A New (almost) Idea

I got a thought yesterday about the money sitting idle in our IRAs. Or, more, something I could do with it. Awhile back, when I actually had a little more money to trade, I did some experiments with trading options both ways using Google. Meaning, trading stock options on the companies. I would buy a Put (an option betting the stock will go down) and a Call (betting the stock will go up.) The stock can move 20-30 dollars or more a day, and I knew, one way or the other, this method of trading should make money. Well, because of the fairly large prices of the options themselves, and just the way I was doing it (looking at it constantly), I got scared of it.
Yesterday, I got the same thoughts about how I could do this same thing, only use lower priced stocks I found by doing a search for 'volatile stocks.' Turned out there's actually a website called 'Volatile Stocks' and it looks to be very useful in finding just the kind of stock I'm looking for. They also figure someone looking for this kind of thing is probably trading options, so there is good information about that on the website as well.
The funny thing is, I got the idea from playing a video game called Animal Crossing. In that game, on Sunday morning you can buy Turnips from Sow Joan (a pun on 'Dow Jones - ha ha) and then every day that week you ask the store keeper how much he's paying for turnips. Sometimes it's a little more, but most of the time it's a little less than what you bought them for. Once in awhile he is buying them for 8-10 times what you paid for them, and you get a huge windfall. You have to make sure you sell them to him before the next Sunday, though, or they are worthless (rotten.) Much like options. I've built up millions of money units (called Bells) doing this, and I really hardly play the game.
There are a bunch of lower priced (under $100) stocks that I can use my paltry IRA account cash to do these kinds of trades. I figure I will set up a set of rules, like any trading method, and be happy with making small amounts of profit on a regular basis. Occasionally, one of these stocks will gap or take off, and create a pretty big take for one side or the other. When I make back what I spend for the trade on one leg, I'll sell that side and wait and see if the stock reverses. If it does, there will be [more] profit for that trade. If it doesn't, the option will expire worthless. No more commission and the trade costs me no additional money. The only way I can lose is if the stock just sits there for a week. I can't hold onto this thing forever, as the options lose value as they approach their expiration date. I figure after a week or so, if it doesn't move significantly, or whipsaws back and forth, I'll just sell the set at a small loss and try again.
Today I used one of the stocks I found to trade a 'spread' in my IRA account. I think I will start a new blog, commenting on the trades I do in my account and my wife's account. I'll use this blog as a 'parent' blog to note ideas for 'offspring' money-making ideas I come up with.