1.2 Billion Passwords, Putin and Cyber-Warfare

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Normally the summer months tend to slow down as most traders like to get away for a short break and a little R and R. This year however has been different, as turmoil in the world stage continues. You only have to look at what is going on in the Ukraine, which continues to escalate with Putin's quest to restore the old Soviet Empire. Over in the middle east, the picture is grim and the hatred between Hamas and Israel shows no signs of a resolution. With all that going on, you would think that nothing else could come along to upset the apple cart.

The biggest news this week in my mind was not the Ukraine or the conflict between Hamas and Israel, it was the theft of 1.2 billion usernames and passwords!

This astounding feat was accomplished by a small group of eight Russian hackers. As you may recall, the US and Europe upped their sanctions on Russia, and tit for tat, Russia turned around and cut imports from both Europe and the US. I am afraid that the theft of 1.2 billion usernames and passwords is just another escalation of cyber warfare that Russia is spearheading against the West. Continue reading "1.2 Billion Passwords, Putin and Cyber-Warfare" →

2 Tips To Find A Valuable Options Strategy

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By: Tim Melvin

One of the most dangerous endeavors that individual investors and “wannabe” traders can engage in is options trading.

Stock and index options bring with them a degree of leverage and time restrictions that have the capability to blow up an account in pretty short order, something that happens on a pretty regular basis. It is hard enough to pick stocks that go up, but to do so in a fixed time frame is even more difficult. To top it off, if you pick the wrong strike price you can get the direction and timing right and still lose money.

The individual trader is trading against large institutions with pricing, modeling and trading capabilities that are far beyond their own. All too often the retail trader's role in the options market is to provide lunch money for the trading desks and market makers.

Start With A Company's Business Valuation

There is a way that individual investors can use options to earn higher returns and add to the overall return of their current portfolio. This strategy takes advantage of the fact that most option traders think only about the value of the option and not the value of the underlying business.

At the same time, most value-oriented investors are not fans of options, as they view it as a high-risk leveraged trading activity. We can take advantage of these two groups' lack of interest in each others strategy to use options to enhance a value portfolio. Continue reading "2 Tips To Find A Valuable Options Strategy" →

A Look At The U.S. Stock Market Using Weekly Charts

Posted on by The INO.com Team

With the help of some of NFTRH‘s standard weekly charts, we take a snapshot of the US stock market.

The Bank index is unbroken from a weekly perspective.  People will talk about an H&S but it is not activated until the trend channel and the neckline (a well defined support area) are broken.  BKX, along with the Semiconductors has been a notable leader to the entire surprise* phase of the bull market out of Q4, 2012.

bkx

A breakdown of support would break this cycle of the bull market (if this is a secular bull market as many experts think, then the bull would live again after the cycle completes).  It would probably be healthiest to the secular bull case for a breakdown to occur into a relatively small cyclical bear market. Continue reading "A Look At The U.S. Stock Market Using Weekly Charts" →

Is The Gold Rush On?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Today, I'm going to be focusing on gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO). It would appear as though this market had a number of cycles that are coming due and some that have just passed. It also looks as though all of the problems in the world haven't had any real powerful effect on gold. Normally in times of uncertainty, gold has been the go-to asset for most investors, but for some reason, not this time.

With today's strong upward market action, there have been a couple of technical indicators click over to the upside, these indicators are the forerunners of a larger, more extended move to the middle of September. By mid-September, gold could be trading at the $1,420-$1,430 level, if all of the technical indicators line up.

For many traders, gold has been somewhat of a disappointment in 2014, even though it is plus some $70 for the year. Many gold bugs were expecting much higher levels by this time, given all of the uncertainties with the banks and conflicts around the world.

The next 4 to 6 weeks could be very exciting in this precious metal and I expect this excitement to come in the form of a move to the upside. In this detailed video, I will show you exactly where the cycles are, plus the technical indicators that I'm watching closely for further confirming evidence that a bull move is underway.

Every success with MarketClub,
Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-Creator, MarketClub

Is Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) Streaming To Go Higher?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Today, I'll be taking a in-depth look at the stock of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). The stock enjoyed a very nice move from May through July, but has since stalled out. After making a high in July, the stock has pulled back from the $472 level to where it is currently trading around the $427 level.

Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings, who had the brilliant idea of sending DVDs through the mail directly to your home. This was a disruptive idea at the time, which put many mom-and-pop video rental stores out of business. Now Netflix is expanding and streaming videos directly to your computer, bypassing the post office, which is even a better idea, in my opinion.

Netflix has to be the undisputed leader in entertainment/streaming video field, but now has lots of competition in the form of Hulu, Amazon, Apple and many others. My thoughts are that Netflix will continue to be the major player and continue to own the major portion of the video streaming business. Continue reading "Is Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) Streaming To Go Higher?" →