Market Insights
Opportunity knocks for those with trading in their DNA.
Curiosity creates opportunity. Insights create strategy. Born traders create their destiny.
Bullish Option Strategy: Long Calls
Traders buy a single call option on a stock or ETF. This strategy can benefit from a price increase while risking more capital than a spread. Learn more
Greek of the Week: Theta
Editor’s note: This post, part of a four-part series about options Greeks, was originally published on Tuesday, August 28, 2018. So far, we’ve looked at delta and gamma. This week, we’ll turn to theta. Theta: T is for “time decay.” Theta measures how...
Greek of the Week: Vega
Editor’s note: This post, part of a four-part series about options Greeks, was originally published on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. So far we’ve reviewed three options “Greeks,” with memory tricks for keeping them straight: Delta: D is for direction.Gamma: G is for...
The Basics of Options
Options are an important tool for many retail investors. They can either replace trading shares, or make it easier to position oneself in stocks. Let's consider the first things options traders need to know. An Option's Price Is Usually Called 'Premium' There are some...
The Structure of Options Trades
While options can be traded by themselves, investors often use them in conjunction with other securities. So before going further, let's consider the four basic ways that options trades are structured. You Can Trade Options by Themselves As we learned in a previous...
Essential Options Knowledge: Time, Volatility and Different Kinds of Value
Options confuse a lot of investors because several factors impact their value. Unlike stocks, they don't just go up and down based on supply and demand. This post will explain three of the most important concepts you need to get started: time, volatility and intrinsic...
Chart of the Day: Royal Caribbean May Be Cruising Lower
Royal Caribbean Cruises drifted higher since the summer, but now it may be rolling over. The first pattern on today’s chart is the level around $61.45, where the leisure stock bottomed in March before proceeding to new lows. RCL peaked around that price on November 15...
Technology & Communication
Chart of the Day: Alphabet Pulls Back After Earnings Rally
Alphabet jumped to a new 52-week high on strong results last week. Now it may be giving trend followers a potential opportunity. The first pattern on today’s chart is the bullish gap on July 26 after revenue beat estimates and its Cloud business surprised to the...
Roku and Tesla Among the Busiest Symbols Last Month: October at TradeStation
Fast-moving technology stocks dominated activity at TradeStation again last month as the Nasdaq-100 broke out to new highs. Roku (ROKU) was the second-busiest symbol among our clients in October as it rebounded from a huge drop the previous month. Sentiment has swung...
Apple and Facebook Come Through With Strong Results: Earnings This Week
The busiest part of earnings season has passed, and big technology stocks were winners again. In particular, Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel (INTC) all rallied on strong results. Big health-care names like Merck (MRK) and Amgen...
The Fed, Apple, Facebook and GDP: Today’s a Super Busy Day
Today's one of the biggest sessions of the year, with a Federal Reserve meeting and major technology earnings. Just to get started, here's a blow-by-blow sequence of what traders can expect on Wednesday, October 30. All times eastern standard: In the premarket: 7 a.m....
Tesla Takes Off as Other Major Technology Names Drift: Earnings This Week
Some big technology stocks have reported earnings in the last week, but investors mostly shrugged so far. The big gainer is Tesla (TSLA), which ripped 17 percent after showing a big turnaround in profitability. The improvement in its margins and cash flow give the...