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.

Why Bother?

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Given the example that D.C. is setting for us all, I think the public will start to have some legitimate questions.

  • If a huge, rich company like Cheesecake Factory can blow off all their rent payments, why should I pay my rent?
  • If the government can just send us free money out of thin air, why should I bother going to work?
  • If the Federal Reserve can create as many trillions of dollars they want out of thin air, why should any of us pay taxes?

I’ve got to confess, I feel like a real idiot that I’m going to be making my mortgage payment on time, just like I always do. But the fact is I’ve got a credit score of 840 for a reason, and I don’t need “forbearance.” But I can’t help thinking that the biggest fools in this whole thing are those of us who are responsible and don’t need handouts. What a bunch of chumps we are.

Price Cream Cone

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What a extraordinary change in volatility the past five weeks. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to buy any option these days for a simple directional trade. Using the Price Cone feature in SlopeCharts, I can show you that the amount of volatility you’re paying for basically covers all possibilities except for an asteroid destroying Earth. Option sellers, on the other hand, are doing great!

slopechart BA
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A New Low In Trading Decisions

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It’s honestly breathtaking how dumb a person with some extra cash and a trading account can be. Allow me to illustrate.

One of the few stocks that has been thriving through the entirety of this crisis has been Zoom Telecommunications (ticker symbol ZM). Since everyone is trapped at home and doing video conferences, Zoom’s service has been getting a tremendous amount of use and attention. Their stock chart, naturally, has the hallmarks of a successful bullish play: strong prices accompanied with surging volume.

slopechart ZM
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