The dramatic decrease in volatility ($VIX is a good proxy for this) across the board over the past ten or so trading days is taking the starch out of my inclination for looking at delta-neutral options credit spreads. It’s getting harder to find good candidates. They are still out there, but I need to be more selective.

That said, I am open to getting long select names here. But the types of setups we’re more likely to find are ones where stocks come off nicely formed bases, rather than breaking out through key levels of resistance or all-time highs.

It doesn’t mean these setups are any more or less likely to work, it just requires a different mindset and tools.

Luckily the options market gives us a lot of tools.

I discuss this in today’s Options Jam Session, as well as a teachable lesson in a trade that got away from us:

I'm mindful that coming into this afternoon's Fed meeting lots can change following whatever is said after 2pm ET.

That said, there's a pretty compelling opportunity to sell some premium in the gold space, at strikes that are comfortably far away, increasing our odds of success.

My family and I recently embarked on a memorable 4-day journey to Redwoods National & State Parks in the breathtakingly rugged landscape of extreme Northern California.

Words alone cannot do justice to the majesty of this region, nor can mere photographs fully encapsulate its grandeur. To truly grasp its magnificence, one must stand amidst the towering coastal redwood trees, with the rugged shoreline of Northern California stretching out before them, enveloped in the sights, sounds, and scents of one of the most remarkable forests on Earth.

Even the gentle rain that occasionally graced our adventure served to enhance rather than dampen our experience, intensifying the assault on our senses in the most fulfilling manner imaginable.

As we spent hours traversing the labyrinthine trails, venturing deep into the heart of the woods, a recurring reminder echoed among us: "Don't forget to look up!"

Often, we found ourselves engrossed in the intricate dance of navigating the...

In today's Flow Show, Steve Strazza laid out the case of how both the Nasdaq 100 and Chinese tech stocks (particularly Chinese internet) might be signaling an important rise in speculative appetite which could fuel the next bull run.

Of the names Steve shared, the one that made the most sense to me was JD.com $JD. Check out this chart:

We're looking at the past year in $JD and it feels to us that if this motor gets running, we could target the low 40's with a good thrust which would be new 52-week highs.

Knowing that we might come into some overhead supply at those levels which could check the rise, and also knowing that upside call options are currently sporting some rich premiums, we're going to put both of these observations to our advantage by utilizing a bull call spread.

Here's the Play:

These cookies were made by a member of my Trader’s Meetup group. She brought them to our gathering last night and made plenty to share with everyone.

Where else can one bring cookies with Japanese candlesticks and receive a rousing ovation from all in attendance?

This is how you know you’re with your people.

Eventually, our spouses get tired of hearing about our “failed breakouts” and “doji reversals.” Our non-trading friends look sideways at us for...

I came into today's Flow Show not having much of an appetite for any aggressively bullish bets. But by the show's end, I'm putting on a straight gamble! How the hell did that happen? Watch the video above to find out.

The chart and setup that piqued my interest is this one in Riot Platforms $RIOT:

Now that the Bitcoin "halving" is out of the way, will the prior RIOT/Bitcoin correlation that was strong until the last three-ish months reassert itself?

And if it does, will $RIOT catch up to Bitcoin? Or will Bitcoin catch down to $RIOT?

Judging by the basing action we've witnessed in Bitcoin in recent weeks, I think the next big move is higher. And if $RIOT "catches up"? It could be a monster winner in a hurry.

Bonus kicker: Riot Platforms announces earnings on May 8th. That could be the big push we need.

Here's the Play:

Whoa! What a week for pruning the garden!

I closed out eleven positions in five trading days. Unfortunately, many of them were losers. But the good news is all the losers were small (less than 1% of my portfolio capital each). Losers are never fun. But when they’re small, we will survive to trade again.

And the better news is that some of the exits this week represent the harvesting of large open profits. The size of the wins, while fewer in number, more than offset the sting of the losses.

When I’m doing it right, that’s how it’s supposed to work!

Check out my thoughts on the current market environment and the action among open trades in All Star Options in today’s Jam Session:

Berkshire Hathaway stock $BRK/B has traded down for eleven of the past thirteen trading days. That's not something you see often.

Call me sentimental, but watching implied volatility in Berkshire options creep up to its highest levels of the year feels like a gift to naked put sellers. So I'm going to take advantage.

Whether it’s a pullback in a position or a pullback in my portfolio, drawdowns are the hardest thing to endure as a trader.

However, let’s not forget that I first had to have a winning trade on to suffer a pullback. That’s good!

If I want to have a big winner, it must first start as a small winner. Then the hard work begins…

To grow from a small winner into a big winner, it’s very rare for the path to be a straight line. There will be pauses. There will be the occasional shakeout of weak hands. There will be people on social media or TV talking about how extended the move has become and how there’s a high risk of a correction.

There will seem to be a million reasons to take profits before they escape my grasp.

In today's Flow Show, me and Steve Strazza took a look at some potential directional bets, but we both agreed that the right trade for today is one that would benefit from some sideways trading action.

With the broader markets looking a bit indecisive here, making a strong directional bet (in either direction) feels like a high-risk proposition. But there's a big cap name currently stuck in a range that is offering us nice options premiums to bet on further sideways action. We'll likely have to hold through an earnings event to earn our profit, but with a defined risk and a large margin for error, I like our chances.

We're looking abroad for today's trade in a company involved in the manufacturing and sale of connectivity and sensor solutions.

The stock is breaking out of a multi-year base and it offers us a nearby risk management level to keep our stop tight which means the potential for nice gains versus a smaller risk of loss.