Forex Price Action vs Indicators. Which one is better?

It looks like every Forex website or forum I read lately there's always somebody, or more than one person praising "Price action trading" instead of using "indicators". It seems fashionable now, to say that trading pure "price action" methods will yield better results than using confusing indicators. And that the reason why you are losing money trading is obvious: you are using indicators! Stop using them!

How to lock in profits on an options trade and stay in the position

How to lock in profits on an options trade and stay in the position

Many times you have a winning position on an option trade, and you would like to lock in some profit but stay somehow in the game because you feel there is potential for more. You know there is potential for more but you have that internal fear of losing the gains you have up until now.

Portfolio Beta Weighted

During my usual Weekend Portfolio Analysis articles you have probably seen me doing a Portfolio analysis where all the positions in the portfolio are combined in a single profit picture. This is done by using the Beta Weighting feature of the ThinkOrSwim platform. Today I want to talk a little bit more about what Beta and Beta weighted portfolio mean, and why it is advantageous to do this type of analysis.

The Three Legged Box explained

Morning folks! Take a look at my recent article about The Three Legged Box technique at Options Trading IQ. This is my first collaboration with another web site and I am pleased to start with Gavin, who has been trading the markets for 8 years and is focused on trading options in a similar way to the style we have followed on our site for the last months. Enjoy!

Locking profits with the Box Spread

The Box Spread is a strategy where two vertical spreads (one using calls and one using puts) with opposite bias are entered in the same strike prices.

For example, On March the 9, you could have bought an SPY April 138/140 Bull Call Spread  for 0.94 debit. And at the same time the 140/138 Bear Put Spread for a debit of 1.06.

How to adjust or roll a Credit Spread

XYZ is trading at $100, 30 days to expiration. You play a Credit Call Spread selling the 110 Call and buying the 115 Call for protection. The goal is for XYZ to not hit $110 by expiration. Let's assume that a credit of $2.00 is obtained (that is $200 per contract per leg played).

10 days later XYZ is trading at $109, certainly threatening your position and you have a temporary loss of $100. With 20 days to expiration it seems very likely that XYZ can advance one more point to the upside. At this point you can close your trade for a small loss. You can also hope for the best and wait for XYZ to reverse (hope is never the best decision), or you can adjust your position.

Use a Credit Spread or a Debit Spread

This is an interesting occurrence that you might not know of when/if you are new to trading vertical spreads and that you can use to your advantage to gain a few extra dollars here and there.

In my paper-trading venture I had decided to only trade Out of the Money Credit spreads. That is, when I believe the markets are close to overbought I sell and Out of the Money Call option and buy a farther Out of the Money Call option to reduce the unlimited risk. Likewise, when the markets seem oversold to me, I sell an Out of the Money Put option combined with the purchase of a farther Out of the Money Put for protection.

Analysis of currency pairs in groups

This is one of the very few things that consistently worked when I was trading Forex during 2010. The Analysis of currencies in groups also known as Parallel and Inverse analysis of currency pairs is the technique that analyses a currency's strength or weakness based on the behavior of the pairs where that specific currency is involved.

Didn't get it? No problem, let's go with examples.

How to adjust a Double Calendar Spread

This is something I was looking for on Google and was not that easy to find. So, I'll give it a shot myself with the little I know. If you landed on this page via a Search engine then you probably know what a Double Calendar is. If you don't, then read this.

What often happens with this kind of positions is that the market never stays in the same place and may threaten to reach one of your breakeven points. Let's analyze for example a hypothetical position on XYZ.

How to spot paid/affiliate reviews

In view that paid reviews and affiliates are the origin of so many lies and scams nowadays, in this article I pretend to show you how to know if a product or service review is being written by an affiliate or not. Now, I'm not implying that all paid or affiliate reviews are fakes, I just think you should read them very warily and always being aware of its nature.

Tip to close an Iron Condor (Part 2)

This is a sequel on How to Close an Iron Condor. The previous tip basically indicated that you open your Iron Condor position for some credit, and then you entered a closing limit order for the whole position, for a lower debit than the credit received. This closing order would be "Good till Canceled". From that moment on you become detached from the charts and ticks and your trade might automatically get triggered at the debit you specified should the market hit your limit price over time.

Iron Condor on SPX, trade closed (January)

All right, this trade was closed by parts yesterday during afternoon hours. By the way this is a follow up on the trade started here with an adjustment made later and described here

Tip to close an Iron Condor (Part 1)

The purpose of this article is to explain an automatic an easy way to close an Iron Condor. It is true that the Iron Condor is a passive strategy which doesn't generally need constant surveillance. You set up your trade and you try to achieve a good profitability range where you are safe. Often times this range is good enough so as not to be overly worried about your play, making you effectively detached from the markets for a while....

Different ways to adjust an Iron Condor

This is a follow up on the Iron Condor played on the SPX index and initiated here. As you know the market has been steadily going up in the last weeks, which have resulted in my upper break even point being threatened. That's fine...