Liberty Trading Group’s James Cordier and The Complete Guide to Option Selling

During the early part of his 20+ years in the trading industry, Liberty Trading Group’s James Cordier, then a broker at Heinold Commodities in Wisconsin, noticed a trend among investors – those who bought options would see them expire worthless. Setting out to find a better solution, Cordier began to study institutional trading strategies in the 1990’s. During latter part of the decade, both he and his clients were successfully employing methods he developed – option selling.

Now celebrating 11 years as the CEO of his Tampa-based firm, Liberty Trading Group, James Cordier has made a name for himself in guiding clients with his option selling strategies. He also co-wrote The Complete Guide to Option Selling with Liberty Trading Group’s Director of Research, Michael Gross.

The first book was published in 2003, and six years later, both Cordier and Gross went back to re-examine and expand upon some of the techniques mentioned in the first book, following up with a second edition.

Some key points James Cordier touches on in the book:

  • 80% of options held through expiration become worthless, a statistic known to professional traders but not investors
  • Selling options places you ahead of the game, rather than behind it when buying options. The idea is to stack the odds in your favor early on and then sell them.
  • Stress-free trading grants peace of mind – instead of constantly playing the “guessing game” when it comes to trading, you’ll be ahead of the curve and predicting where trends won’t go
  • "Exiting your Position" minimizes risk – Learn how and when to exit and you’ll minimize risk like a professional, even as a part-time investor.
  • Selling options on futures is more profitable than selling options on equities, which is the basis of the Liberty Trading statgegy
  • The key to consistently high returns – the SPAN margin. Learn what the SPAN margin is and how it can work for you!

Selling options isn’t for everyone and there is some risk involved, but with James Cordier and Michael Gross’ methods in which they utilize when managing client portfolios at Liberty Trading Group, you can become a more knowledgeable investor, and most importantly, have a better peace of mind.