Options Trading Strategy
Mastering Break And Retest: Catching Big Moves
Are you looking to get ahead in the stock and options markets? Do you want a simple way to take advantage of market movements? Using the break and retest strategy could be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s an effective strategy that can give traders an edge but it requires knowledge about how these types […]
Three Rules For Trading During A Bear Market
Novice traders treat bull and bear markets the same. “I just trade like a bull market in reverse!” It’s 100% not that simple. Bull markets tend to move steadily up… bear markets are incredibly volatile. That’s not to say you can’t make money during this crazy market. You simply need some rules of thumb to […]
To Hedge Your Portfolio For Free
An intriguing way to hedge your portfolio’s downside risk for essentially no cost is by using a put spread collar. A large zero-cost put spread collar was placed last week on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). The trader sold calls and used the proceeds to purchase a put spread. The position will give a […]
This Trade Can Make Money Whether A Stock Goes Up Or Down
One of my favorite trading strategies—and one that big-time money managers and volatility traders use—is trading an iron condor. An iron condor is selling a downside put spread and an upside call spread at the same time. In this scenario, you cap your risk because you have a spread with a defined loss. At the […]
Selling Puts – A Simple Options Strategy
Selling puts is a neutral to bullish strategy. Traders tend to overcomplicate things. This is especially true with options trading where puts and calls can be bought and sold in seemingly endless combinations with cute names like calendars, diagonals, butterflies, iron condors, ducks, lizards, and so on. While more complicated strategies have their place, are […]
Covered Call Writing
Generating Cash Flow From The Energy Sector
The energy sector has been far and away the best performing sector over the last year with both oil and gas prices having been on the rise. A popular way to trade the energy sector as a whole is through the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE). XLE has been a solid gainer for 2022, […]
The Synthetic Dividend Option To Generate Profits
Many companies regularly distribute a portion of their profits in the form of a dividend to attract investors and incentivize them to remain long-term shareholders. But most companies, ETFs, and commodities don’t pay a dividend at all. When there’s no dividend, the only opportunity for income or a profit comes from a capital gain (or […]
How To Calculate Your Impressive Covered Call Returns
Talking about investment yields and returns can be confusing, and actually understanding what happens can be even more daunting. However, we are trying to make money on our money, and understanding potential returns – both as percentages and dollars – helps separate good opportunities from those that are less attractive. If you have dabbled with […]
Which Is Better: Covered Calls Or Cash-Secured Puts?
Covered Calls and Cash-Secured puts seem to be the most popular choices among traders in finance and stocks. And for a good reason. The two trades in the same market, just on different terms. That’s right. And it all started with the same idea… Both kinds of trading are pretty much the same, except for […]
Why Smart Investors Use Covered Calls To Profit
Recent market volatility has both put traders on edge and pumped up the volatility in options. Those two usually go hand in hand and they create a great opportunity for longer term investors with a cooler demeanor to capitalize on the current dislocation. One of the best, and most popular approaches, especially among investors that […]
Options Trading Strategies
3 Stocks To Sell Now
As impressive as last week’s 6.6% rally in the S&P 500 was, it didn’t change the structure of the entrenched downtrend. Instead, it was a garden-variety retracement returning prices directly into resistance. Those who viewed the rebound with suspicion were vindicated on Tuesday when sellers returned en mass at the declining 20-day moving average. With a new […]
Roblox Stock May Have Bottomed
For months, the deep discount in Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) has beckoned to bottom fishers. But so far, trying to nail the low has resulted in bruised egos and battered accounts. The selling has been relentless, and there have been too many failed bounces to count. RBLX stock has cratered 85% from peak to trough in the largest […]
3 Of The Most-Shorted Stocks With Bearish Charts
Once more, the bears in the market are successfully defending against would-be bargain-hunters this week. And right now, with stocks under increased pressure, the price charts in these most-shorted stocks are offering investors well-qualified bearish entries to trade with the trend. It has quickly turned into a third straight week where Wall Street’s bad actors […]
3 Energy Stocks Gushing Higher
The energy sector is on fire and just broke out The Energy Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) offers a diversified way to play Friday’s strong rally in energy stocks. Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is blasting through resistance with some heat. Halliburton (HAL) has one of the cleanest setups among oil services stocks. The time to buy energy stocks is now. The […]
3 Tech Stocks To Buy As Their Trends Reverse Higher
Sentiment is warming in the land of technology companies The market recovery reached two significant milestones Tuesday. First, the S&P 500 closed above its 200-day moving average, officially placing it back on the high side of all major averages. Second, the Nasdaq, which has seen serial underperformance, closed above its 50-day moving average for the first time in over […]
Options Volatility Watch
One Way To Take Advantage Of The Volatility In Tech Stocks
Tech stocks have the started the new year with elevated volatility and quite a bit of selling pressure. The most popular tech index, Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), is down 5% for the year and has seen a handful of large percentage moves already. One strategist is looking to take advantage of the volatility by using […]
Why December Is Shaping Up To Be A Very Volatile Month
It looked like we might coast into the end of 2021 on a calm and seasonally bullish note with the major indices up some 25% for the YTD. But, a new Covid variant and stubbornly-high inflation have thrown a wrench into that outlook. I think December will be unusually volatile, which equates to unpredictable, which […]
Market Volatility: Trade Cautiously But Without Fear
Being a market prognosticator often means spewing thoughts and opinions to create content well beyond the reality of underlying activity. I should know, after working with Jim Cramer — the sound bite-creating master — making table-pounding proclamations and outrageous predictions, all the while, under the surface, acting as a rational, risk-averse portfolio manager. I give […]
Is The Low Volatility Market At An End?
2019 can be roughly divided into two market regimes. There were periods of high volatility and market choppiness, notably in June, August, and early October. Then, there were the stretches of low and falling volatility – January through May and mid-October through the end of the year. It certainly seemed like January of 2020 was […]
Options Trading
This Indicator Warns Of Tough Times Ahead
High yield bonds just fired a warning shot. The action in the junk bond market tells us a lot about the average investor’s willingness to take risk. That, in turn, tells us about the potential for a rise or fall in the stock market. When high yield bonds are rallying, it’s a “risk-on” environment. That […]
Strategic Buy And Sell Indicators For Traders
Successful traders rely on proven indicators to make trading decisions, and the most powerful among those used as buy and sell indicators. These tools can help you identify trends, predict market movements, and determine the best entry and exit points for your trades. Technical Indicators Covered Price Action Signals Moving Average Signals Stochastics Signals Day […]
How To Trade Zero Day Options
They’re back! The speculative trading frenzy that dominated the markets’ during 2021, and then went into hibernation during the 2022 bear market has reemerged. The piling into meme names, FOMOing, YOLOing, bidding up shares of money losing companies, even those bordering on bankruptcy, and squeezing shorts with single day moves in excess of 20% are […]
Steps To Follow While Options Trading
62.58 billion. That’s the total number of futures and options contracts traded globally in 2021, according to data released by the FIA (Futures Industry Association). That’s up 33.7% from 2020. Last year was the fourth year the “global exchange-traded derivatives markets set a record above the prior year in terms of total trading activity.” These […]
Debunking The Myth That 80% Of Options Expire Worthless
Nearly all of Options360 trades come in a type of spread. I believe it’s crucial for positions to have some element of premium collection in order to generate consistent returns. However, a persistent and pernicious myth regarding options is that 80% of all options expire worthless. The number belies the fact that most options get […]
Options Trading Basics
The Many Uses Of Option Delta
In an option chain, the delta for a given option strike price can vary from -1 to +1. Call options have a positive delta for option buyers somewhere between 0 and +1. Calls increase in value when the underlying increases in value. Put options have a negative delta somewhere between 0 and -1 as Put […]
Trading Options 101: A Beginner’s Guide
“What is an option?” This may be a question you’ve asked yourself before. If so, options trading might be a suitable investment for you! An options contract offers the buyer the opportunity to buy or sell the underlying asset depending on the type of contract they hold. Unlike futures, the holder is not required to […]
Death, Taxes, And Time Decay
Few things are certain in life. But as the old saying goes, there is nothing quite so certain as “death and taxes”. As an Options Trader, I would enthusiastically add option time decay to that list. Options offer traders and investors more leverage and risk mitigation than just purchasing shares outright. For example, if I were to […]
Are You An Options Buyer Or An Options Seller?
Options are an increasingly popular financial product that gives traders numerous ways to manage risk while significantly leveraging capital. They are a powerful trading “tool” that can be bought, sold, and combined in a seemingly limitless number of ways to achieve a specific objective. One of the bigger questions for new — and even experienced […]
How Do Options Work? Learn The Lingo, Pros, And Cons
Options trading gets a bad rap for being complicated and risky. But investors don’t seem to care, as options are becoming quite popular. When done right, becoming an options trader can actually ease the risk of owning stocks and generate extra cash for retirement. If your interest is piqued, you might be wondering, “How do […]
