Given the current market climate and uncertainty surrounding the upcoming presedential election, it makes sense to consider hedging your portfolio. The following free articles from our archives can help you learn more about portfolio protection with options.
Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on Monday, September 14th, 2020.
Join Lawrence G. McMillan to learn why certain option data is useful in helping predict broad market movements. Larry McMillan will discuss the current state of those indicators. He will share why put-call ratios are powerful, contrary indicators with a good track record of market prediction. He will also discuss why volatility derivatives and indices are useful, especially in determining extreme oversold conditions and buying opportunities, and also in discerning the trend of the broad stock market. Lastly, Larry will touch on the current state of market breadth and how it relates to market prediction as well.
The selling that began on September 3rd has gained momentum, and as the market has declined, confirmed sell signals have been registered in several areas. There is one major roadblock for the bears, though, and that is that the chart of $SPX is still in an uptrend. In my opinion the support at 3280 is the one that needs to hold. If it doesn't, then the $SPX chart will have succumbed to a bearish pattern.
This year has been a wild and crazy year in many respects – probably nowhere more than in volatility. That has manifested itself in the trading of $VIX. Over the years, we have sometimes described the seasonality of $VIX. As it turns out, it often follows a very similar pattern (although not completely this year). Moreover, in election years, the pattern is altered in a way that is, perhaps, developing this year as well.
Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on Monday, September 7th, 2020.
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) and NASDAQ ($NDX; QQQ; $COMPQ) were having one big party, with new intraday and/or closing highs having been registered for 11 of 12 days ($SPX) and 13 in a row ($NDX). That party came to a swift end yesterday, Thursday, September 3rd. But has the party really ended, or is this just a pause? $SPX did not even quite pull back to its rising 20-day moving average.
A week ago, $SPX was struggling to break through the old highs just below 3400. That is no longer the case, as the Index made a strong move upward this week, allaying any fears of a double top and punishing the shorts once again.
Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on Monday, August 24th, 2020.
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) finally made a new all-time closing high this week, both intraday (Aug 18th and 19th) and closing (Aug 18th). This was cause for selling in some circles. As we've noted before, this is understandable in terms of the investor who says "Whew! I'm finally back to even," and sells. We have seen these little resistance areas since mid-May, and each time $SPX has been able to overcome them and move to new highs.
