A Recipe for Selling

Scott Downing — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Terrible timing for bad news hitting the market today with the announcement of fraud charges being filed against Goldman Sachs. The market was just starting to appear safe to many investors with a weekly close above 1200 on the SPX clearly in sight. People were being told that investing in stocks was acceptable again, and they were beginning to believe those words and then BAM...

Then the SEC drops the bombshell this morning, and rightfully so, that Goldman Sachs deceived [...]

Option Volume Hits Extreme Level: Bottom Likely

Andrew Hart — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0100

For those of you that receive our nightly Trader's Edge Report you know the importance of sentiment in the market place--investor sentiment can help you determine when the so called fear and greed on Wall Street is primed for reversal. In my trading Iconsistently use four different sentiment tracking charts, (1) CBOE Volatility Index, (2) CBOE Equity Put/Call Ratio, (3) RYDEX Ratio, and (4) ISE Call/Put Ratio. Each has it's own unique system to highlight market reversals (covered each nig [...]

Market Orders vs. Limit Orders

Andrew Hart — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Our good friend, Mark Wolfinger, author of The Rookie's Guide to Options recently posted Q&A on the infamous topic of, what order type is best for options traders. Great insight from Mark, as usual...

Question: How much of a better price can I expect to get with limit orders? I just started trading US options, but am based in Australia. I generally don't watch the market - and work off yesterday's closing bid/ask prices.
NK

Monday Selling a Buying Opportunity?

Andrew Hart — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Looks like the markets are under pressure again on Monday - will it be another low risk entry?

SPYders pinned at 87 in last minute move.

Moby Waller — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Did you see in the last 10/15 minutes of the normal trading day, they moved the SPY down from about 87.50 to right around 87? Well guess what, there was fairly heavy April SPY Open Interest at the 87 strike. It was basically the 2nd highest level of open interest near current levels (85 being higher).

Options Volume: Don't Follow the Leader...

Andrew Hart — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

In a recent coaching course students discussed the value of following options volume. It was a great discussion and with examples of high volume (smart money) being both correct and incorrect. Here's a great article that shows the true value of following options volume-it may not be the best action plan for your portfolio...

What Do Speculators Know About High Options Volume? (Part Two)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/127698-what-do-speculators-know-about-high-o [...]

The VIX and Happy Easter/Passover!

Moby Waller — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

With the VIX imploding a bit again today, looks like we are setting up for a 35 to 40 range on the VIX, with 30 being the lowest I can see it approaching.

Every night, I cover topics like the VIX, SPX, the market, individual stocks, and specific option trading strategies in my BigTrends premium advisory services Index Options Timer and Advanced Options Strategies.

Also I will be giving a free live Webinar about index options trading this Saturday, April 11th at 11am eas [...]

VIX stays in 40 to 45 range, drops on down day

Moby Waller — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

The CBOE Volatility Index closed around 40.39 today, continuing its recent 40 to 45 range. The interesting thing is that the VIX dropped despite the major indices being down over 2% today, which is unusual. Some of this may have to do with low volume over the past 3 trading days and the market being closed Friday for a holiday. But it also possibly indicates that the Market Makers may want to bring the VIX down below 40 (possibly to a new 35 to 40) range, as we approach the sum [...]

Perfect Bullish Percent R re-test yesterday

Moby Waller — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Yesterday's SPX close gave us a very nice confirmed bullish Percent R re-test on the Daily Chart. It also had a successful test of key middle levels on the Hourly Chart. If you are using charting software, we utilize different inputs, levels, techniques on our Percent R analysis than are the defaults on most programs -- BigTrends founder Price Headley and others in our firm have developed methods for smoothing out and utilizing Williams Percent R that are not really being used by anyone else tha [...]

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