Blog Posts

If you listen to stock traders, a lot of their focus is inevitably on the US-China trade war. Any rumor that floats the idea that trade relations are improving between the two nations moves stocks up a bit. And any rumor to the contrary punches them back down. But does it miss the point? If […]

Options premium is often a confusing topic for those newer to this form of trading, particular when it comes to selling (often called “writing”) options. This should first be prefaced by saying that it’s never a good idea to sell options naked. In other words, don’t sell options without having the underlying position covered. There […]

Delta hedging a single position in your portfolio – or even delta hedging your entire portfolio – is a relatively common strategy. It involves options, which are equity derivatives. The philosophical basis behind delta hedging is to be price neutral to a market rather than be directionally biased. Delta Hedging At the beginning of December, […]

How to determine the direction of financial markets? Focus on who’s buying and who’s selling. Too many who invest in stocks (and other financial assets) focus on relative valuation metrics and whether something is cheap or not. What a company is earning right now or has recently earned doesn’t matter. That’s already baked into the […]

In trading, both at the retail and institutional level, the most common trading mistake is believing that what happened in the past is likely to happen in the future. Too many traders look at what’s worked in the past and assume it will continue to work. On top of that, they leverage that up, creating […]

As a day trader, you probably don’t pay a ton of attention to the longer-term picture. Or else you do but it takes a backseat to what’s going on in the present with respect to your trading. Day trading is inherently a form of trading where positions are open for short durations (a day or […]

Is trading anything like gambling? It’s a common question or even outright claim by some who think financial markets are random or simply risky. The real answer is that it depends. Do you have a viable strategy that understands the root cause and effect relationships of what makes financial markets move and employ trades that […]

Cryptocurrencies dominated the mainstream financial news in 2017. Thus far in 2018, they’ve had a setback but are still among the more popular assets due to their high volatility and intriguing speculative nature. It’s only natural that news of people making a lot of money dabbling in something will attract a lot of people to […]