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.

Leverage Without the Landmines

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How Options Give You More for Less

How Traders Can Use Leverage Responsibly Without Blowing Up Their Accounts

The Siren Song of Leverage

Wall Street has an uncanny ability to make simple things sound sophisticated and dangerous things sound safe. Among the many weapons in a trader’s arsenal, leverage is both the most powerful and the most misused.

Used properly, leverage lets you amplify your returns, hedge risk, and build efficient trades. Used recklessly, it’s a financial wrecking ball—one that’s obliterated more accounts than bad stock picks ever could.

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An Uncertainty Principle

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In my post on Monday 10th Feb I was looking at the bull flag setups on SPX and QQQ and the historically bullish lean through Tuesday 18th Feb and was projecting that we might well see retests of the all-time highs on SPX and QQQ in that bullish window. We saw those all-time high retests on QQQ on Friday 14th Feb and on SPX on Tuesday 18th Feb.

In my post on Wednesday 19th Feb I was looking at the very nice-looking topping setups on SPX, QQQ and DIA and the historically bearish lean through Friday 28th Feb and suggesting that if these patterns were going to deliver, then this bearish window would be a good time to get started on that.

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Elasticity

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Greetings, yet again, from seven miles in the sky. This morning I’ve been up since the equivalent of 1 a.m. my time, and I managed to sleep a couple of hours on the plane before waking up in anticipation of the opening bell. Considering what happened Friday, we all have even more reason than normal to pay attention what transpires on this first day of a 5-day (thank you, holiday gods!) trading week.

The /ES, as of this writing (moments before the open) is up about half a percent, but it doesn’t look ready to undo all the damage from Friday. I’m actually pleased to see all this green on the screen, because a hard wipeout this morning would almost guarantee a big rally for the rest of the day. Hopefully the bulls can get the “stocks are on sale!” out of their system swiftly this time.

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