Great , knowledgeable,
well reasoned answer, a view of the post crisis and its byproduct that I never thought of!!
thanks

I know that everyone is really happy that the consumer is spending, but I forgot to mention that for the first time in years the savings rate is dropped to a level seen in 2008

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-spending/u-s-consumer-spending-grows-at-fastest-pace-since-2009-savings-drop-idUSKBN1CZ1GN

Those are all good questions, opsinin. As Seth alluded to, price changes based on sentiment tend to occur before price changes based on fundamentals. As Ben Graham once said, “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”

You got some good answers to your list of questions. As to closing them, you can certainly hold until expiration. Since you sound new at this I’d recommend closing early for two reasons. One, assignment risk. If you don’t know how to handle that it could be aggravating. Get some wins under your belt before fretting about those mechanics.…[Read more]

You’ve make some excellent points, RonTurkey. It’s pretty much all or nothing with altcoins, especially for position traders who plan to “HODL” (hold on for dear life). That’s why I would have a preference for swing trading these things, buying on dips and taking profits frequently.

I’m just like you, RetiredMarine — I never get the new phones when they come out. When I was a high school teacher, the students would say, “Mr. Moadel’s got a ghetto phone!” LOL

Scott, I use the VWAP on tc2000.com I think it’s constructive when identifying a reversal after a down move on $SPY. I use it inversely for $VXX scalps intraday, meaning I put the indicator at the $VXX top candle, and I like to see if it stays under the VWAP. So spike, VWAP candle, see if it can stay below. If it goes above, and reaches a new…[Read more]

Not looking to take big money. Looking to take 25% of the premium then close out even if vix goes higher. Take gains quick.

Sold VXX 26 calls this week expiry for 50c and 26.5 next week. Wouldn’t mind assignment. Still building core. All action after 16.05

Is this a long vol trade? Assessing that you bought the 10.5 and sold the 11.5. off the top of my head it looks like your break even is only if VIX settles at 11.11 on the Feb expiry,which we havnt done a lot lately.

I agree. The bias seems lower at this point.

GPRO is down 26% this morning. Overreation perhaps, but I won’t be catching this falling knife right now at least…

I agree with you all that 45-90 DTE VXX/UVXY is the vefy safe and last 2 years Will almost likely would expire worthless. It’s just for me with IB new margin almost (400%) it is where the juce still left and one of the the way to get short shares into the core. Trying Questrade (Canadian brokerage) now as they claim their shorf vol products…[Read more]

It can be a challenge, but I find that it’s part of trading vol options in general. I tend to slowly add to existing positions during extended periods of higher vol, and the spreads definitely get wider but I can generally get filled near the mid-point. That’s in part though why I try to keep the position small so I can ride it out to expiry if I…[Read more]

Ripple goes against everything that Bitcoin was meant to represent – decentralization. Nevertheless, I think it’s a necessary part of any crypto portfolio just like Bitcoin, BTC cash and gold, ether, litecoin, Lumens, cardano, monero, miota. Dilution is a concern, as is centralization, but like most coins, it boils down to people looking for…[Read more]

I agree, Scott, with the strategy of buying VXX or UVXY put spreads with 90 to 180 days until expiration. Closer to 180 days is for the more conservative investors, while closer to 90 days would be for the more risk-tolerant investors.

Andrew, I also like to sell UVXY call spreads, though I prefer to choose strike prices that are out of the…[Read more]

The list of Blockchain and block chain related stocks continue to grow and spread – I believe tech giants have been lumped into the list. This is poison and I hope they crash sooner rather than later. I hope they don’t tarnish the Bitcoin world too much and result in a domino effect. I desperately want to short companies like RIOT and Long Island…[Read more]

VXX matures Jan 2019 and close shop then. VXXB will be created to take it’s place. So, I would add vixy leaps on next vol event, which is most similar to vxx.

I also own a variety of both UVXY and VXX and VIXY puts. For ones less than a 360 DTE, I prefer to take those off at least 30 days prior to expiry. A short term volatility event can cause…[Read more]