How to Execute Trades

How to Execute Trades [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9KZEcwdGxCX1Rrdw==[/video_player] How to execute trades and save money on your fills. This video will give you some tips on how to enter and exit an order. Retail traders have preferential treatment when it comes to orders. So play with the orders and see what you can get as your best fill. If this knowledge saves you one penny on the entry and one penny on exit that could pay for your commissions.

Read More »

Bargain Hunting for Stocks

Bargain Hunting for Stocks [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS95amplaW10MzQ1UQ==[/video_player] Found a beating up stock you wanna buy? Don’t catch a falling knife. Here some different ideas about what you can do to bottom fish stocks.

Read More »

Trade Liquid Markets

Trade Liquid Markets [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS84cFF6cHAzWTBoYw==[/video_player] Mathematically speaking it is impossible to make money in a market with wide bid and ask prices. If there is a low liquid product and the bid and ask is wide you’re losing as soon as you enter the trade. Don’t pay to play. You wanna be the house.

Read More »

Contrarian Scan in thinkorswim

Contrarian thinkorswim Scan [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS8tdnIxanlLNWFYcw==[/video_player] First let’s talk about what to expect in the final trading week of 2015. Typically at this time of the year there is a mix of tax loss selling and window dressing. Tax loss selling is when investors sell their beaten down stocks for the year in order to take their tax loss for 2015. Window dressing at the end of year happens when stocks that have done well over the year are bought so they appear on year end statements. Next let’s talk about scans. Why look at charts all day long when all you need to do is scan for whatever you’re looking for? Doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a particular MACD cross over or a stochastic level. Make your life easier with scanning. In tonight’s example I’ve built a contrarian scan. For the shared scan

Read More »

End of Year Selling Stocks

End of Year Selling Stocks [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS94S1lJNzdEaUNQUQ==[/video_player] Will the S&P finish above or below the zero line at the end of the year? There are several factors that will impact the markets in the final trading sessions of the year. They include tax loss selling, index re-balancing, quarter and year end window dressing. Let’s take a look at each one of them and how they influence institutional traders at the end of the year.

Read More »

Why Sell Volatility This Low?

Why Sell Volatility This Low? [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9tbW13Qzg5NkpTOA==[/video_player] Should you really be selling volatility right now? Let’s take a look at what’s moving this market and what’s not. We will start out with sectors then dive into specific ETFs like the XLF. I’m going to start building my case for why you want to wait to start selling volatility until next year. Right now if you wanna do anything buy this low volatility. It will be a wild ride tonight. We will go around these markets, sideways and backwards, but in the end it will all come clear!

Read More »

Don’t Over Trade This Week

Don’t Over Trade This Week [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9mTGJQd2NVMl8yRQ==[/video_player] Don’t fall into the end of year trap of over trading. Volume is light and volatility is high. This is the time of the year I like to do an end of year review of my trading. What worked and what didn’t work? What are my expectations going into the next year? How am I going to adjust my trading for better success?  

Read More »

Santa Claus Rally

Santa Claus Rally Dead? [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9MVzZyTkdNdTlfQQ==[/video_player] Four days before Christmas and the S&P has gone no where this year. In fact the S&P is down 2.5% on the year. Everyone is still talking about the Santa Claus rally. I caution you there is still a lot of volatility in this market. With a short week volatility and the expected move in the S&P is way too high. I don’t expect this to be your typical “slowly grind higher” into the New Year. Let’s use energy as an example. Oil prices have been crushed and we are about $1 away from the Great Recession lows of 2009. Yet the XLE, the energy sector ETF, is nearly 50% higher than when oil was at there 2009 lows. What’s more concerning is financials took the biggest hit on Friday. Higher interest rates are suppose to be positive

Read More »

Buy Volatility

Buy Volatility [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9TWXAxci1ZQ25Zaw==[/video_player] Volatility is a buy. You thought you’d never hear me say that one. The reality is the markets are moving and the volatility is shrugging. When is the last time you saw the S&P down 30 points and the VIX move 50 cents? The markets are telling us there is more room to the downside. Hang on for the ride.

Read More »

The End of the Zero Interest Rate Policy

The End of the Zero Interest Rate Policy [video_player type=”youtube” youtube_remove_logo=”Y” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9xUGloSXEtVTZjYw==[/video_player] The Zero Interest Rate Policy is over. Do you have one drink or two? That all depends on your risk profile. The market is giving telling what it thinks will happen next. Let’s listen in.

Read More »
Don Kaufman Don Kaufman

TheoTrade co-founder, former CBOE market maker and thinkorswim Chief Derivatives Instructor.

Read Don's full bio


Most Recent

The Boeing Rule That Cost Me $4,000
My First 2 Trades Were Winners. Then Came the Hard Part.
Where Big Money Leaves a Fair Value Gap on the Nasdaq
What Bailing Early Cost My Trading Room
Where the Real Selloff Starts

Get educational market insights sent right to your inbox.