Real-time options education and strategies
A quick post about Monthly HB. Half-Back (HB) refers to the 50% retracement of a prior specified time period’s range. It is just one of three pivots that I show on my charts in the various timeframes that I track. The other two pivots are the high and the low of the prior range. The … Read more
Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, I’ve been trading a long time but not THAT long! Anyways, this post will examine a price pattern that shows up often and is fairly easy to spot on a 30 or 60 minute chart. The two examples that I’ll show below are 30 minute charts. … Read more
Today marks another step in my trading journey. I cancelled a subscription to a trade alert service. I’d been a subscriber for over a year. It was a good service. It taught me a lot. I wanted to stay. But I needed to leave. Over time, my way of understanding and trading the markets developed … Read more
Below is my current SPX position. The position is comprised of 2 trades: I bought a 5-lot of $75-wide Put Vertical Debit spreads to initiate the position and, after SPX dropped, I rolled down the long Puts by $25 creating a 5-lot $50 wide Put Vertical Debit spread and, in the same transaction, I sold … Read more
Are you the type of trader who likes your profits as soon as you can get them or would your rather let them ‘run’ with the potential of a much larger profit later? Not sure? Maybe a little of both types? Here’s what I typically do. As a trade progresses with a profit I like … Read more
(1) My portfolio was long about 35 SPX Beta Weighted Deltas after the close yesterday. Not a lot compared to my typical position but certainly enough to protect. With the prospect of a government shutdown looming the indexes could take a hit here. Overall I think the indexes, especially small caps (RUT), will rally strongly … Read more
A very clear four-step setup to see this long opportunity in IWM!
Paul’s comments: I’ve asked Travis to help me with this post because I have points to address that I think he can bring a better perspective to than I can. The point of this post is to help simplify things for most traders. If we give ‘students’ of technical analysis too much information to consider … Read more
Paul gave me these screenshots and asked me to finish the analysis. Here goes: Just before noon on Friday, Paul bought the 24SEPT 4425/4400/4375/4350 put condor in $SPX. He paid $3.00. The Put Condor has an especially effective risk profile. The position carried just -2.67 deltas, and had a $300 max loss and a $2,200 … Read more
Very important concept tweeted by Steve Burns and validated by the ‘Horse’. They both know what they’re talking about. Sounds good in theory but how do you do that? That’s what this post is about. Read it, understand it, trade it. Ask questions if you don’t get it! Step 1: Wait for a setup that … Read more