The Markets Could Get Ugly This Month

As the first week of trading in December comes to an end, the markets have proven to be what I warned everyone about - volatile and dangerous. The last two days for the major market indices have not been pretty and certainly have done some internal technical damage that I will discuss today.

One thing worth remembering, this is the sixth year of a bull market. In bull market terms, that's an old bull that may be running out of steam.

2015 has been a difficult year for many hedge fund managers as there simply has not been a lot of movement in the overall indices. Based on yesterday's close, the Dow is down 1.94% on the year, the S&P 500 is down 0.45% and the NASDAQ is up 6.37%. This is a very mixed picture and I would not be surprised to see more pressure on these markets in December. I think a lot of money managers may just square up their trading books and wait to look at the markets in 2016. Continue reading "The Markets Could Get Ugly This Month"

Would You Go Into Battle With Just One Battle Plan?

Trading is just like a battle; you never go in with just plan A. You always have a contingency plan and many times it's that backup plan that ultimately gives you the victory.

Let Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com take you through his plan for the S&P 500.

Learn more about TradingAnalysis.com here.

Plan Your Trade, and Trade Your Plan,
Todd Gordon

Let's Go Cruising

Now that we are in the month of December and the weather is beginning to turn colder, many folks may be thinking of taking a Caribbean cruise this winter. With that in mind, I thought I would look at three cruise line stocks and see whether or not it's worth taking a flyer on these stocks.

I will be looking at Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:NCLH), and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL). Now before you rush out to book your winter cruise, I want to share with you what I believe to be important elements for each of the stocks. That way you can enjoy your cruise even more and hopefully with good timing your cruise will be paid for. Continue reading "Let's Go Cruising"

Disciplined and Conservative Covered Call Writing To Accentuate Returns And Mitigate Risk

Leveraging covered call options in opportunistic scenarios may augment overall portfolio returns while mitigating risk. 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. An option is a contract which gives the buyer of the contract the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying security at a specified price on or before a specified date. The seller has the obligation to buy or sell the underlying security if the buyer exercises the option. An option that 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 for a premium. I will provide an overview of how a covered call is utilized and executed. Here, I’ll provide details focusing on optimizing stock leverage (covered calls). Emphasizing the ability to sell these types of options in a disciplined and conservative manner to generate liquidity while accentuating returns and mitigating risk. Continue reading "Disciplined and Conservative Covered Call Writing To Accentuate Returns And Mitigate Risk"

Big Moves Can Start When You Least Expect Them

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over and we're entering December, traders should take extra care. Historically markets can move rather dramatically in December as trading volume thins out when traders start closing down their trading mindset and move out of the markets and into holiday mode. You do not want to start swinging for the fences to try to make your year in December, the odds are against you.

In addition to looking at the markets in general today, I'm going to take an in-depth look at the gold market. Everyone seems to be bearish on gold and what I have noticed over my trading career is that when everyone feels the same way about a market and is on one side of the trade, watch out!

That is the way the mood is right now for gold and there could be a sharp reversal as the shorts, that is the folks who sold gold short hoping to buy it back at a lower price, scramble to cover (buy back) their short positions. Continue reading "Big Moves Can Start When You Least Expect Them"