The Day Volatility Futures Told Me Everything
Don Kaufman here. Most traders got caught up in the headlines Friday. Trump threatened China with tariffs. Tech stocks crashed. The Dow dropped 560 points. But here's what actually mattered - and why I was positioned perfectly while others got blindsided. The Real Story Was Hidden in the Derivatives Market… When that first wave of…
When One Kid in Chicago Crashed Global Silver
Don Kaufman here. Silver just did something that should make you pay attention. SLV traded 1.4 million option contracts by 1:30 pm. Six months ago, this thing was lucky to do 30,000 contracts all day. Now, let me tell you the silver story - because what's happening right now is no accident. The Meeting That…
Frothy Markets Feel No Fear
Markets hit all-time highs today. The S&P surged 42 handles. Everyone's celebrating. But I just spotted something that has me on high alert. The volatility futures structure is screaming that October is about to get violent. Here's what I found. The VX contract with 14 days left is trading at 17.55. Meanwhile, the VIX closed…
3 Trades I’m Putting On Right Now
Look, I was on Schwab's Big 3 Show today with Rick running the charts. Three ideas. Three trades I'm putting on right now. And yeah, I'm not giving you the exact strikes and spreads here. You want the full trade structures? Watch the video. But I do want to walk you through the thinking because…
THE DISPERSION TRADE IS IMPLODING
Don Kaufman here. Markets were ripping higher this morning. Now we're selling off. VIX just hit 17. That whipsaw action? That's exactly what I've been warning about. I've been tracking the volatility structure every single day, and what I'm seeing right now should scare the hell out of you. We're at a breaking point for…
When Your Position Talks, Listen
Don Kaufman here. My volatility trade should be printing money right now. It's not. When your position talks to you like that, you better listen. I've got a volatility structure position on that should be humming along nicely with the S&P at all-time highs. Instead, volatility is sustaining itself and creeping higher. The position that…
My 13-year-old is my secret weapon for testing trading monitors
Don Kaufman here. I literally bought four different monitors on Amazon. Just one of each. Opened them up in my Arizona mountain house and let my kid loose on them. "This KTC thing absolutely smokes your old monitor, Dad." When a 13-year-old who plays Fortnite on a multi-monitor setup tells you a $97 monitor destroys…
The AI Trade Just Flipped Negative
The order flow in AI stocks just turned decisively negative. And I haven't seen this pattern in months. Markets closed basically flat today. The S&P sits at the upper edge of its expected move. The advance-decline line shows 70 advancers versus 30 decliners. Everything looks fine on the surface. Underneath? The opposite story is unfolding.…
Predicted this selloff 4 hours before it happened
Don Kafuman here. While everyone was celebrating fresh all-time highs Friday morning, I was warning about something very different in the TheoTrade Chat Room: "The upside potential could be another 20 points. The downside though, we could completely invert and lose 60." By 2 PM, Tesla was down 3%, Nvidia down 1%, Palantir crashed 7%,…
Record Tesla Deliveries Don't Matter
Don Kaufman here. Tesla just delivered record-high quarterly numbers this morning. The stock spiked, then completely reversed. And that reversal just proved why 90% of traders lose money. You think information gives you an edge. You think that if you could just get the Tesla delivery numbers before everyone else, you'd make a killing. Here's…