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Bulls in the China Shop? Options Surge Before Big Events
by David Russell | Jul 10, 2024
Options traders are getting active in Chinese technology companies like Baidu before two potentially important events. The first catalyst is at 8:30 a.m. ET tomorrow, when the U.S. Labor Department releases the consumer price index (CPI). It's the first reading of...
Reopening Stocks Like Banks and Commodities Are Crashing After the Fed Turned Hawkish
by David Russell | Jun 17, 2021
The Federal Reserve turned hawkish yesterday, and reopening stocks are paying the price today. Steelmakers, energy drillers, banks and transports lead the selling. Copper futures are down more than 8 percent this week, their biggest drop since March 2020. Corn,...
Check Out This Bullish Options Activity in Giant Semiconductor and Mining Stocks
by David Russell | Jun 15, 2021
The two largest companies in their industries had bullish options activity today: Intel and Vale. Intel (INTC), the world's biggest semiconductor maker, saw heavy call buying shortly after the opening bell. Traders initially purchased the 25-June 62 calls for $0.10 to...
This Major Index Is Breaking Out as Value Stocks Pause: Chart Study
by David Russell | Jun 15, 2021
Value stocks and reopening plays have been the main themes in 2021, but now the bulls seem to be returning to Big Tech and the Nasdaq-100. The yellow histogram on this chart compares the 21-day return of NDX against the S&P 500. (It uses our Smart Relative...
Make Custom Indicators, Modify Strategies: Learn the Basics of TradeStation’s EasyLanguage
by William Owens | Jun 14, 2021
EasyLanguage® lets investors build custom indicators and trading strategies in a straightforward and intuitive manner. This video introduces basic concepts and constructs of the EasyLanguage programming language. You will learn basic syntax and punctuation rules, how...
Growth Stocks Regain the Lead as Investors Embrace a Dovish Fed
by David Russell | Jun 14, 2021
Most of 2021 has focused on value stocks as the economy reopening from coronavirus, but last week investors returned to growth. The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent between Friday, June 4, and Friday, June 11. The Nasdaq-100 climbed 1.2 percent, its biggest outperformance...
Advanced Micro Is Challenging a Trend Line: Chart of the Day
by David Russell | Jun 11, 2021
Believe it or not, Advanced Micro Devices has been little changed for 10 months. But now the semiconductor stock may be getting ready to move. This chart shows how AMD is stuck between a falling trend line and its 50-day moving average. Our Moving Average Speed custom...
Top Stocks for Options Trading
Technology & Communication
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Technical Analysis: The Nightmare Could Be Ending in Chinese Tech Stocks
by David Russell | Oct 19, 2021
The last year for Chinese technology stocks has been nothing short of a nightmare. But now there could be signs of a turn in the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF, which holds key names like Tencent and Alibaba. The 8-day exponential moving average was under the...
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How Time Was Money on Tech Earnings: Winning Trade in Apple
by David Russell | Aug 1, 2018
Earlier this week, we outlined a potential options trade on Apple (AAPL) before earnings. That strategy hit maximum profit this morning after strong results sent the tech giant to a new all-time high. Let's take a look with TradeStation's OptionStation Pro. The green...
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Big Tech De-fangs the SPY: July at TradeStation
by David Russell | Jul 31, 2018
FANG ruled the roost in this month as volatility swept the Nasdaq. The two busiest stocks for TradeStation clients in July were members of the high-tech quartet: Facebook (FB) and Netflix (NFLX). Both crashed from record highs after mediocre quarterly reports raised...
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Buyers Rotate into These Sectors as Tech Stalls
by David Russell | Jul 31, 2018
Last week was rough for technology. But now investors are looking for gains in some new areas. The SPDR Industrial ETF (XLI) and SPDR Health Care ETF (XLV) are the two best performing sector funds over the last month with gains of about 7 percent each. XLI is also on...
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Know Your Options: Diagonal Spread Targets Apple Volatility Crush
by David Russell | Jul 30, 2018
One of the most predictable things in the market is time decay after a big event like earnings. Have you ever used a diagonal spread to capitalize on the change? Today we'll see how it's done. First, remember that option premiums attempt to factor in price swings. As...