Good morning, traders…
There’s a shift that happens when your trading starts to work. You’ve got a routine. You’re managing risk on purpose.
And for the first time, you might be seeing some serious profits.
That’s when the game changes. Once you’re trading consistently, it’s crucial to consider how you approach making money in the options market.
That means treating your trading like a business, not a hobby — you’re the CEO, CFO, and CIO of your own small trading company.
And that shift matters more than people think. Most traders spend all their time focusing on entries and exits, support and resistance, technicals and fundamentals — but it’s the stuff outside the charts that often determines your long-term success (or lack thereof).
Things like tax planning, tracking expenses, keeping records, and pulling money out of your account in a way that actually benefits your life.
This is a part of trading that doesn’t get talked about much. But it’s where your wins start turning into real income, real progress, and real gratification.
With that in mind, let me show you how to treat your trading like a business…
Pay Yourself Like a Business Owner
If you’re making money in the market — even just a little — you have to get in the habit of transferring profits out of your brokerage account and into your savings account.
That money is income. It’s not just theoretical. If you want to reinvest your profits into stocks or indexes, that’s fine.
But if you’re just letting profits sit in cash while your actual life continues to cost money, you’re missing a big opportunity to pay yourself for your hard work.
I suggest a monthly or quarterly “owner’s draw.”
Think of it like cutting yourself a paycheck. Some months it’s small. Other months, if I’ve had a strong run, I might transfer a bigger chunk.
But either way, it reinforces that this isn’t just for fun — I’m trading to support my family, fund our future, and honor the time and energy I’m putting into my craft.
Taking that money out also gives you perspective. It helps you stop overtrading. It gives real meaning to your wins. And it makes the hard days easier to stomach, because you’ve already pulled some value out of the market.
You wouldn’t run a profitable business for months without paying yourself. Trading shouldn’t be any different.
Why Getting Paid Matters
There’s another benefit to paying yourself that goes way beyond dollars in your checking account: it clears your head.
Traders deal with all kinds of mental traps — greed, fear, frustration, and revenge. And one of the fastest ways to get spun out emotionally is to feel like your wins aren’t real.
When profits just sit in your brokerage account, you lose connection to the impact of your work. You start thinking in terms of numbers on a screen instead of results in your life.
Pulling money out and actually using it — even if it’s just to cover bills, take your significant other to dinner, or buy groceries — brings meaning to the grind. It helps anchor your decisions in reality.
It makes this whole trading thing feel less like a high-stakes video game and more like a productive part of your life.
It also reduces pressure. When you know you’ve already pulled a few grand out this quarter, you don’t feel like you have to take excessive risk.
And that calm, steady mindset leads to better trading.
Prepare for Tax Season
Another part of treating this like a business is respecting taxes. Look, I get it — this is no one’s favorite topic…
But with tax season approaching, ignoring what you owe to Uncle Sam is a quick way to turn a great trading year into a painful April.
Here are a few basic tax rules that apply to most options traders in the U.S.:
- Short-term gains (under 1 year) are taxed as ordinary income. This includes most OMEN Scanner trades, since we’re usually in and out quickly.
- Section 1256 contracts—like index options (think: S&P 500 Index options, not SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust)—get a special 60/40 tax treatment. That means 60% of the gains are taxed at long-term capital gains rates, and 40% at short-term. It’s a quirky benefit that can help, depending on what you trade.
- You can’t just wait until tax season to figure it all out. I recommend setting aside 25% to 35% of your profits in a separate savings account as you go. If you’re trading full-time or consistently pulling income, lean toward the higher end of that range.
- Organized spreadsheets can make tax prep a lot smoother. If you’re starting to make real money, it’s worth working with a CPA who understands options trading — not just a general tax preparer.
Too many traders get hit with a surprise bill because they didn’t track their gains or set money aside. Don’t let tax season catch you off guard — set aside what you owe ahead of time.
Big picture, be honest about your trading goals.
If it’s a side hustle, great — treat it seriously and pay yourself a little something. If it’s your full-time job, then it’s even more important to get financially organized.
Trading might not come with a storefront or a time clock, but it’s still a business. And the more seriously you treat it, the more consistent your results will be over time.
Happy trading,
Ben Sturgill
P.S. Last season, we had 100 winning trades in a row in Earnings Edge — don’t miss the next 100…
TODAY, March 26 — you have TWO GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES to join me and Danny Phee for LIVE EARNINGS WORKSHOPS — 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. EST — Click here to reserve your seat!
*Past performance does not indicate future results