Sean McLaughlin, Author at All Star Charts Page

[Options] Positions with September Expirations Review

August 30, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

It’s that time of the cycle where we begin to evaluate our open positions that are soon expiring. We had a number of September expiration trades that have already closed — either because their profit target was achieved ($XLB $XLE) or their stop loss level was violated ($AVGO $CSX $HFC $XLY), but we still have four open positions that require our attention as the calendar transitions to September.

We’ll talk more about these in our upcoming monthly All Star Options conference call, but I’ll give you a head start on our current thinking here: [Read more…]

[Options Premium] Seeking Safety in Strong Sectors

August 28, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

Continuing a theme that we started the week with, we’re still on the hunt for attractive long opportunities in the strongest sectors. When markets get choppy and uncertainty about market regime change looms, I seek relative safety in the corners of the market that have continued to hold up well. And since the beginning of August, one of those sectors has been the Medical Devices sector.

And here’s one of the names showing signs of a developing breakout.

[Read more…]

[Options Premium] Sticking With Strength

August 26, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

When in doubt, seek safety in the leaders.

With markets jittery all over the place, the one area investors still seem to be pretty confident in is the Home Builders. And why not? In a declining interest rates environment, home buyers can finance purchases at historically low interest rates — why wouldn’t they be buying and building new homes?

Of course, even in the strongest names, this is no time to be a hero. Prudent risk management is still job #1 and we are not looking to be too aggressive here. Therefore, we’ve got a bullish play on tap, but we’re approaching it in such a way so as to put ourselves in position to participate in upside as cheaply as possible. [Read more…]

[Options Premium] Second Chances

August 23, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

Back in April, we attempted to get long Texas Instruments $TXN, but the stock gapped higher at the open on our entry day and it didn’t come back for a month. So we missed it. And that was a bummer. But sometimes, life (and markets) gives us a second chance. And here we are.

Let’s not waste any more time. We’re getting to work! [Read more…]

[Options Premium] Lack of Energy

August 21, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

While many stocks and indices are attempting to repair themselves from recent August volatility, the Energy sector continues to be mired in a year-long downtrend. And considering many of our current positions are leaning long, it is always good to have some counterbalancing positions in the portfolio. We’ve got a conservatively bearish play on deck to help accomplish this mission. [Read more…]

[Options Premium] Still Building

August 20, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

One area in the market that has been maintaining a pocket of strength is the Home Builders sector. And with the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates recently (with the possibility of more to come), it’s likely mortgage originations will remain strong and therefore new home builds will continue their firm pace. Of course, to price-action watchers like us, all that fundamental and economic data is mostly noise…

Judging by the price action of the stocks in this space (the only indicator that really matters), it seems investors are betting on housing remaining a powerful economic driver into the near future. So, to ride this wave, we’ve identified a nice situation offering us great potential reward for limited risk. [Read more…]

[Options Premium] Manhattan Project

August 16, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

In a recent blog post on All Star Charts, we discussed the importance of big bases. In a nutshell, we like big bases because it reveals levels of “price memory” and indicates institutional support. You can read the post here.

At times of market uncertainty, indecision, or stress, it can be constructive to focus our attention to stocks in the process of building bases or just emerging from them. Today’s market environment certainly qualifies as uncertain if not also indecisive. As such, we’re digging into stocks that have recently broken out from significant bases. [Read more…]

[Options Premium] Offensive Defense

August 14, 2019 by Sean McLaughlin

While we haven’t raised the Bear Flag quite yet, we have noticed some outperformance in stocks that often are referred to as “defensive.” And the recent outperformance of the Aerospace and Defense industries has been particularly noticeable.

As geopolitics tosses and turns from tweet to tweet, we’ll focus on the downstream side effects in public markets that offer nimble players the opportunity to profit. And we’ve got a name lined up that appears to be directly benefiting from recent global “uncertainty.” [Read more…]