You might think that high probability and high risk are mutually exclusive…and they probably should be…but hear me out.  There are 2 parts to this odd-couple trade: both high probability (and I say that without any empirical evidence), but one much riskier than the other.  The main idea is to hedge my directional portfolio that [...]

Late Night Mundane UPDATE:
This is surely a sign of the end of bullishness…the SPY 20-day sma finally crossed back over the 50-day AND the index put/call ratio ($CPCI) spiked high to 1.68, which I consider a contrarian long SPY entry.
Any other day, I’d be ecstatic for these signals…but after 10-days of “straight up” market action, [...]

Financial markets are gripped by the role derivatives have played in Greece’s debt crisis, but Italy also has a derivatives time bomb, and hundreds of cities are in the €24-billion blast zone.
Many local governments eager to cut financing costs for years rushed to sign up for complex derivatives contracts, even when the terms were in [...]

Indeud. Brother Jake has been a printing press (pun intended) for all of you fanboys out there. I believe he deserves a shout out for his acumen.  Basically, investments along side him in $SLW, $ANV and $RGLD will soon see you upgrade your diet from nightly feasts on Ramen Noodles to walking into Le Cirque [...]

So the $VIX closed higher for the 2nd straight day, definitely ending that amazing streak of straight downward momentum.  The multi-year support around 17 has held strong.  And while it looks like it wants to bounce a bit more (which should bring some downwards market action along with it), the fact that it has failed [...]

Market Summary
The $SPX rose 0.17% today to close at 1140, as we experienced another broadly flattish day of consolidation.  Certain underlying stocks saw some volatile swings today, and the marquee business in the world, $AAPL, broke out to all time highs. However, the overall market remains frothy and plagued by low volume.  The chart above [...]

Laying Off the Action
Any time you are wagering on an outcome that has yet to be determined, you are gambling.  Often times, when you decide to gamble, your mind is made up and you make the commitment.  For example, if you play poker or blackjack for a living, you drive to the casino most days [...]

Hollywood’s BIG night of auto-fellatio/cunnilingus “went down” earlier tonight, ending with a couple surprise spurts.  I guess we’ll have to start calling it the more PC auto-fellatio/cunnilingus thanks to Kathryn Bigelow’s upset victories.  I have yet to see The Hurt Locker, but I just might have to after seeing the ease with which it defeated [...]