Losing money is part of winning over the long run.
There is no winning without losing. Sounds crazy, but traders know this to be true.
We’ve all heard that losses are lessons. They are expensive lessons, but often the most valuable. Nothing valuable comes cheaply.
During the triage phase of dissecting what went wrong, we often have “a-ha!” moments that lead to new rules and new promises, and renewed confidence. “Next time,” we tell ourselves, “the outcome will be drastically different!”
In the options market, summer flights priced in Boeing options are pretty cheap right now.
I think I'll be looking to take a flight to a fun European destination if I can get a bullish position in Boeing to pay for it. Maybe I'll even fly on a Boeing jet?
During our analyst meeting this morning, we kicked around a few bullish ideas, but it was this Boeing $BA chart that rose to the top:
We're going to get involved with a bullish options spread that gives us through the summer to most efficiently express this thesis.
Strazza and I did The Flow show earlier this week in which one trade that stood out and caught my interest was a juicy short squeeze candidate.
Checking back on it today, the stock still maintains a short position greater than 20%. That means more than one-fifth of all shares outstanding are held by people with a short position. And if this stock starts busting higher, the only way traders holding a short position can end the pain is to buy the stock.
This can potentially fuel a rapid rise in share prices (see: Gamestop $GME circa early 2020).
I'm certainly not calling for a repeat of past meme stocks short squeezes here, but in this case, we've got a stock that's chart is in the middle of completing a beautiful base and short holders are no doubt keeping their fingers near the trigger to exit this position quickly if we see some follow thru to the upside.
Whoa baby. This might be a fun one. Or not. Either way, we'll likely find out pretty quickly.
Chinese stocks continue to offer up interesting opportunities. And today's trade is no exception. And to play it, we're going to do it in a fairly aggressive manner, but with a tight risk management stop.
We're already long some domestic semiconductor stocks via options (the trend is working). However, perhaps we've set our sights too close to home.
International stocks have been on a tear recently, showing even greater strength than the U.S. So maybe we should be looking for the strongest stocks, in the strongest sectors, in the strongest countries?
With this in mind, today's trade takes us to Switzerland.
I'm an amateur chartist, at best. If you want charting experts, I'll refer you to my team here at All Star Charts.
That said, I've got my eye on what appears to be a bullish flag forming in a hot Chinese stock and it looks ready for liftoff. Coupled with cheap options pricing, we can neatly define our risks and position ourselves for a big win.
As promised during yesterday's The FLOW show, I'm following up on a possible trade idea we discussed.
However, after Strazza and I put our heads together with the rest of the Analyst team this morning, we're going to attack an opportunity in Schlumberger $SLB from a different angle -- one that can be rewarding regardless of which direction the stock takes.
It’s easy to follow a trading plan when the price action is moving our way. We feel like geniuses.
Look at me! I’m so smart! The stock market is doing exactly what I planned for it to do! Let’s go car shopping!
But how do I feel if the price action goes the other way?
Assuming I’ve put a trading plan together that accounts for both the possibility of being right AND the possibility of being wrong, why should I feel any different when the price goes the wrong way?
What’s the point of putting together a detailed trading plan if I later exit the position following the first price move in the opposite direction I hoped for?