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.

The Mark of Zucko

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Last summer, I got an up-close and personal look at the inner workings of Meta, and I’m here to tell you, they are packed to the gills with slackers. Actually, that’s not fair. It isn’t packed to the gills, because the people drawing down huge salaries hardly ever show up to work anyway. I’m stunned how valuable this company is considering how light the employees keep their schedules, but a recent survey indicated that on average the engineers are spending about ten hours a week actually working, which is why the company has announced a 20% slash is coming up.

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Playing with Fire!

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It is exceptionally rare that I can honestly type the following words, but here goes: every decision I made today was the right one. This list is not exhaustive but, among these actions are:

  • Selling SPY puts promptly after the market opened (Made 118%; by day’s end, they were worthless)
  • Selling April DIA puts (which means all my options have at least until June for expiration now)
  • Judiciously trimming some larger options positions for more even-handed risk
  • Closing IBIT position and instead buying bonds by way of TLT
  • Tidying up the stop-loss levels of every single position.

I guess when the permabulls at Zerohedge made their top story going ‘tactically bearish‘ the writing was on the wall………this is truly Gartman level:

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When Looking Up Is the Trade

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted here on The Slope. Life has a way of pulling you in different directions. But I always find my way back, and for good reason. To Tim: thank you, as always. Fifteen-plus years posting on The Slope, and I remain genuinely grateful for this community. There’s nothing quite like it. For those who don’t know, I’ve spent the past several years building The Option Premium, a site dedicated to real options education with no hype, no flashy promises, and absolutely none of the marketing nonsense that plagues this industry. Just straightforward, honest strategy. I’m proud of what I’ve built there, and I hope some of you find it useful.

Most options traders do one of two things first: they buy a call, hoping for a rally, or they sell a put to collect premium on a stock they’re willing to own. Both are bullish plays. Both assume prices are going higher. But what happens when you don’t like the setup? When the market feels stretched, momentum is fading, and you want to express a neutral-to-bearish opinion with defined risk? That’s where bear call spreads quietly become one of the most underutilized tools in a premium seller’s arsenal.

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