As we inch closer to the election, the "change-of-narrative" plays still hold interest to me -- both as hedges to my overall bullish positioning, and as alpha generators.

Today's trade is in a "junky" solar name that has gotten beaten down with the rest of it's sector as investors are pricing in a Trump victory that would be perceived as bearish for the Solar Industry.

But what if a Trump victory results in an inverse "sell the news" type of event and the selling pressure gets lifted from this sector? Or, better yet, what if the pollsters are wrong (it's happened before!) and Harris comes out victorious? Wouldn't that result in an immediate narrative shift for this sector? And if that happens, junky stocks like today's trade could potentially offer a tremendous amount of alpha.

Shoutout to my boy Kenny Glick. He's the man. And I feel like I'm channeling him a bit today. I recently saw him talking about how he's getting into a trade in a name that has failed on him so many times in the past. Yet, when there's a favorable setup, he has to step up and take another swing -- even though he's seen this movie before.

I'm going to do something similar today in a crypto miner. I've been beaten time and time again with these things. But one of these times it's got to work! Why not today?

Please forgive my tirade at the beginning of this episode about my short $MTB trade. I had to defend my honor... 

But after that, me and Strazza get into the setup in MARA Holdings $MARA and how we arrived at what might seem to a lot of you (me too) a pretty high risk, but potentially huge reward trade:

I'm continuing my recent theme of portfolio diversification today with another short position, this time in a stock that should be performing well heading into Halloween and holiday season -- but isn't.

In fact, the chart looks like its got a lot of room to fall if their upcoming earnings report disappoints.

I do not recommend attempting to pick bottoms and tops. It can be a dangerous game. 

Yes, when you occasionally get one right you can make a killing. But we also put ourselves at risk at getting killed. Especially fading short squeezes, and double especially if you're doing it via getting short common stock.

Smart options traders, however, have an advantage here. We can define our risks precisely. We're going to take advantage of this feature with today's trade, a bet on the unexpected.

We had a delta-neutral options position on the books that we stopped out of this week. Thankfully, it was not a big loss. It felt like the right idea, but the wrong instrument.

So today's trade is a similar trade in a stock from the same sector. We're going to take advantage of a possible continued consolidation and get out before their next earnings event.

Perhaps this is just my own personal Waterloo, but there seems to be history of market turbulence whenever I travel and am away from my main trading station.

Next week will be a travel week for me. I'll be attending Stocktoberfest in Coronado Island, back home for one day in the middle of the week, then back on the road heading to Seattle. And this being October, when "surprises" seem most often to occur, I'm a little on edge about my mostly long-leaning portfolio.

So today's trade is a simple bearish bet in a weak name that may offer some cushion if things do get slippery next week.

Last week, I wrote to you about how winning is hard -- because holding out for large wins is easily the hardest thing we attempt to do as traders. Sitting through pullbacks against the direction of our trade is so. damn. hard.

I highlighted a trade we currently have on $CM. It was pulling back and testing the mettle of anyone long -- including me. Here's where it was at the time:

During the gold rush of the 1800's, there were fortunes made by some who were digging for and discovering gold.

But the REAL money was made by the entrepreneurs who were selling the pics and shovels to those gold speculators.

Along this similar train of thought, there are more than just semiconductor manufacturers that are going to benefit from the massive amount of investment done in the Artificial Intelligence space.

Today's trade is a year-long bet in one area that is starting to get attention by the AI players.

On today's Flow Show, Steve Strazza and I discussed the two different markets we are each experiencing. He's experiencing one of great breakouts and follow-through. I'm experiencing one of frustration.

Same stock market, different results. That is information. We get into it.

This bull market appears to be on the verge of another leg higher and it might be led by the financials. We both liked the idea of finding alpha down the cap scale in smaller regional banks to participate.

Here's a daily chart of U.S. Bancorp $USB:

...the higher in space.

Today's trade is in household name that is emerging from a 3-year base and on the verge of new all-time highs.

Due to earnings on the horizon, we'll be utilizing a spread to keep our costs in check and take advantage of some relative high options premium in out-of-the-money calls.