Want a more hands off options trading strategy that puts the odds in your favor ?
Well, I came across a course recently called “How I Get Paid $1,000 Every Friday Trading Options” (Note- The course name changed but it is still the same course…) where the instructor Jeff Tompkins shows his exact system for how he has been generating consistent returns for over a decade using a specific options strategy that is relatively easy to implement.
I bought the course(and his other courses) and here are my thoughts.
(Picture to the right is from the course showing the instructor’s profit in one account using this strategy)
Jeff Tompkins teaches various methods on option income trading through his “The Trading Profit” courses and services.
His teaching style is to keep things simple so you don’t have to watch the market intraday. The course content is easy to implement and the support is excellent. The instructor personally answers every single question that students have, which makes this course an absolute bargain ! (Just 1 profitable small trade pays for this course)
Essentially, the course shows how the instructor uses the Iron Condor options trading strategy to generate consistent returns in any market. I wrote about Iron Condors a while back in this post.
The big issue that people have with Iron condors is how to adjust the trade if the underlying stock makes a big move.
An Iron Condor is just an option strategy name for selling a call credit spread and Put credit spread on the same stock at the same expiration with the goal that the stock will stay within a price range that allows both credit spreads to expire worthless so you can keep the option premium credit.
You can profit with this strategy if the stock goes down, up, or doesn’t move at all as long as it stays in a certain range.
The main mistakes that people make with Iron condors are:
- Picking wrong stock to sell Iron Condors on.
- Not understanding option greeks and volatility pricing.
- Not knowing how to adjust the trade and therefore having poor risk/reward.
If the above list sounds confusing to you then don’t worry as this course lays out exactly how to trade the iron condor and how to keep the odds in your favor. Even if you are a complete beginner !
The instructor has been trading this strategy in every market cycle for over 10 years and has significant experience on how to consistently profit following his system.
Learn more about the course here
Overall, I thought this course was terrific and he does a good job of simplifying the strategy and gives you a specific system to follow so you know how to adjust trades, which stocks and expiration periods to sell Iron condors on and more.
Typically information on Iron Condors is either very confusing or it is too general so you risk having the odds against you. You can’t totally rely on option probabilities and never adjust or else the risk/reward will work against you.
The unique aspects of Iron Condors are:
- You don’t have to pick a stock direction since you profit in either direction is the stock stays in a range.
- This strategy uses up very little buying power in your account despite selling 2 credit spreads at the same time. This allows for greater ROI.
Tip – You can use Iron Condors in retirement accounts.
Summary
I don’t recommend many trading courses but this is a great value. Also, it is backed buy a no questions asked 30-day guarantee.
The cost of the course is less the profit on just 1 trade(even if you only trade 1-2 iron condor contacts per trade) which puts into perspective how low priced this course is.
The goal with these trades is 15%+ return on your money each trade which typically lasts a couple weeks and you don’t have to watch the market during the day. No, you won’t make 15% every 2 weeks but you are profitable a high % of the time following what is taught.
NOTE – You will have some losing trades and you have to stay disciplined following the trade selection and adjustments taught.
The cumulative profits of trading this strategy consistently can be significant by the end of the year. More important though is learning how to adjust trades that aren’t working and making them profitable.
My favorite part of this course is the continued support that the instructor provides. He answers every question that the students ask and you can also review other questions from students so that you have a solid understanding no matter what experience level you are at.
Click here to read the reviews and learn more
Required Disclosure: No claims are being made about guaranteed returns and you should understand the risk characteristics of Trading and options before ever trading real money. Take time to papertrade and learn the risk/reward of options.
Affiliate disclosure: I receive a small referral commission on some products mentioned in this post if you buy thru my link, but this compensation does not affect my review/opinion. The opinions are my honest experiences and observations of these programs and I never get paid to write reviews.
Do you still trade this? Have your results been consistent?
Hi Matt, Yes the strategy is solid. I had a flatter month in March because I had to roll a trade. The Iron condor trade taught in this course is very well known if you look it up online but the value with this course is that he has refined the strategy with weekly options after trading it consistently in his account for a long time and he has figured out the optimal way to structure the trade and how to adjust it. Also, he will answer unlimited question that you have so the support is worth the cost of the course to me because most trading books/courses has poor support when you are actually trying the strategies and need extra help. I would suggest you paper trade the strategy first and if you don’t like it you can get a refund.
Hey Brian I just lucked up on you site like what I see so far nice to see a review site simply written & doesn’t appear to have an ax to grind…James
Hi James. Thanks for the comment. Yep I just try to provide useful insight from what I see and know.
Have noticed that Jeff the instructor changing the course title from “How I get paid 1000 every friday trading options” to “Trading Options – The Ultimate Credit Spread Strategy”? And it is less expensive from before. It used to be more than $195. Now it’s $30 before discount.
Well, interesting enough he did not teach all of his strategies he uses in his real live trades unless you subscribe to his alert service. He taught to place the iron condors trade where the delta at 20, but he uses the price support/resistance of the equity on top of that in his live trade.
Hi Paul
Yes I noticed the course name change probably because more people search for “credit spread trading” but his course description stills talks how he makes $1000 each week from it. The platform that hosts the course called “Udemy” recently made a change to how much courses can be on their platform so the price changed but I still recommend his course. I feel people that truly follow his training and paper trade to understand how to adjust and ask lots of questions if they get stuck will be very successful with it. His trade alerts will help you understand how he implements what is taught but he really is doing what he teaches….again the special “sauce” is he has shown what what to trade and how to adjust to put the odds amazingly in your favor over time. In his alerts for adjustments I didn’t see anything really different from what is in the course but he is always answering questions people have so ask him about that.
This course is on Udemy now for $18 and retitled “Options Trading – How to Trade for Weekly Profits” and is 1 hour long. On Tompkins’ “TheTradingProfit.com site there is a course titled “Iron Condor Training Course” with a lead in the says: “Learn exactly how I receive a $1,000 deposit into my brokerage account EVERY Friday….”. The course costs $499 and is offered in two modules per week for 4 weeks–I couldn’t find a course length, i.e. # of hours. Are these the same course? Is the Udemy just a condensed version? Is the ‘full’ course truly worth an additional $481? I’m a bit confused!
Hello David, yes the course I linked to is the correct course. I guess the name was changed but it is still the same. Yes, I think the $500 course on his website is same as what you can get on Udemy for much less. (Udemy changed their pricing rules a few months back and limited how much any course can be).
Thanks for responding. I had hoped Tompkins’ $500 version would contain more–he certainly gets good reviews overall, but a common theme from the low reviewers is the lack of in-depth examples. I’d narrowed it down the Tompkins course or the David Vallieres course. I guess I’ll go with the Trading Pro System deal.
Brian, I appreciate your honest and upfront info on this site. It is refreshing to come across someone who cuts through all the hype out there.
Hello David, You can just ask Jeff Tompkin’s what the difference is. He also has a monthly service giving you the picks each week following the course which would give you some guidance but you can also do fine just following the course and papertrading(or backtesting with ThinkorSwim)following the Udemy course. The main thing I like about the Jeff and his Udemy course is that he always answers every question so it is like having unlimited support. Trading Pro System was decent but much more comprehensive but not sure if its for sale anymore and if it is supported anymore. Also Trading pro system is a little more complicated implementing what is taught whereas this course I mentioned in this post from Jeff was pretty straight forward and will focus on a single strategy.
The course is on sale now at https://www.udemy.com/ for $15. The sale finishes on October 1. I bought the course because I’m sure I’ll get at least $15 worth of useful information from it.
Jeff is like the Professor X of Options, he even looks like Professor X.
This course is now available for $10 for a limited time on https://www.udemy.com/
Hi Paul. Yes, Udemy does have sales occasionally. Their prices are hard to beat.
i found this last year and had a rough time executing adjustments on my own and ended up -10% over several months. I decided to give it another chance but this time with his alert service. I’ve taken all the recommendations and really try to understand what’s going on and what the rationale is.. it’s been printing money for me since November. There have been almost adjustments needed. I also signed up for his put writing service, and had the same experience. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely sold. Systems work until they don’t. I’m waiting for an adverse market condition so I can see how well the adjustments work for me.
I will say there are some changes between what is in his service (practice) and what was in the class (theory). Nothing contradictory though.
1. The credits are smaller than I expected — not sure why but I expected 20% return on margin each time. They’ve been smaller than that. I see in your review that you say 15%, so maybe I misremembered.
2. He relies on charts and analysis more than the course leads you to believe. He downplays this in the class, however every trade recommendation comes with a chart showing support/resistance and often talk about mean reversion and other concepts. In the class it sounds like only the option chain is consulted.
3. He legs into trades often and often one side of the IC doesn’t get established . This seems pretty obvious especially in this market, but the class doesn’t mention it.
I’m not interested in following anyone’s trade recommendations blindly, but so far am happy having taken his course and signed up for his service.
I guess what I’m saying I wish there was a follow up class available. The udemy class costs virtually nothing and is a great intro to getting started with ICs. But I think the adjustment techniques need to be dived into and practiced a lot before you quit your day job.
His website talks about coaching and other stuff, has anyone looked into that? I’m curious how much it is and don’t want to sit through a sales pitch to find out.
I’m probably going to buy that trading pro system you’ve raved about, any idea if that will cover the adjustment minutiae I’m looking for it is that a similar high level program?
Hi Qbert thanks for the feedback.
For the iron condor strategy we are in an unprecedented upcycle right now with no pullbacks(This is very, very rare historically). This constant uptrend with no pullbacks makes Iron Condors harder because they require adjustments more. This is why Jeff legs into the trades in this current market environment and why he is following the charts more. Also we are in extremely low volatility so the credit for all options are lower. If the market was more volatile with higher credits they you wouldn’t have to worry as much about legging and technical analysis because the Iron Condors put and call spreads would be wider from eachother.
Understand that the trading methods that Jeff uses are “tactics” but used by professional traders so they won’t go away but certain options strategies work better in certain markets than others. He did trade these strategies through the downtown years ago. I think his most profitable strategy with consistency is the Options Income Machine Strategy he talks about.
I would just email Jeff and ask him about the coaching and what you are looking for especially with adjustment training. He is the real deal and would answer your questions. That would be a great suggestion to him to mention doing a Iron Condor masterclass. The coaching is 4 weeks of coaching and support from Jeff with each week covering 1 of the 4 strategies he trades- 1.Put Writing, 2. Iron Condors, 3. Options Income Machine(which is selling naked puts and selling covered calls against any stock that was put to you from the naked puts), 4. Forex trend trading. I think the coaching is $2k ?
The Trading Pro System covers a lot of info and was inexpensive but its not for sale anymore as far as I know. The creator doesn’t support it anymore so I wouldn’t expect support for it if you buy it. It is still good info but he spends a lot of time on managing the greeks which might be overkill for many people. Whereas, Jeff’s approach is easier to implement for adjustments.
The only other program that I know of that does Iron Condors and adjustment is Dan Sheridan but he is pretty detailed with the Greeks and can be confusing to implement it all. I think his program is like $5k ?
I guess the next step with him would be to get going with OIM and then consider coaching in the future. I was initially turned off by OIM for two reasons.. one, cash secured puts just don’t sound that lucrative and there’s no downside protection. If a stock is going to implode it’s a picking up pennies in front of a steamroller kind of thing. I did try his diagonal collar strategy that he has another udemy class on and love the fact that you’ve got downside protection by financing long puts when you buy the stock, but I had mixed results. When it works it works, when it doesn’t youve lost the opportunity cost..
Then the other reason was the annual commitment. If I don’t like it I’m kinda stuck with it.
I thought I found that other product for sale still, I’ll have to make sure it is the same one. It looks like he licensed it to whomever wanted to resell it, so you’re right in I doubt there’d be any support. I do want to learn the Greeks better as I think it’s something I should know..
I believe Jeff does 30-50% returns every year selling cash secured puts + covered calls even through the downturn ?….and it only takes 15minutes a week to trade that strategy. Just sell calls against stocks that were put to you… I would papertrade it for a while. Just find quality stocks with weekly option and decent premium like Investors Business Daily large cap 50 stocks.
The downside of OIM is you need enough capital to sell cash secured puts to make it worth it.
does anyone have any comment on the ‘OPTIONS FOR PROFITS’ COURSE BY Ryan Jones & also Profits Run by Bill Poulis please – would be much appreciated.
Jeannot, please look at another post on this site concerning Ryan Jones’ strategies. https://www.kinetictrader.com/quantum-trading-payday-stocks-timewarp-program/
Brian, I’m very glad to have read your reviews! Thank you for your inputs! I want to consider learning iron condor and your recommendation here but someone also recommended to do stangles/straddles instead of IC, becoz it’s less complex and the poses a higher reward. May I get your feedback about S/S versus IC?
Hi, all options strategies can be ideal for certain stock environments. Find one strategy that works well and has proven historical record and stick with it until you are ready to add additional strategies. For selling option premium if you are following a strategy based on probabilities then stock to that strategy to give it enough time(enough trades) let the odds work in your favor. Selling straddles can be fine if you are finding stock with enough premium(people do them many at earnings because premiums are high). Just papertrade it first and understand the risk/reward. I am sure there are many Iron Condor courses out there but Jeff’s is inexpensive and he will answer your questions. He also has a monthly service for those who want to copy/follow his IC trades.
Thanks for your reply, Brian! Would you be able to recommend a stocks trading mentor? The bigger part part of me wants to stick to regular stocks trading, not options, but i’m not successful even though i’ve read TONS of How To’s. I feel that if i have a mentor, even though the profit will be small, I will consistently be green. Would appreciate your reply.
Hi Nissins, There is a lot of hype out there for trading programs but Two “mentors” I that I feel teach solid fundamentals about charts/patterns and use stocks or options are Wallstreet.io and thebrownreport.com. They both follow a pretty easy to follow teaching style and are both successful traders. Their methods are evergreen and will always work. They both offer some free trading videos that will give you an idea if their style is right for you. Jeff Tompkins is also good but his style is selling options whereas Wallstreet.io and thebrownreport.com both revolve about being long stock/options
Hope that helps.
Thanks a lot for the inputs, Brian! I’ll check them out.
The results sound great, BUT with Iron Condors and other options strategies, although you can make consistent, relatively small returns, it comes with the risk of losing a large % of the trade, maybe even 100%. So over time, it looks great with win after win after win only to then have the occasional large loss that wipes out 10 winning trades so ultimately you end up with nothing after all of that time, or worse if you unfortunately have a couple of large losses close in time.
The answer to a large loss after a stock drops after selling a put is to sell calls on the underlying stock that was assigned to you. That doesn’t really do it for me because it can take a long time of selling calls to make up for the 20% or greater loss suffered and if the stock goes up and you get called out on the stock you may have made only 1 month’s call premium.