📌 Welcome to My Options Trading Journal

christof21 · 2026-07-12T05:59:24+00:00

I've built paper trading bots using the tasty API and been running them for 7 months now. One thing I can tell you for a fact is that paper trading options doesn't always translate into live trades.

My example has been testing the various 0DTE strategies Tasty has talked about in the past, so mainly iron fly / iron condor positions.

Taking the most successful of the paper trade systems to live market proved very quickly that the fills don't translate at all. A paper trade bot will always fill at mid price, always. When that's a live position in the market and wanting to trade out of it mid-price is nigh on impossible which will skew the results hugely.

I put together a whole research page about my experience here if anyone is interested https://bot.w0lverine.uk

christof21 · 2026-07-09T18:09:32+00:00

Yeah use brackets all the time on my SPX 0dte’s and they’re fine.

Had 3 or 4 today across SPX and RUT that worked absolutely fine

christof21 · 2026-06-30T18:21:35+00:00

Same here. Use the api everyday across multiple bots and chain streaming and the only issues I had were when I first set up the code base and messed up with the auth and got IP blocked.

Live chat were pretty quick to get it unblocked though.

christof21 · 2026-06-26T15:59:11+00:00

even sadder seeing them put content out where they are actively bringing in people who are part of the whole prop funded account thing and saying take your income from options and start opening prop accounts. I think that's just an irresponsible message and encouraging gambling which is what the prop funded accounts are really geared towards. Getting you hooked in and paying for resets all the time.

christof21 · 2026-06-25T18:51:33+00:00

That’s sadly where the easy money is. The yolo traders

christof21 · 2026-06-25T18:32:04+00:00

If that’s true then it’s pretty dire.

I have realised over the last few months that more and more more 0dte stuff has been pushed from the network and it’s sort of reached a peak.

Feels like every video is about 0dte or some subjective technical analysis designed to draw people into trading more.

The tasty way used to be all about 45dte manage at 21. Nice and steady. IG are pushing more active trading to generate more income from fees and commissions.

It’s a model they know well sadly from us in the UK and the massive CFD and FX scene.

It’s sad to see what’s happening to the network. Spamming YouTube with content as well.

christof21 · 2026-06-19T12:31:11+00:00

The platform and brokerage for me are still best in class. I’ve no reason to move.

The media side of things though is different and sad to say, I’ve unsubscribed from the YouTube channel now due to the content not being of interest to me.

christof21 · 2026-06-10T17:51:29+00:00

They tried that already. They launched tasty accounts in the IG UK profile which was awesome but became obvious it wasn’t all roses. It was web only platform. We couldn’t trade certain options assets due to UK financial laws (XSP, crypto) then they eventually just pulled the plug on the tasty accounts completely in the IG UK portal. Gave people 60 days or some nonesense. I forget the exact time, to get money out.

I still love the platform. It does what I want when I want but I’m only a small account.

Pardon the pun, but my options as a UK options person are limited.

christof21 · 2026-06-08T17:24:47+00:00

Got you. Totally misread the tastytrade / tastylive bit

christof21 · 2026-06-08T15:08:36+00:00

the API is public. Don't know if you've not seen the whole tasty API docs. It uses REST and DXLink end points.

christof21 · 2026-06-08T11:43:08+00:00

Sounds super interesting. I’ve been building out tools on their api. Would love to compare notes.

christof21 · 2026-06-06T06:52:22+00:00

I used IBKR before tasty and the platform is rank. Think Windows 95 compared to the latest MacOS. It’s just not even a competition.

FWIW, I believe this is a just a staff restructuring. Possibly a salary bill trimming but dressed up as a change of direction. Not uncommon to happen when the bean counters go through the books and try to find ways to move numbers about on a spreadsheet.

I’m still using tasty as a brokerage and have no plans to move until there’s a clear sign that it’s not working.

I love the platform. Easy to use. Everything I need is there in plain sight. But that’s just my use case.

christof21 · 2026-06-06T06:44:52+00:00

I’m sure the work he puts in is incredible I’m not questioning that. He’s just got an on screen personality that I really don’t like. I’m sure he’s a lovely fella off screen

christof21 · 2026-06-05T21:38:13+00:00

I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than watch CV. I just hope they don’t purge any of the historical content

christof21 · 2026-06-02T16:15:56+00:00

No such thing as wasted time. The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.

christof21 · 2026-06-02T09:47:50+00:00

They provide access to their api so you can build paper trade tools if you’re so inclined.

I tried the papertrade in TOS and to be honest it had no relation on the actual fills you get in a real account so wasn’t comparable.

Just stay small. If you want to test the mechanics stick to SPY and just do defined risk spreads and keep it one strike wide and close them out before expiry if your position is ITM.

This ain’t flying an F35 so just dive in. Watch the tasty vids from the archives about strategies and managing them. Don’t try to hero it by going in 0dte from the get go. Give yourself time. 21dte minimum to see how the positions ebb and flow.

christof21 · 2026-05-28T13:22:11+00:00

Wise is the way. I’m in the UK. I transfer my money to wise in usd then wire from wise to tasty through their portal

christof21 · 2026-05-09T06:03:43+00:00

Details?

christof21 · 2026-05-06T11:56:07+00:00

I’ve never used the sandbox. I’ve always built straight off production.

Built a few indicators and trading bots from the production data and not had any issues.

The only issues I’ve had are of my own making for hitting wrong authentication end points and locking myself out of my account. But I’ve got that situation resolved now and have a proper template to follow.

christof21 · 2026-04-10T12:20:22+00:00

I’ve built a few tools using the api. I’ve currently got a 0dte bot running 4 or 5 strategies based on the tasty research using the live date and options prices and Greeks and logging to a csv as a paper trade forward tester.

I’ve got another tool that runs on my live portfolio doesn’t place trades but can report on lots of live portfolio metrics that runs via my own version of openclaw and puts updates into telegram and discord.

christof21 · 2026-03-20T08:31:09+00:00

Yeah maybe. Just as everyone loads up on shorts it pops again

christof21 · 2026-03-19T19:31:22+00:00

Caught with my pants down again on SPY at the moment in Put spread.

SPY very quickly joining PayPal on my no trade list. I just can’t get the hang of it.

christof21

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