Over the past several years, options trading has evolved along two basic directions. The first involves structuring trades that are designed to profit from a particular view of the market. In most cases these positions serve as a proxy for stock ownership: they allow an investor to be long or short in a specific time frame with a certain amount … Read More
Demystifying Options Contracts: Understanding Strike Prices
One of the basic concepts of trading options is the “strike price” of the option. For call options, the strike price is the price at which you have the right to buy the asset before expiration, and for put options the strike price represents the price at which you have the right to sell the asset at expiration. As the … Read More
The Daily Gratitude Exercise
The above is from a slide for my last presentation at an 800 plus event. This exercise has had a profound impact on my trading and trader mindset. Let’s explain the Gratitude Exercise which you might co-opt for your trading. Each day find time to close your eyes and replay three things for which you are grateful. During the … Read More
John Locke – Weekly Market and Position Update for August 11, 2013
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The PlayBook Signing Event in Singapore
Mike Bellafiore, co-founder of SMB Capital and SMBU, recently held a book signing with FT Press and Phillip Capital in Singapore. Mr. Lunch (below), a former student of SMBU, and one of the most enjoyable characters highlighted in The PlayBook was one of those who stopped by for his autographed copy from Mike. If you are interested in seeing more … Read More
Mike Bellafiore at Phillip iFest 2013, Singapore
Mike Bellafiore recently was the keynote speaker at iFest in Asia. You can find slides of his trading presentation here. Below is a picture of this 800 person event at Marina Bay Sands Casino in Singapore. An international lecturer, Mr. Bellafiore has built trader training programs globally for hedge funds, prop trading desks, and retail traders, working with some of … Read More
Mastering Options Trading for Income: Unveiling the Credit Spread and Iron Condors
When people first get interested in options-income selling strategies they usually start by learning how to sell credit spreads or iron condors. Let’s discuss these two strategies and why they might be attractive to options traders. If you have traded stocks or even simply invested in stocks, you know that you make money only if the stock goes up, assuming … Read More
Get a Trading Coach Already
There is little evidence of anyone competing at the highest levels without critical feedback, coaching, and mentoring (coaching is what happens in real-time and mentoring after the close). I received this e-mail yesterday that can teach us about the power of trader coaching and education. Dear Mr. Bellafiore, I wanted to send you a quick email to thank you … Read More