Is that because I’m a trader? Or am I a trader because I make quick decisions?
Over time, I think I’ve come to the conclusion that being a trader has instilled in me a knack and preference for quick decision-making. I wasn’t always like this. 25 years of trading has taught me to work with only 75% of the information I might want, and that is good enough to take action.
The phrase “invest, then investigate,” as Stanley Druckenmiller said, comes to mind.
Outside of trading, this can also affect my day-to-day decision-making. I think it frustrates my wife when I make decisions so quickly. In her mind, she probably thinks I’m being irrational, emotional, or acting on impulse. She, in contrast, is very deliberate. Cautious. Analyzes every detail…
The US Dollar Index $DXY is clinging to the 100 level, refusing to let go despite new 52-week highs for the British pound and a steady rise in the euro.
Gold has been running this race for months... at least, that’s how it feels.
Perhaps it’s simply making its way to the starting line…
I believe that’s the best way to view gold and precious metals at this stage of the game. Before I get ahead of myself – marking a series of upside objectives – I want to highlight a key level that defines my intermediate- and near-term risks…
We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.
For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.
That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.
We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.
To make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.
From the Desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @Alfcharts
This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow.
In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.
We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.
Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.