Wednesday, January 20, 2021
It goes without saying that the ETF revolution has completely altered the way we can invest and trade. ETFs have given the average investor access to asset classes once reserved for the rich and privileged. There are now thousands of different ways to set up your portfolio without ever having to invest in a single […]
It’s always fascinating to watch how the market reacts to changes in volatility. It seems like the crowd is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s as if market volatility can’t ever trade at an equilibrium – it’s either too high or too low. When volatility is high, you get a fair amount […]
One of the most surprising elements of the stock market in 2019 is how little volatility there’s been so far. After all, 2018 – particularly the last 3 months – was about as volatile a year as you’ll see. There was no reason to think 2019 would be any different. Heading into the new year, […]
When it comes to trading volatility, The VIX has long held the crown as the most viable product on the market. Products based on the VIX, the S&P 500 Implied Volatility Index, have been one of the most notable additions to the trading universe in the 21st century. In fact, the Cboe Global Markets (BATS: […]
One of the drawbacks to owning precious metals is raw commodities don’t generate a cash flow and thus don’t pay dividends. I’m not talking about precious metal miners, but the metals themselves. But despite this lack of income, many investors still like to own gold and silver. Why are precious metals so popular? Well, they […]
One of the unsung stories of the last few months is the resurgence in gold prices. An ounce of gold has climbed from a low of about $1,200 in mid-November to over $1,300 as of this writing. That’s a pretty sizable jump in a relatively short amount of time. There are a few reasons why […]
I’ve just returned from the Orlando MoneyShow and was very impressed at the amount of investors and traders looking to learn more about options strategies. I had the opportunity to deliver two different presentations to the options-oriented folks. One of the topics I spent quite a lot of time on was covered calls. Of course, […]
After 2008, a new kind of fund came into existence. It has since carved out a little niche for itself in the extremely competitive world of money management. These types of funds are generally called tail-risk funds. They attempt to protect against worst-case market selloffs, also known as black swan events. Why did tail-risk funds […]
The S&P 500 is up around 8% in 2019, so all the problems of last year are behind us, right? I’ll get back to that question in a minute, but first, let’s talk about the good news. There certainly has been a fair share of positive developments lately. The end of the government shutdown was […]
The markets may have recovered from the disastrous last quarter of 2018, but that doesn’t mean all the trouble is behind us. There is plenty of risk to take into account in the coming weeks. In other words, investors should remain cautious. The Fed decided not to raise rates in January and plans on being […]
