I Have An Uneasy Feeling Today

Hello MarketClub members everywhere. I have to say that I have an uneasy feeling about the markets today. As you know, for some time I have been neutral to negative on the major indices based on the monthly Trade Triangles. As I pointed out yesterday, the first cracks in the armor came when the indices fell below their PSAR levels. The only exception was the NASDAQ, whose PSAR comes in today at 4734.77. Should the NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP) trade below that level today, it would indicate that all indices are now vulnerable to a fairly sharp selloff.

Indices: I will be looking at all the major indices and indicating where they could potentially slip to in the weeks ahead. Also, Janet Yellen, head of the Federal Reserve, will be talking about the economy today. I have been a vocal critic of the Fed's policy for some time and believe the Fed is in over its head and doesn't quite know how to resolve the current continued weakness in the US economy. Continue reading "I Have An Uneasy Feeling Today"

Unlocking The Power Of Covered Call Writing – Applying Theory To Empirical Practice

Introduction

Leveraging covered call options in opportunistic or conservative scenarios may augment overall portfolio returns while mitigating risk in a meaningful manner. In brief, options are a form of derivative trading that traders can utilize in order to initiate a short or long position via the sale or purchase of contacts. A call option is a contract which gives the buyer of the contract the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security at a specified price on or before a specified date. The seller has the obligation to sell the underlying security if the buyer exercises the call option. A call option gives the owner (buyer) the right to buy the security at a specific price is referred to as a call (bullish); an option that gives the right of the owner to sell the security at a specific price is referred to as a put (bearish). In the event of a covered call, this is accomplished by leveraging the shares one currently owns by selling a call contact against those shares and collecting a premium. I will provide an overview of the theory vs. empirical practice based on my covered call activity during Q1 2016. Here, I’ll provide details focusing on optimizing stock leverage via covered calls. Emphasizing the ability to sell these types of options in an opportunistic, aggressive and disciplined manner to generate liquidity while accentuating returns and mitigating risk via empirical data.

A Few Characteristics To Keep In Mind For Covered Call Options Trading

Continue reading "Unlocking The Power Of Covered Call Writing – Applying Theory To Empirical Practice"

A Member's Request

Hello MarketClub members everywhere! Today I'm going to be looking at some well-known, household-name stocks at the request of one of our members. I will be analyzing AMZN, GOOGL, CMG, TSLA, IBM and FB, along with the usual suspects, in today's video.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) It's no secret Amazon wants to take over the world and they certainly seem like they're well on their way to doing that. Looking at the stock however, it is showing a mixed picture. The long-term monthly Trade Triangle continues to be red which is perhaps indicating a cap on this market for the moment. Both the weekly Trade Triangle and the PSAR are indicating more of a trading range. Amazon would have to move over the $638 level before everything was lined up and ready to go on the upside. I prefer the sidelines at the moment. Continue reading "A Member's Request"

Do Quarterly Charts Hold The Key?

Hello MarketClub members everywhere! With the markets closed tomorrow for the Easter holiday, today is the end of the week. The question now is, how comfortable are investors going to be over this long 3 day weekend?

One of the tools I love using in MarketClub is the quarterly charts. I'm pretty confident in saying that very few traders ever watch these charts, but they should. They can provide you with a broad overall picture of the long-term trend that you just can't see on daily and weekly charts. I think you'll be surprised by what the quarterly charts are revealing today.

Below I have outlined last week's close, as well as key levels for the PSAR. Perhaps by the time you read this post the market will have already broken the Parabolic support levels. If that is the case, I would expect further weakness in the market next week. Continue reading "Do Quarterly Charts Hold The Key?"

Is It Time For A Market Correction?

Hello MarketClub members everywhere, today I'm going to be looking at some key levels in the markets. If these levels are breached, it would indicate a further correction to the recent rallies. For the past 4 to 5 weeks the equity markets have been moving steadily higher and are now extremely overbought. That condition alone does not necessarily translate to the markets correcting, however, 85% of all stock market newsletters are bullish on equities. History has taught us that when there is a large consensus of people thinking the same way the reverse occurs as there is no one left to buy. The markets could well be at a consensus crossroads right now.

Here are some of the levels that I'm looking at to get an early indication that a correction could come into play. Continue reading "Is It Time For A Market Correction?"