any advice for earnings trades?

GW rules say i can't go through earnings b/c at my level (non RTP student) its a gamble. But I've been told that it can also be a catalyst for a good trade... however, ive yet to see this play out... the window is 3 weeks before and 3 weeks after earnings release date but ive never really had a succesful trade based on the earnings catalyst... especially right after an announcement... i see stocks gap up or down a huge number and then fizzle... is there more to this type of trade that i'm missing? Things to look for, things to avoid?

There are different ways that you can play the gaps. I like to see the stock pull back and test before I get in. Bo

We all know the Saying

Bo knows

I trade simple calls and puts. I do mark my daily and 55 chart for the day a company is to report earnings. I use a dark green dash line for the day of (one for market close and one for market open) and then I use dark green dot lines to mark 1-2-3 weeks before earnings. As the earnings date gets close I mark 5 days before reporting earnings.

I traded only once going through earnings based entirely on the gaps that I studied on a daily chart. Had I been able to when that company reported earnings the next time I would have done a put based entirely on the gaps. It would have been a winning trade as well. The stock was NFLX.