The other kind of Telstra call: How the options game winner doubled their money

ASX Options Trading Game winner Tom Giggles’ took out a long call on telecom giant Telstra early in the game – a move experts noted would have had many traders ‘sweating bullets’.
ASX Options Trading Game winner Tom Giggles’ took out a long call on telecom giant Telstra early in the game – a move experts noted would have had many traders ‘sweating bullets’. The most recent iteration of the trading game saw players battle a relatively flat market to still deliver decent returns, according to Reach Markets managing director Patrick Nelson. “It’s been an interesting market,” Mr Nelson said in the recent end-of-game wrap up webcast.
“From when the game started to when the game finished, there had been a bit of range – not a huge amount – but we really started and finished a month later at the same level on the XJO”
Even so, there were plenty of opportunities for traders to make a profit if they had the right set of strategies, he said. One such player was Tom Giggles, who turned his original $50,000 into $97,897.36 by the end of the four-week period – an increase of 95.79%. Although Tom made a number of trades throughout the game, TradeFloor Managing Director and OpenMarkets Group (OMG) CEO Ivan Tchourilov noted it was his $40,000 long call on Telstra which really propelled Tom to the top of the leaderboard.
“That’s something we’ve seen a lot of in the game, that long calls or puts are the ones that usually end up winning,” Mr Tchourilov noted.
In a long call trade, traders want to see the market go up and move quickly, with volatility ideally (but rarely) also increasing. For the first few days of this particular trade, none of that happened. In Mr Tchourilov’s words, Telstra shares “really didn’t do much until just before July”.
“If you had real money on that trade, you would have been sweating bullets a couple of days into that trade,” Mr Nelson added.
Both Mr Nelson and Mr Tchourilov remarked that many investors, especially less experienced ones, would likely have tried to exit the trade early. Tom was clearly not one of these traders. Telstra shares eventually ticked up and the position expired in the money. To try trading for yourself using the most powerful Options Trading technology in Australia, click here for a trial for our Implied Volatility platform   We wish you good luck with your trading. Please note, we provide General Advice only and do not take into consideration your own personal circumstances, you must decide if it’s appropriate for you.    Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.  The opinions expressed in this article are our personal views.  Trading options is not suitable for everyone. There is a risk that you can lose more than the value of a trade or its underlying assets. You should only trade if you are confident that you fully understand what you are doing. If you are thinking about acquiring a financial product, you should consider our Financial Services Guide (FSG) including the Privacy Statement and any relevant Product Disclosure Statement or Prospectus (if one is available) to understand the features, risks and returns associated with the investment. Please click here to read our full warning. Any advice provided by Reach Markets including on its website and by its representatives is general advice only and does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs, and you should consider whether it is appropriate for you. This might mean that you need to seek personal advice from a representative authorised to provide personal advice.

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General Advice Warning

Any advice provided by Reach Markets including on its website and by its representatives is general advice only and does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs, and you should consider whether it is appropriate for you. This might mean that you need to seek personal advice from a representative authorised to provide personal advice. If you are thinking about acquiring a financial product, you should consider our Financial Services Guide (FSG)

including the Privacy Statement and any relevant Product Disclosure Statement or Prospectus (if one is available) to understand the features, risks and returns associated with the investment.

Please click here to read our full warning.