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Trying to Outguess The Markets

A few years back the markets crashed when Russia invaded Ukraine. The front pages of newspapers around the world at that time showed people trying to escape cities which were heavily shelled. Our heart's sank. How could such atrocities be happening? Why were schools and hospitals targeted? War is evil. Guess what? With Trump acting as a new dictator the world once again has gone awry. It's scary that one old man with so much power can abuse the system. What does all of this mean for option traders? It means time to sit on the sidelines. Yes you can jump in playing rebounds and catch some nice short term directional moves. You are basically trading against computers. Why not just sit it out and chill? Everything is amuck. Why be trying to make hero trades? Ironically enough some traders are being drawn into this action. Look at this chart. While its difficult to see because of a "pop-up" on the screen "Netflix rebounded over ten dollars a share after reboundin...
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Buying Caterpillar - A "Catching a Falling Knife Trade".

In with two "Calls" at $1.59 each which expire the next day. The stock is down ten dollars in three days on no real news. This kind of judgement calls is sometimes difficult to make. The stock seems to dropping on light volume which is better than on heavy volume. It's a "no news scenario".
Let's see what happens next. A 10:30 a.m. update, one hour after I got in. I am down something like 37%. At this point in time it has turned into a "sit-and-wait" hold. What I like better is an"in-and-out" in thirty minute trade.
Now another look at it at 11:30 a.m. with the D.J.I. now up over 225 points. Remember I got in at $1.59 a contract. I don't enjoy these having to wait until Friday morning situations.
There was a bounce on Friday morning and I got out. It's difficult to read but it says two contracts sold at $3.60 each at 9:49.a.m. Here is it's morning chart.
Would I make this kind of trade again? I am attracted to these "falling knife" chart formations. This one turned out OK for me. My point is, the next time you see one of these chart formations happening remember this blog and my comments about jumping in to quickly. Hopefully my comments will help in saving you some money.

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