In Texas, it’s often said: “Go Big or Go Home.”

We intend to do just that with a simple options play in a State of Texas namesake. [Read more…]

The All Star Charts team is not wildly bullish on US stocks here, though the consensus is that eventually we resume higher out of some sideways action that might take a few months to work through. That said, there is one sector we feel will lead us higher when the time is right and we’ve got a candidate stock that offers us a good opportunity to express our mildly bullish stance while keeping our risks manageable. [Read more…]

Due to a scheduling conflict around the annual CMT Symposium in New York, JC and I will be doing our monthly conference call a little later in the cycle this month. But have no worries, I’ll provide some updates below on positions we have open with April options that may need some attention or adjustments. [Read more…]

A year ago, I made a commitment to healthier eating. Not that I was a slob or anything, it was just that my attitude about what I was willing to put into my body (basically anything) needed to change. At my age, you begin to think about these things.

That said, I’ll still happily get long stocks of fast food companies that are poisoning the human race if there’s a way for me to profit from it (then spend the earnings at the local vegan grocer!). And one household fast food chain is setting up for a big potential move. [Read more…]

You probably thought this would be a piece about US stocks, didn’t you?

While it certainly looks like the Christmas lows in the US are going to stick around for a while, the All Star Charts team is also detecting some broader potential breakouts overseas that we can participate in with options on index ETFs. [Read more…]

You’ve probably noticed a few recent blog posts and twitter comments from the All Star Charts team singing the praises of “cash”. There’s nothing wrong with cash as a position if there aren’t any compelling ideas to get you excited about. In fact, its often the best move.

However, we options players can still structure trades that will profit in sideways markets. But a big challenge currently is that we prefer higher options prices driven by relatively high volatility to sell into — and its hard to find that anywhere right now. Across the board, options prices are getting extremely compressed everywhere. What to do?

How about a strategy that positions us to benefit from sideways action while also getting a goose from any reversion to the mean (er, higher) volatility? [Read more…]