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.
Just In Case I Didn’t Show This Already
Bullish on Oil, though Not Energy Stocks (by Mike Paulenoff)
Oil is considerably higher today, as geopolitical tensions continue, and despite despite yesterday's larger-than-expected inventory build in oil and gasoline, and unseasonably warm weather across much of the nation. (Editor's note – obviously this was written earlier today before the embargo announcement!)
Increasingly, it appears that all of the action off of the Jan 4 high at 103.74 into this morning's price at 101.94 in NYMEX crude oil futures has carved out a high-level bullish coil pattern. When complete, this pattern should resolve into a new up-leg that propels nearby NYMEX oil to new highs projected into the 106-108 area.
At this juncture, only a decline that breaks yesterday's low at 100.55 will compromise the pattern.
While this is bullish for crude oil and its associated ETFs like the US Oil Fund (USO) and ProShares Ultra DJ-AIG Crude Oil (UCO), the equity energy names like Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Schlumberger (SLB) look weak, making the ProShares UltraShort Oil & Gas (DUG) an attractive ETF.
Originally published on MPTrader.com.
Right and Wrong Way to Approach Options Trading Strategies
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.
