That’s just fomo with some jealousy on the side. Fomo is literally the most common and talked about feeling in investing communities so ya dude completely normal psychology which you need to get under control.
Also you get it under control by thinking about the other side of the story which is the ruined lives and people in desperate regret who arent posting their stories online to brag. Thats a larger % of stories.
If you saw someone mortgage their house and put it all on a single roulette number, and win, it’s only natural to give him a high five.
I’m not about to take out a mortgage about it though.
That’s why the loss porn gets so much interaction, it feels stabilizing to know people lose all their money too. Can’t hyper fixate on one niche outcome.
Yes, I worry that I’m missing out on opportunities like this. Don’t know about options per se; but I sure wouldn’t mind learning how to make money through “volatility harvesting” on large cap stocks like NVDA that aren’t going to drop to zero. Would like to know some of the methods. I can trade inside an IRA with no tax consequences or trading fees. I don’t really want to trade on margin, however, if that’s what options trading is.
95% of people lose money on options. Just go on wsb and sort by new if you ever need a reminder of how it usually goes.
Yeah makes me want to do it also even though I’ve never traded options but the second I buy calls it will be the peak and we will enter a bear market
I’ve made stupid money in the last month, just stupid, and I *still* get fomo seeing other people make money.
Success stories get upvoted. They are not common. Don’t read too much into it
Most people lose at options. Even the people who win big on some plays. You might be seeing posts of someone turning 3k into 20k, but what is that person’s overall gain/loss?
Try options for yourself and see how easily and quickly you lose. That’ll take the temptation away.
For me, my overall gains / losses are:
Options = -39k
Holding Shares & ETFs = +424,000
So yea, I don’t care about options anymore.
Happy for them but I don’t have the risk tolerance to do it. I am ok with making my money one step at a time doing long holds for 90% of my portfolio and 10% swing trading.
While I might not get there as quick I am still on track
You’re comparing yourself to gamblers.
Millions of people play the lottery or go to the casino on any given day. The vast majority leave as losers, but many people will inevitably win. A small subset of those people will win MASSIVELY.
That’s just life. Subs like this are prime spots for people to validate their winnings and try to convince themselves they weren’t gambling. Many will end up losing their winnings anyway.
Idk, if this stuff bothers you then Reddit probably isn’t for you. Smart and steady investing is pretty much a guaranteed way to retire wealthy. I’m sure if you saw all the misery, depression, divorce and wealth destruction that most gamblers face you wouldn’t be as jealous.
People who make a lot of money in stupid ways have a tendency to lose that money in stupid ways. Often the same one.
Scroll the Loss tag on Wall Street bets when the market isn’t only pumping up.
Dude i have made minimal money bevcause i keep having to keep liquid cash whjile i keep bidding on houses and missing out on the winning bid. I know that my earnings could have been close to double what I haven right now.
Don’t worry about it- theres always the next runup- human behaviour and bubbles won’t disappear. (same with bubble pops if you want to flex some put options 😛 )
Much like in gambling people only post their winners
Consistency beats gambling a majority of the time, just keep your head down, retiring when your 40-50 is better than chasing infinite gains and losing it all at the options roulette table.
Could you get lucky though, sure.
Glad I don’t have any acquaintances who would post such things. I can’t imagine how obnoxious they would be in person
Most people don’t make money in options. It’s very hard. It’s taken me 3 years of daily grind to make anything from options. Don’t be jealous. Most people who claim to make money are full of shit. They show you all the wins and never the losses.
Honestly it is pretty easy right now. The system is rigged towards the wealthy and non-wealthy with investing conviction. Everyone should be stacking. You’re getting left behind
I only commend them for be able to take such insane risk with so much money. I certainly can’t and won’t.
I definitely feel a little jealous, but that’s normal.
Just imagine how the people holding short-dated puts on semi’s are feeling.
Practice gratitude, buy ETF’s, and build relationships. There’s more to life than making money .
For every 1 that makes a fortune off of options, 4 more lose their house. Sooooo
Many of their portfolios probably have net negative returns. Most people don’t celebrate/brag about losses. I’m -$8k over all of my investment activities for the last 5-ish years, but I could find some old screenshots where I doubled my money in minutes.
I think something that helps is to realize that for every option there is a buyer an a seller. So anytime you see a person who made 20k or whatever there is a person who effectively lost that much on the other side. And if you started gambling on options there is no guarantee that you would be on the correct sides, there is no free lunch, and usually higher returns require hire risk.
It’s perfectly fine to be jealous of someone turning 10k into 200k, that’s some insane gains.
Ask yourself though, would you ever risk 10k on a gamble that you could lose entirely in 4 days? That’s all there is to it, are you willing to take that kind of risk? And honestly you shouldn’t.
No risk no reward lmao 🤣 scared money dont make money