Juniper Networks (JNPR), a one-time high flyer from the dot com era, has recently been ruffling feathers. After some very poor earnings and stock performance over the last few years, JNPR is poised to gain some precious ground, rising to levels it hasn’t seen in years. In fact, it just closed at over a two…
DetailsBelow is an update on a previous topic that I find important as we are near all-time highs. I prefer to let the market do its thing and tell me how to proceed. Making wild guesses and speculating on what it should do is pointless and often met with disappointment. Oh sure, it’s nice to…
DetailsThe E-mini S&P 500 index futures (that’s their daily chart to the right – click to enlarge) leads the cash index as globex trades around the clock. If we pay attention to levels and significant events on this chart, we can translate it into an actionable trading plan for the SPY. Generally speaking, I trade…
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During this special webinar, I talked about LEAPS, longer-term trades for 2014, the strategy of diagonals and how the LEAPS give traders tremendous leverage vs stocks. I also provided a list of my favorite names for 2013, including GILD, HIMX, YUM, MOST, TWTR, FB, OXY, CNX, GM, GE YHOO, and FSLR.
Black gold is still the king of commodities, and right now there is nothing better than playing BP. This stock has seen a tremendous bounce since the Macondo Well Deepwater Horizon blowout, but it seems to be in a good place now. The chart shows an overbought condition, which has persisted for a while. The…
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The “welcome to the club” party for Twitter this year was nothing more than sensational. The hype (or, over-hype) of the company’s IPO as 2013 drew to a close was similar to Facebook’s in 2012. It’s rare for one great company to go public – it happens about once every 10 years – so it…
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During today’s webinar, I dissected the market action, which, during the first trading day of the year, was pretty negative (this is the first time that’s happened since 2008). I mentioned some names that looked interesting in this non-correlated market and looked under the hood to unearth some really good ideas. As long as the…
DetailsRegularly evaluating our trading strategy and performance is important for all traders, options or otherwise. Some people evaluate their trades monthly, weekly, or even daily to improve performance and gain an edge. We’ll find some things that worked and some things that didn’t, and we’ll adjust our strategy. Personally, I like to do a thorough…
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During this week’s webinar, I took a look back at 2013 and pointed out some of the better trends that played out over the past year. In addition, I gave a preview of the year ahead and what might be in store for options traders in 2014.
Much of the market anxiety lately surrounded the Fed’s announcement of whether or not they would cut back on their bond purchases. On Wednesday we found out exactly what they intend to do going forward, and they did it with an exclamation point! The Fed’s bold, dovish statement provided economic-forward guidance, and, indeed, the Committee…
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