We all want it easy – and if possible, quick and easy at the same time.

Yet for some money things in life (of which include options trading) it’s the struggles that make us better. Stronger and more prepared.

In fact, I have gone so far as to tell some of my coaching clients that I require they struggle and fail the first month. With most of the bad habits I see floating around and the sheer statistics to back me up, it’s not hard for new traders to fail quickly.

You Should Embrace The Struggle

Have you ever watch an egg hatch? I know it sounds odd but follow me on this if you haven’t.

Just before the new chicken is born it goes through a huge struggle to break free. Actually it starts weeks before pushing out on it’s shell and building enough muscle to finally breakout one day. Weeks and days of failure yet all along it’s growing stronger.

Then, when it’s gotten strong enough to break out, it starts a completely new life! And more importantly it’s strong enough to survive outside the shell.

Sounds like someone you know? Possibly sitting in your office at your desk? Me too.

All too often we look for the easy path when it comes to trading options and investing. Three payments of $19.95 and some cheap old system that you just plugin to your computer and it’ll trade for you profitably for 100 years.

Don’t tell me you guys are still falling for this? But it’s in our DNA in today’s society. We want things fast, with little hassle and no struggles.

I have shocking news. . .

It’s the struggles that allow us to grow and succeed on the next level. Think about what would happen if we just cut the chicken out of the shell weeks early. Do you think it would really have the strength to survive alone? Hell no!

The same goes for options trading. You have to struggle and get back up. Make losing trades and come back again the next day ready to learn. Weeks and years of small struggles make you wiser and more profitable.

90% Of Lottery Winners Go Broke

You read it right – 90% go broke in less than 5 years! We are talking about people with multi-million dollar fortunes who blow their money.

How does this happen? Easy.

It’s not the money that sends them back to poverty. Nope. It’s that they never struggled to earn/save money before.

They haven’t developed the skills, habits, or financial muscles necessary overtime that would allow them to survive outside the “shell” of being for all intensive purposes poor.

Next Steps. . .

If I’ve convinced you that struggles are okay then what are the next steps right? Easy.

Focus on learning the fundamental options strategies. Forget about market direction and learn how probability trading works. Sure it’s going to be a tough transition because most investors don’t think like this. But just as in life, it’s the struggle that will make you stronger.

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

Some of the bigger name and higher value securities over the last 5-10 years have gotten so price heavy that it almost pushes the normal retail option trader out of the market for those stocks.

AAPL, GOOG and AMZN being three of the more expensive stocks, and the current monkeys for the CBOE’s trial, all of which have single stock prices that make it unreasonable for a normal retail trader to participate in the options market without a big cash reserve.

Taking just 1 GOOG contract for example, you would have to have nearly $80k to exercise or trade the underlying 100 shares. I don’t think many investors have that kind of money laying around.

Sure the leverage helps but it also cripples others with the higher option premiums.

Given the explosive growth of the options industry over the last 2 years (4 million contracts traded in 2011 & 2012) there had to be a way the exchanges could continue to drive increased trading. . .

Introducing the “Mini-Options”

This new breed of option contracts are strictly aimed at allowing small investors to participate in the options market for these larger priced securities. At 1/10 the size of the normal contract the capital requirement to trade different options strategies on these bigger securities just allowed for a huge wave of possible market participants.

For example, a regular option contract on GOOG might trade for $1,150 where as now the same Mini-Option would trade for just $115. Of course you are only controlling 10 shares as opposed to 100 shares but you can see how this allows for more investors.

Level Playing Field And Pricing

For me the key to the success of these new contracts, just like the weekly option success over the last couple of years, is that they level the playing field for investors while also keeping the pricing characteristics the same for the options.

As a position and strategy trader, the volume and interest in these Mini-Options over the next few weeks/months is going to show how willing investors are to move away from the larger contracts.

The more interest the better the pricing models and strategies will be in the end.

What’s Your Take On The “Mini” Option?

Like weekly options I’m sure some of you will naturally gravitate towards these smaller contract while others might not. Add your comments below as I’d like to hear what you all think about these new contract.

Do you plan on trading them? Would you like to see more securities involved?

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

Just this past winter I was traveling a lot for the holidays and just couldn’t access my desktop trading platform as much as I wanted. Thus I had to relay on the mobile application.

The markets were fairly calm but with all of the end of the year “stuff” that tends to happen quickly I didn’t want to be away from covering trades if I need to. Hence the real problem. . .I had never really been comfortable making a trade on my mobile phone.

If you’ve also been in this situation, or just can’t access the markets from work, then mobile trading has got to become part of your system. The technology is growing so fast that it truly is becoming and advantage for those who know how to use it properly.

So, today I’m going to help you set up and start really mobile trading!

Desktop Vs. Mobile Trading?

I still prefer desktop to mobile though I am much more comfortable with the direction I’m headed having fully integrated my mobile phone. The biggest advantage of mobile trading being that I’m not tied to the desk during the trading hours.

Sure I miss the ease of analyzing stocks including the technicals that mobile trading hasn’t quite mastered, but the charting and data feeds are really amazing. Given the choice I would still prefer my Mac and mouse, yet I don’t always have that choice.

The awesome reality is that we shouldn’t chose one over the other today. Brokers have been rolling out such advanced technology on mobile devices and tablets that we all should be asking ourselves how we can effectively use both to make/save more money. Not shying away from mobile because we don’t understand how it works.

Spend Time To Learn The Platform

Like almost anything on earth your interested in mastering, you have to spend time to learn the platform. I use thinkorswim so I spent a ton of time navigating around their mobile trading system (both on my iPhone and iPad). I downloaded both a while ago and they sat mostly unused until I made a point to try it out.

Kick the tires, break the software in, watch video tutorials from the brokers – whatever you have to do to understand the platform. You’ll never learn to trust it to make trades until you are confident in what it has to offer.

Make Small, Real Money Trades

As I mentioned before my biggest “fear” with mobile trading was that I couldn’t do enough analysis to make a smart trade on a mobile device. I had this preconceived notion that I needed to be in front of a huge platform to make smarter decisions with my money. Boy was I wrong!

Trading platforms are simple tools and nothing more. . .

They offer all kinds of bells and whistles. However, at the end of the day its your strategy and psychology when entering the orders that makes all the difference. So, if my strategy hadn’t changed, then placing an order on a desktop or mobile device is just a means of getting involved in the market.

Since I needed to overcome my fear I decided to place a lot of very small trades with real money.

Smaller trades allowed me not to risk a lot on each trade while investing real money meant I would be 100% engaged in how things turned out. Had I done this on in a paper account I doubt I would have developed the confidence needed to actually invest real money. I would have been back to square one all over again.

Desktop & Mobile At The Same Time

The last step I took to mobile trading integration was to analyze trades on my desktop then physically place the orders (open, close, adjust, etc) on my iPhone while sitting at my desk. On my Mac I would analyze an option trade then when I was ready to place the order I would pull out my iPhone and route it that way. It probably sounds stupidly simple I know, but you wouldn’t believe how hard it was to do both.

However hard it was, I developed the skills to quickly move through the mobile application yet had the confidence of knowing I was analyzing the trade correctly.

Eventually it started to be much easier to analyze the charts and prices on my iPad and I found myself using that much more than ever before. Again I already knew what types of trades fit my strategies, I just had an easier way of searching for them now.

Are You Mobile Trading Yet?

If you’ve already made the leap and started trading mobile, what kinds of problems have you faced? Add your comments below and share with others who haven’t started – offer your advice.

For those of you who are just getting into mobile trading, try to do what I did above (analyze on the desktop and make the trade on your phone) and report back here to let me know if this really worked for you too!

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

Not a bull market but a real raging bull? I sure as heck wouldn’t but some people would love the thrill.

Others even like running side by side with bulls (drunk albeit). Not this guy, not ever – I’m just not that fun my wife would say.

But this same concept came be directly associated to new options traders. There is a certain “thrill” that traders naturally look for when starting out, yet this mindset can be very destructive.

Have You Ever Been Disappointed With A Trade?

Sure you have. I have as well. But that’s not what I’m talking about. . .

If you are getting emotionally disappointed (and/or overly happy) with the outcome of a trade you are heading in the wrong direction. This means you are taking it personal which then assumes that you are making directional “picks” and not trading individual strategies.

All too often we get into this game for the thrill of being right on a directional trade. But then we don’t pick the right direction so we continue to trade more and more, looking to feel that thrill again. Some would even relate this to a drug addict looking for the next high.

If you’ve been caught up in this trading spiral there is hope. And home comes in the form of structure!

Be Mechanical NOT Emotional

Emotional traders get crushed in markets like these that doesn’t care how you “feel.” Stop focusing on being right and start taking a more mechanical approach. Be systematic about your trading – almost like a robot.

Mechanical traders look for specific events to occur before they use their strategies. For example, if you are a seller of premium and decay (like I am) you have to wait and look for high levels of implied volatility. When the time comes you need to jump in with both feet and trade.

There is very little thinking evolved! When the setup presents itself – make a trade and let the probabilities take care of themselves. Really there is not much else to this game than that.

3 Step Therapy for Rodeo Cowboys

If you already know you are guilty of being a thrill seeker I have a 3 step system that will help curb your desires for riding bulls (i.e. trading too much for the sake of trading).

First, make a short list of strategies you are comfortable trading no matter what the market gives to you. Again you don’t have to be able to trade all the strategies that are out there because I don’t either and I did just fine last year.

Second, identify that ideal market situation that you allow you to place a trade. For example, if you want to trade vertical credit spreads you need high levels of implied volatility relative to the overall market.

Third, systematically scan the market and look for indexes or ETF’s that fit your criteria. If the trade fits make the damn trade! Keep your position size small to minimize the underlying cash investment as you learn to become more mechanical.

No too bad right?

Of course this is a simplified system but you get the idea. Be mechanical about options trading. Nobody can ever pick the right direction trade after trade so don’t sweat losses or gains. Trade the probabilities and let the strategies do the work for you.

Now, it’s your turn. . .

Add your comments below and let me know how you think you can become a more mechanical trader. If you know you are a rodeo cowboy right now add a comment and let me know what you think is holding you back from trading differently.

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

Including dividends, the S&P 500 total return index (which is what we track against) returned 16% for 2012. Buy and hold this time sure did help investors recover losses from previous years.

How Did Option Alpha Perform?

Very well.

I wouldn’t say we broke any record books this year since we spent so much time in cash, but we did turn a nice profit and our Credit Spreads portfolio out-performed the index by almost 2%.

Iron Condor trading this year was another bust. Low volatility and tight markets were not attractive for this strategy. Naked options trading under-performed on a return basis but I am very happy that we only traded 6 months out of the year and made nearly 8%. Had we traded every month we could have been right on par or beat the indexes.

No Monthly Draw-downs!

Probably the biggest “success” this year was the fact that we didn’t have any losing months. Rather than force trades each month for the sake of trading I choose to stay on the sidelines when it wasn’t favorable for my style of trading.

Holding cash a lot wasn’t the most exciting way to trade but it is a defensive position that allowed us to make the right trades at the right time. Given the huge swings in the indexes this year I would much rather have small profits here and there as opposed to home runs and strike outs.

As I’ve already detailed in my first post this year, I plan to change my trading style this year to fit a more probability based approach. My strategies have worked consistently since 2007 and it’s clearly a profitable way to trade options – but there is always room for improvement!

What Are You Changing Next Year?

Add you comments below and let me know how you all did personally in 2012? Then let me know what you plan to change going into 2013 for your options trading?

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

2012 was a very good year – not great either – but I could have done better.

Namely my portfolio spent the last quarter of the year mostly in cash. The first half was very good for trading with decent returns but I just didn’t feel comfortable trading such large lots in the 2nd half.

A classic case of fear for the unknown regarding the election, Europe, fiscal cliff, etc. But that fact that it pushed me to the sidelines wasn’t justified.

Risk is always rewarded in the markets and I was being overly protective of what profits I had banked thus far.

Here’s My Current Philosophy. . .

I have always been a numbers trader and anyone who has been with me for the last 6 years knows that. I constantly post probabilities on the trade alerts section and choose my strikes more/less by the probability of success when selling premium. This has been very successful for me.

Technicals of course play a huge role in my own personal trading style; not so much for picking the direction but establishing trend and momentum. I could care less what direction the markets go so long as I am making money.

In most cases the positions I put on have the opportunity to make money even if the market goes against me – stock trading can’t touch this benefit.

Therefore the combination of the two above have grown into a trading philosophy that has more/less kept me profitable year and year with minimal draw downs and consistent returns. As a trader the most important aspect for me to measure year after year is the ability to consistently bring in income via options.

Why I Am Shifting My Focus?

I like the way I trade right now but there are holes that need to be filled.

I believe that over the last year I’ve focused too much on the technicals (not that they are not important) and less so on the probabilities and volatility. Given the low volatility 2nd half we had in 2012 it was hard to implement my particular strategy – but this will change in 2013.

The reason for the my shift in focus is purely because I need to be a more mechanical trader. Less thought and more action based on numbers I know work. Thinking sometimes can make you lose money in this business – and I was too much of a thinker last year than a trader.

I’m sure you can relate to this as well. Analysis paralysis is killer in the financial markets.

This year I need to trade smaller contract sizes relative to what I have before in the past while trading much more often. Given my history this will be a tough transition for me but one I’m excited to make.

Probabilities will also be a major focus for me particularly with regards to vertical spreads and iron condors. Instead of trading very very safe OTM spreads with small credits and higher probabilities of success I’m actually going to trade closer into the market, collect more premium and manage the winners along the way. The higher credit will I know give me more opportunity to take trades off early which I didn’t do much last year as I held most trades to expiration.

By being more mechanical about my options trading I hope to also spread my risk among new strategies that I have been back-testing and paper trading since October. Low volatility strategies were very much needed last year and I plan to add this tool to my arsenal.

Why You Should Join Me This Year!

I still believe that our Option Alpha Membership is one of the best values around. For the quality of our content and tools offered there is no better deal in the options trading world.

This year my goal is to continue to scale down the tools and video tutorials to cut out the fat and focus more clearly on what you really need to take your trading to the next level. We already did this late last year with the new design and membership platform and I hope to continue making progress early this year.

More alerts and focus on applicable trading strategies – less junk. As I’ve learned over the course of running this site day in and day out, less is actually more.

All of this has given me huge boost in energy and excitement for the coming year. I can’t wait to do more to help you trade options so please add your comments below and let me know what you found most difficult about trading last year.

Suggestions about possible tutorials, articles, webinars would be a huge help as I refine my business strategy for 2013!

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

You know the idea that in a good market all stocks will rise together. Sure the better companies might rise faster than weaker companies but yet they all rise in value.

Likewise in a falling market even the great companies will take nose dive.

It’s this classic thinking that actually might get you into trouble regardless if you diversify your portfolio or not.

And I’ve got a completely new spin on the idea. . .

Diversify Your Portfolio Over Time Not Sector

From a very young age we all hear the same damn thing about investing; diversify your portfolio. Separate out your money into many different assets so that one stock/sector doesn’t carry too much risk.

While I don’t disagree with the benefits of diversification because they are important, I also think it’s equally important to diversify over time. As I’m sure most of you experienced in the last 5-10 years, when the market/economy fall there is very little that is safe for investors.

A diversified portfolio did just as bad as many stocks during the 2007-08 market crash. What’s the point if the tide moves the broad market regardless?

Now if you had a portfolio diversified with strategies that profited based on different time frames you might have done better (dare I even say make money!).

How Can You Use “Time-Diversification”

Okay you’re starting to see my point which is good but how exactly do you do it? Let’s walk through it. . .

First you have to understand that we need to focus on the calendar and pick strategies that are geared toward making money at spaced intervals; 1 week, 1 month, 2-5 months, 1-3 years, etc.

There is no set formula on the timelines but the point is to have multiple time frames and then diversify within those timeframes.

So you might trade weekly options each month coupled with some monthly credit spreads (like the ones we focus on here at Option Alpha) and then LEAP options.

As each passing week and month go by you’ll continue to trade short-term, medium and long-term strategies. These positions are meant to create streams of income at different points in the future.

If you continued to follow this mentality and the market crashed you could quickly adjust your weekly options followed by the credit spreads. Sure the LEAPS would take a beating but you could make up a lot more money trading the shorter timeframes and making faster adjustments along the way. And remember the LEAPS are long-term plays so you shouldn’t be that concerned with short-term changes in value.

A well-rounded and “diversified” portfolio of stocks during a market crash would leave you little room to make adjustments other than selling at a loss and possibly shorting? Sounds like you’ve pinned yourself into a hole. . .

Ever Thought of Diversification This Way?

In all the investing you’ve done have you ever thought of diversifying over time instead of sector? Picking strategies that create profits at spaced intervals.

If you have I’d love to hear how you set up your trades. If not let me know what you think of this idea and if it’s something you might consider adding to your portfolio? Add your comments below and share your thoughts!

PS – If you’re interested in the medium to long-term strategies like credit spreads and iron condors, why not try a 30 day free trial to our membership with a 106% money back guarantee?

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

But if you’re a beginner you might ask “Is this strategy good for me or will I get burned?”

If you’ve never traded options before I would stay away for now until you get your feet wet. On the other hand, if you have good understanding of basic options trading principals then calendar spreads could be a great strategy.

Quick Calendar Spread Basics

As always we need to first identify what a calendar spread is and isn’t.

Calendar spreads are extremely versatile and often are called horizontal or time spreads. As the name implies you are trading different contract months to take advantage of pricing differences between the expiration periods. Aren’t traders just so clever with their names!

Building a calendar spread is very easy (even for beginners). . .

The most common spread is built by selling either calls or puts of an option contract with near-term or front-month expiration and then simultaneously purchasing either calls or puts of the same strike price for a further out expiration month.

Since you are purchasing a traditionally more expensive option and selling a cheaper option you’ll usually have a debit on the trade or pay to enter the position overall. Your P/L diagram will look like something similar to the one below with $135 strike price options.

How do you make money then Kirk? Well, now that you are pinned at the same strike you are really not that concerned about the movement in the underlying stock. This is why the strategy works best in range-bound markets.

Instead you want to take advantage of the time decay premiums between the two contract months. The near-term option will have much quicker time decay than the further month option. The idea is to pin-point and capture this difference as a profit and exit the trade before the near-term contract expires.

For example, the near-term option could lose $50 in time decay value in the next week (since you are short this contract you make a $50 profit). But the further contract that you are long might also lose $35 in time decay. The net is still a gain of $25 but hopefully this helps show you how the position makes money.

5 Important Calendar Spread Notes

As a beginner I want to point out some tips regarding these spreads that are important to trading them successfully:

1) How can you lose money? Calendar spreads lose if the underlying moves too far in either direction. The maximum loss is the debit paid, up until the option you sold expires. After that, you are long an option and your further risk is the entire value of that option.

This is why these spreads work best in range-bound markets where volatility is stable (or at least not declining).

2) Increasing implied volatility helps. As long as volatility is not declining you should be just fine with calendar spreads. In fact, since you are long a more expensive option, higher IV levels will add value to the overall position.

3) Have a price target. Just because these work in range-bound markets doesn’t mean you can’t trade them semi-directional. If you have a support/resistance price target, use that to set you strike prices.

4) Avoid major earnings or news. We want the underlying to stay “still” until expiration  Earnings or other major company news announcements could send the stock higher/lower quickly so avoid trading within these time frames.

5) Cheap the front-month theta premium. Money will be made or loss typically on the front-month option time decay. Before you make the trade check to see if there is even enough premium to be made! If there is only $5 of premium why risk all that money for $5? You get the point.

What’s Your Opinion?

Overall I think calendar spreads are good for beginners who have trade options before. If you are completely fresh in the options trading world I suggest you start with something a little simpler (like a traditional credit spread).

As always these are my tips and notes on calendar spreads but I’d love to hear what you have to say about them? Add your comments below and let me know what you like/dislike about trading this strategy.

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

It seems that every other night my wife and I watched more political ads than anything else on TV for the past year. Good riddance to those damn ads!

Now that the election’s over I think that both Republicans and Democrats have a very hard time trying to tackle the fiscal cliff that is coming. I’m sure you’ve all heard all the buzz-words swirling around media just in the last day or so.

Watch the video below to get my take on why today’s trading session was very important for the indexes moving forward. There were some key technical analysis signals that could change your mind about a position or two.

Maybe today’s trading in the stock market was just a small glimmer into what investors are thinking as we head into the end of the year and the possibility of this fiscal cliff. The huge selloff in stocks and subsequent rally in the bond market really shows that investors are getting away from riskier assets and moving money into more safe positions.

Of course this makes sense because given Obamas win it’s likely that Bernanke might stay around even longer and further stimulate the economy via quantitative easing.

Regardless of how they figure out a solution to the problem, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the biggest problem that we face in this country is the deficit. It’s unsustainable and frankly it’s got to push us to the brink (like so many other EU countries already).

Until this problem is fixed I don’t think anything else will support the economy into a consistent growth pattern. But of course these are my thoughts. . . what do you have to say about the election, fiscal cliff, etc? Add your comments and share your own opinion!

Watch The 1st Video In This Free 4-Part Series

I’ve been told by tons of people that you’ve got to either have a lot of money or a really killer system to trade options and win. Some new indicator or signal that will transform your portfolio.

And I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing and are sick of these expensive, dead-end courses and websites wasting your time and money.

Honestly, there is no “magic secret” to trading options. It simply comes down to an understanding of risk management, option pricing and strategy selection.

Instead of learning these lessons the hard way (i.e. losing your shirt in the market), why not take my free 4-part video course as I cover each area in detail. Plus, I’ll go over the exact checklist I use for selecting trades each month!

If you’re an option trader, or even just someone who is relatively interested in the options market, then Think Money is absolutely a must-have magazine. I would highly suggest that you get on their list right away even if you’re not a customer of Think or Swim.

I’ve been getting their magazine each quarter now for the past five years, and it’s been great. I love the magazine to death. But what makes it really good for option traders?

1. Amazing graphics and design.

You really can’t get past this point. Who really wants to read the newspaper anymore? People are consumed, especially in the investing world, with blogs and videos and brochures. ThinkMoney’s design is above everyone else. It’s simple, it’s clever, and it’s even hilarious at times.

2. Great articles for options traders.

You really can’t get past content. In a world where there’s so much crap going around, Think Money’s writers focus on the hot topics that day. Whether its volatility, portfolio margin, learning new strategies, or even new products that the CBOE is experimenting with, they cover it all. Must like our blog here (shameless plug I know).

3. Sent out quarterly.

What I love about this magazine is that it’s only quarterly. It’s not a daily newsletter, it’s not a biweekly newsletter, it’s not even a monthly newsletter or magazine. It’s a quarterly magazine that I actually look forward to reading, and I’ll read it front to back, start to finish. My wife knows when this magazine comes in that it’s going to be a quiet night at our household because I’m going to be reading every single page start to finish.

4. 100% free for Think or Swim customers.

When have you ever found a great magazine, specific to the things you are involved in, absolutely free. I can’t stress enough how great this magazine is for options traders. If you don’t have a Think or Swim account, or a TDAmeritrade account, I would highly suggest signing up for one right away. Luckily, you have the benefit of actually going to Think or Swim’s website right here, and looking at all the past trading articles that they already have up in the archives.

Think or Swim has been a great broker for me and I believe Think Money magazine has been extremely helpful in finding new ideas, learning new strategies, and even creating content for this blog.

Add your comments below, and let me know what you think of the Think Money magazine!

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