This little trading tip can and will make a difference in your trading results in 2009.
Stops are enormously important part of a traders arsenal of trading tools. Some traders confirm that stops are the most important part of their trading armor.
So here are three ways to use stops to protect your capital and lock in [...]

Introduction to Futures Spread Trading
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Silly Season and the Markets
In a few days we will be officially entering into the silly season. Most people think of this time of year as the holiday season, but for many investors it tends to be the silly season.
If you haven’t made your money in the market already this year do not try to [...]

Money Management
Crucial but often overlooked, money management practices can mean the difference between winning and losing in the markets.
Plenty of books, manuals, and software packages will help you form and opinion of a market, but not many will tell you how to trade once you have decided to get long or short. The goal of [...]

Learning Options- Part 4
In real estate, they say that the three most important things are location, location, and location. In options, the three most important things are volatility, volatility, and volatility. Often neglected by option rookies, volatility is the cornerstone of an option professional’s trading strategy.
In its simplest form, expressed as the annualized percentage of [...]

Learning Options- Part 3
Two of the more common option strategies are horizontal spreads (identical strike prices, different expiration days) and vertical spreads (different strike prices, same expiration day). Other spread types are combinations or variations of these categories: Diagonal spreads are a mixture of horizontal and vertical spreads; butterfly spreads combine two different vertical spreads.
Selling [...]

Learning Options- Part 2
Many people like options because they believe them to be less risky than futures. Options sometimes offer reduced risk, but usually at the cost of reduced profit potential.
One drawback of options is that a trader must consider market speed (volatility) as well as direction. Traders who buy or sell options outright to [...]

Learning Options- Part 1
There are four components to an options price: underlying contract price, intrinsic value ( determined by strike price), time value (time remaining until expiration) and volatility. (A fifth element, interest rates, also can affect option prices, but for our purposes is unimportant.)
Intrinsic value refers to the amount an option is in-the-money. With [...]

The government’s emergency plan to stop a run on money market funds stands to stem the panic for now, but raises serious questions that will change the way investors handle their savings.
Friday the Federal Reserve and Treasury announced separate but complementary moves to shore up what was turning into a exodus from [...]

By Doug Campbell
Email: dcampbell AT tlg.bz
So the Federal Reserve cut rates again.
Many of the mortgage applicants are a bit confused as they are expecting a lower interest rate as the Fed is cutting the rates. Others who have been waiting to refinance are puzzled as to why mortgage rates have [...]