Futures, Commodities, & Options

The derivatives markets have exploded in popularity, trading volume, and complexity over the years, providing more investing and trading choices than ever before. Whether making a directional bet, volatility play, or hedging risk, derivatives allow you to calibrate every position to maximize profit and minimize risk. Learn powerful analysis methods, diverse trade set-ups, and execution techniques from top professional investors and traders.

Articles on Futures, Commodities, & Options

As options traders, risk management is always top of mind, states Bob Lang of ExplosiveOptions.net.
When we sell cash-secured puts (CSPs), we are getting paid to undertake the contractual obligation to buy the holders' shares at a price that we (the sellers) determine, called the strike price, by a date that we determine, called the expiration date, states Alan Ellman of The Blue Collar Investor.
Just a few things that I saw so far with holiday retail sales. Mastercard SpendingPulse said Black Friday was up 2.5% YOY in nominal terms, and that covers both store and online. It was mostly driven by jewelry, apparel, sporting events, and restaurants (likely including gift cards). Meanwhile, gold continues to trade very well in the face of high real rates, writes Peter Boockvar, editor of The Boock Report.
The November uptrend continued. All eleven S&P SPDR sectors were higher last week, notes Bonnie Gortler of bonniegortler.com.
The West Texas Intermediate crude oil is out of whack with Brent crude and the rest of the commodity complex this morning, says Phil Flynn of PRICE Futures Group.
Good post-holiday-Monday-morning! Stocks finished last week off mixed, and they’re under a bit of pressure in the early going here. Gold and silver are notably higher, though, while crude oil is modestly lower. The dollar and Treasuries are flattish.
My twin grandsons, age seven, give me immeasurable joy. I especially enjoy reading bedtime stories to them. Recently on the docket was the 1930 classic The Little Engine That Could, and it occurred to me that now’s an opportune time to write about small-cap stocks and their strong prospects for next year. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) is an ETF for profiting from them, advises John Persinos, editor of Investing Daily.
MoneyShow's offices are closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Mike Larson's Market Minute will resume again on Monday, Nov. 27.
I have this new 20-minute window in my life each day. My kid started pre-school this fall. Each morning, we take a 15-minute ride on public transit to drop him off. On the way back, I have about 20 minutes of waiting for and riding the bus home. So, with this new window of quiet reflection, I did the most cliché thing an investor could do: I started re-reading The Intelligent Investor (the 2003 edition with commentary from Jason Zweig), recounts Tyler Crowe, author of Misfit Alpha.
The US markets are closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday. And like many of you, my team members and I are enjoying the day with our families, friends, and loved ones.

Experts on Futures, Commodities, & Options


Virtual Expos

Virtual Learning

In today's fast-paced and data-driven financial landscape, staying ahead of the game is essential for traders and investors. This seminar will teach attendees to do just that. In an era where AI algorithms are becoming powerful decision-making tools, this seminar takes a novel approach by empowering traders and investors to think ahead of the algorithms.  Adrian will delve into strategies and insights that not only leverage the capabilities of AI but also equip participants with the critical thinking and foresight needed to anticipate these digital counterparts.  Attendees can expect to gain a deeper understanding of market dynamics, advanced risk management techniques, and a competitive edge that allows them to navigate the financial markets with confidence and intelligence, ensuring their investing and trading tactics are resilient and future ready.

Dr. Given will discuss the diagonal call spread and its superiority to the common vertical spread. But high win/loss ratios only accrue to particular trade set-ups. For traders with a tolerance for higher risk, diagonal call spreads may also be used as a play on a stock's earnings announcement.

Last year a recession was widely expected after GDP contracted in the first and second quarters. Investors were wrong. He didn’t think there would be a recession in 2022 as discussed with Money Show attendees. Most investors now think a recession will be avoided since GDP has been positive in the first three quarters of 2023. Will investors be fooled again?

Investing in the markets has been a knife fight in the phone booth for the last couple of years. Therefore, we’ve endeavored to find investments that correlate little to the overall markets. We firmly believe that asset classes such as Merger Arbitrage and Busted Convertibles provide an exceptional solution for clients seeking idiosyncratic returns in today’s uncertain world. We invite you to learn how these esoteric tactics have meaningfully benefited our clients.

Gold stocks are now trading at close to the lowest valuations in 40 years.  Despite the high price of bullion, gold stocks are trading at lower multiples with higher yields than the S&P.

 

The stock market will likely be moving into a long-term bear market in the coming year.  Avi will outline his parameters to identify when it will begin, and the expectations he has for such a market. 

 

Join Bloomberg Intelligence's chief equity strategist, Gina Martin Adams, CFA, CMT, for a live session on equity market investment strategies in a new era of high inflation and interest rate volatility, decoupling global growth prospects and ongoing policy uncertainty. Gina will offer perspective on global stocks in the TARA (There Are Reasonable Alternatives) era, dive into fundamental, technical, and quantitative trends driving equity markets, and she will introduce the team's approach to country, sector, and factor allocation strategies for equity portfolios.

Join Pamela Aden, the co-editor of The Aden Forecast for an overview of the big picture that is very telling about gold, silver, and other resources.

 

IBD’s MarketDiem newsletter gives you hand-picked trade ideas for stocks and options right in your inbox every weekday during market hours. Our team does the research, so you get smarter trading insights, timely market analysis, and even bite-size investing lessons––all in a quick 5-minute read. Subscribe today for $4.99 per month or just $20 for the entire year.

 

Explore the potential of calendar spreads in this webinar, where Ardi will unravel the complexities and reveal their remarkable opportunities. While often overlooked due to their intricacies, these spreads provide an exceptional avenue for investors seeking both long exposure and theta extraction. Discover how they can optimize capital efficiency and offer superior upside compared to conventional stocks. He will cover risk management and share insights on effective position management and the fundamentals of profit-taking, equipping you with valuable tools for enhancing your options trading.

Conferences


Cruises



The growth of financial futures has been one of the most remarkable success stories in the markets. Their age is relatively green at just a little over 50 years old. Originally created to help farmers hedge against price changes between crop planting and harvesting, futures have grown since then to include interest rates, foreign exchange, metals, energy, weather, and even Bitcoin.

Whether trading agricultural commodities, energy futures, metals, stock indexes, or even the softs; futures provide the best bang for your buck. But leverage is a two-sided blade. In this section, MoneyShow.com trading experts provide a deep dive into the current futures market activity and price action to help you find ways to strengthen your portfolio, while mitigating risk and exploiting opportunities in these diverse markets.

Discover unique and critical futures trading strategies to help you generate more consistent profits and better manage your portfolio risk. From in-depth futures market economics to spread trading, you will take away new knowledge to help you better identify trading opportunities. Our contributors will share with you their time-tested commodities investing strategies and futures trading strategies. The insights you will learn will help you in your investing or trading with market intelligence that you cannot find elsewhere.

At the same time, the opportunities now available to individual traders in the option arena are astounding, having exploded in volume and complexity in recent years, offering option traders the ability to trade, hedge, or speculate in just about any stock, ETF, or commodity.

Our goal in these pages is to start you down the path of options trading and help you avoid many of the pitfalls that beginning options traders experience. Some of the top names in trading will familiarize you with options—what they are, how they work, and what opportunities they present. You’ll learn practical knowledge about when it is appropriate to buy/sell puts or calls, covered-call writing strategies, and advice on when to use each of these strategies. More experienced traders will learn profitable options trading strategies to help you make more money and better manage your portfolio risk.

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ETFs & Investing Strategies

November 28 - 29, 2023