Think of this as an estimate of how richly or cheaply priced options on crude oil are, relative to the actual historical volatility of the asset.

Heading into earnings season, I thought it might be interesting to talk about how options work into earnings.

Unfortunately this is the case when it comes to charting the Futures markets. One of things I like about the Equities markets is that their charts are very easy to create and there is no ambiguity.

Looking for and trading chart patterns are very popular. In nearly every trading book you can find a section on how to trade these chart patterns.

Many traders still rely on fundamental analysis in order to select their stocks to trade. While I do believe that fundamental analysis can be useful, it is not needed for short term trading.

Often, I get emails that I regard as good questions. It's not that there is such a thing as a bad question but some are related to a more significant point than others. I thought I would share some questions I have recently received and answer them here for your benefit.

I am going to take a rest from the volatility products today and go back to some vanilla equities. For the most part the easier trades in those names are done as they give a little bounce today.

To be good at anything requires learning the fundamentals and constantly working on them throughout your career.

Fall in, line up, and get ready to get your options knowledge growing. The premiere episode of Options Bootcamp is here and designed to help novice options traders understand the utility of options.

From birth, we are conditioned to trade incorrectly. We naturally run from things we are fearful of and are drawn to things that make us feel good.

If I have learned anything in trading, it is the importance of patience with the markets. We need to be patient before and after we are in an active position in the markets.

One of the effects of the seasonality of options (that I talk a lot about with my students) is that premium sellers see the most dramatic erosion of the time value of options they have sold during the last week of the options cycle.