Trade Liquid Markets
Trade Liquid Markets Mathematically speaking it is impossible to make money in a market with wide bid and ask prices. If there is a low liquid product and the bid and ask is wide you're losing as soon as you enter the trade. Don't pay to play. You wanna be the house.
Contrarian Scan in thinkorswim
Contrarian thinkorswim Scan First let's talk about what to expect in the final trading week of 2015. Typically at this time of the year there is a mix of tax loss selling and window dressing. Tax loss selling is when investors sell their beaten down stocks for the year in order to take their tax…
Don't Fall for the High Implied Volatility Trap
Don't Fall for the High Implied Volatility Trap Experienced options traders who learn about selling high implied volatility often fall into this trap. They scan for stocks only with very high implied volatility and inevitable try to sell that volatility and collect the high premium. Not a bad strategy you say. So what's the trap?…
Options Volume and Open Interest
Options Volume and Open Interest What is options volume and open interest? How is options volume and open interest calculated? Options volume tells you how many contracts are traded today. Open interest is calculated at the end of the trading day and open interest will not change during the trading day. An open contract consists…
Capital Allocation and Implied Volatility
Capital Allocation and Implied Volatility How can you use implied volatility to help you allocate capital? In this video Don Kaufman of TheoTrade shares why you should look at the implied volatility of a stock before determining your capital allocation size. Different stocks and ETFs have different expected moves. Therefore you should not risk the…
Theta Decay
Theta Decay Theta decay also known as time decay is the daily whittling down of an options value. Theta decay is much steeper the closer you are to the expiration of the option chain. Most option traders aren't aware that theta decay is actually closely tied to implied volatility. Theta decay is not linear because…
Implied Volatility
Implied Volatility What is implied volatility and how does it different from historical volatility? Most people get these two mixed up. Implied volatility is based on the options in a given chain. The Implied volatility is derived from the mid price of the actual bid and ask price for a specific option. You should know…
Why Sell Volatility This Low?
Why Sell Volatility This Low? Should you really be selling volatility right now? Let's take a look at what's moving this market and what's not. We will start out with sectors then dive into specific ETFs like the XLF. I'm going to start building my case for why you want to wait to start selling…
Santa Claus Rally
Santa Claus Rally Dead? Four days before Christmas and the S&P has gone no where this year. In fact the S&P is down 2.5% on the year. Everyone is still talking about the Santa Claus rally. I caution you there is still a lot of volatility in this market. With a short week volatility and…
Introduction to Vertical Spreads
Introduction to Vertical Spreads How do you mitigate your risk trading options? Vertical spreads of course! Vertical spreads allow you to define your risk. No stop orders required. You know exactly what your risk is before you place the trade. Vertical spreads are a great way for new or experienced traders to profit in the…