I've been a stock trader for the last ten years and I absolutely love the thrills of making a great trade. I find it quite addicting. Unfortunately, losing money on a trade can be just as disheartening, if not more.

I would advise you to study up on options as much as you can before you begin trading them. Too many people learn the hard way by losing the entire amount of their investment. Don't let that be you. Here are a few words to the wise that I hope you'll take seriously.

The first thing I'd like to talk about is the time decay factor. Options tend to deteriorate in value over time due to the fact that as you're further out from the expiration date, the likelihood of volatility is higher.

Let's say you buy a contract for December while we're in the month of April. The stock price is at $13, and the strike price on the contract is $16. Clearly, there's a higher percentage chance that this stock will break $16 between now and December than there is between now and May. As a result, contracts with an expiration date that's further out will sell at a higher price.

Many smart traders also like to hedge their risk by doing things like straddles, or buying puts on their calls and the opposite as well.

Try buying a few contracts in the opposite direction. That way if you lose out big time, those contracts will win big.

Had they hedged by giving up just a few dollars, they would have kept 90% of what they lost.

Follow this advice and you'll be in a much better position than most.