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.
I’m always happy to share my success stories here, but it’s more important than I share my blunders. I was short Eli Lilly (LLY). I hadn’t even glanced at them pre-market, but when I saw a huge loss in my portfolio, I was baffled where it came from. It didn’t take long to find out: LLY was up triple digits on news of some new Ozempic-type drug.
Here is a sampler of options charts from our amazing options chart page, featuring positions I sold and the triple-digit gains that transpired afterward. Argh! This speaks favorably about my ability to find opportunities and quite poorly about my inability to stick with them!
Well, slip me into a pink taffeta dress and call me Peaches. The market is collapsing, and I’m not NEARLY short enough. Not even close.
Let’s back up a bit. I’ve been feeling rather jerked around by the market this week. So much so that I trimmed the sails quite a bit. Among the four accounts I trade, the allocation levels I’m at are 40%, 56%, 60%, and 65% allocated to live positions. In other words, I’m at about 50% cash.
That was a comforting thought to me when the Prezident lumbered out to the podium and stated that there would be a 10% “baseline” to tariffs, which sent markets around the world exploding higher. After a little while, though, he clumsily pulled out a big poster board like those a kid would use for a science project and which displayed the much, much higher than 10% tariffs, and the markets absolutely vomited all over themselves. My adoration of that 50% cash vanished INSTANTLY. Jesus H. Christ, man!
The bulls finally did it. Escape velocity was achieved, and the sinewave, after two weeks, was escaped.
Oh my God. If you could plot a divergence to track the spread between my skills as a chartist and my skills as a trader, it would be gargantuan. I cited Wingstop (WING) as a great bearish opportunity ceaselessly. I just glanced at the options I sold, and they are up another 200%. Good God. Pay attention to my charts, people, but ignore when I close a position! I’m a weakling!
