In addition to the VIX futures premium at 21.12, which is worthy of some new hedging positions, we suggest considering the possibility that a trading range is developing.

After several weeks of "risk on" followed by "risk off" perhaps, it is time to begin looking for the possibility of a developing trading range. In this post, we review the technical condition of the equity market and update our indicators followed by a strategy suggestion considering the development of a trading range.

When you have a profitable position in a stock you bought, you can often lock in most of those profits, while still taking advantage of further upside price movement.How? Simply replace your stock with a call option

According to the old adage, a fool and his money are quickly parted. In today's world, acting like a fool is a sure-fire way to lose all of your money. In this article I've outlined 3 ways to avoid.

Each day the market defines a Market Profile (MP), a Value Area (VA) and a Point of Control (POC) all of which are invaluable trading the following day. Similar market derived data over longer time frames is also of great value to day traders and other time frame (OTF) traders.

It seems as if the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) is making weekly changes to its new "Weeklys" options. These are short-term options that are listed each week and that expire in about 7 days.

For strategies that include a component of being short premium, the maximum potential total profit or loss is only achieved at expiration. This effect is easily seen in the case of vertical spreads which only reach their maximum potential gain or loss at expiration or when the spread goes deep in-the-money or out-of-the-money.

As an options expiration day arrives, traders note that stocks sometimes get "pinned" to a specific strike price. But now that every week is an expiration week for a select group of stocks and ETFs, will we see this phenomenon every Friday?

This title assumes a great deal. It assumes that as a trader you are already profitable and that markets are not ordinarily scary. If you can identify with these assumptions, then you have come a long way in your development as a successful trader. In as much as 95% of traders fail in their attempt to become successful trader. I suggest I back up a bit and address this to those who would be amongst that 5% who are consistent winners in this zero sum game we call day trading.

Trade selection using volatility as the primary criteria. Different trades for different volatility opportunities.

People are excited about tail risk. On the institutional side, banks and asset managers are packaging up complex, multi-asset hedging products and selling them to pension funds, endowments, and other natural longs. On the retail side, Barclays and others are getting great traction with products like VXX, VXZ, VXX options and now XXV.

Once again, the pendulum swung back to the "risk on" position despite the uncertainties created by the unresolved macro debate over deficit cutting or more stimulus and coming changes to the financial system from "Fin Reg".