With the big surge in the VIX Friday, the one thing that caught my interest was selling. No, not selling my positions – selling PREMIUM. When we see volatility rise in uncertain and fearful times, option premium gets lifted as well. Buyers flock for protection using instruments like VIX, the volatility ETN’s, and index puts,…
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Mad Money host Jim Cramer used my Himax (HIMX) chart on a recent show, because he believes the fundamentals around Himax (HIMX) remain solid: their chips are state of the art and should remain in demand. Of course Cramer realizes that with the market selling off broadly, few stocks are immune to weakness, but probably…
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This week’s webinar featured a deep-dive into the technicals. I started the session talking about the current state of the market, followed by the charts and technicals of AAPL, TSLA and some others, plus the SPX 500 chart. Based on the technicals, I think this most recent drop is a nice buying opportunity. Todd Gordon…
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CREE is a name I have traded often over the years with some good results, especially around earnings season. This time the chart wasn’t giving me much of a good read for direction or volatility, so I passed, but now that earnings news is out the technicals turned – literally overnight! The big surge on…
DetailsCiena Corporation (CIEN) is a provider of communications networking equipment, software and services that support the transport, switching, aggregation and management of voice, video and data traffic. The stock recently traded down 6% to hit its bottom bollinger band, a level that has historically been supported. As we’ve discussed, bollinger bands contain 90% of all…
DetailsOne of my favorite methods for income generation using options is to sell cash backed puts or “naked short puts.” It is a staple trading method in my portfolio management, and with proper setup and risk management, I find it to be a low maintenance, low risk, and high probability trading strategy. Today I present…
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Yes, we are already well into the new year, but there is really never a right or wrong time to start making improvements in your personal or professional life. Want to make resolutions in April? What about August or October? Why not? You just have to be in the right frame of mind. No matter…
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During this week’s webinar, special guest Larry McMillan joins us. He’s a brilliant trader and options trading educator, and he shared a lot of great information around the finer points of options, volatility and measuring sentiment. Before Larry jumped in, I started out with my “state of the market” address and touched upon some interesting…
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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…
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