Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Right and Wrong Way to Approach Options Trading Strategies

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A while back I had the pleasure to speak with a gentleman from a prominent newsletter service. It was interesting to see just how he traded options and how his newsletter service and others that he was affiliated with used options in their services.

As I suspected – he uses options irresponsibly in his service - as most people do. And I told him so.

His response – “You sound like an idealist.”

An idealist? Why? Because I do not allow marketing efforts to control my options strategies? Because I do not gamble with options by attempting to guess which way an earnings call will go? Because I do not buy out-of-the-money options in hopes that an option will move towards my chosen strike price?

I could go on and on.

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The Breathtaking Fall of Natural Gas

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I lost interest in UNG (the Hun's recommendations notwithstanding) quite some time ago, largely because it was so cheap that the position size would be unwieldy.  I was stunned today to see just how far this has fallen over the years.

It's a mystery to me why my utility bill from the good city of Palo Alto still hovers between $800 and $1000 every single month, but I think it has something to do with the fact that the geniuses at Palo Alto Utilities locked in their contract to purchase gas somewhere near the peak.

0112-UNG