Power Trading Radio - A Trader's Perspective On Investing In Stocks, Futures, Forex, Options Podcast

Diana Hill joins Merlin to talk about the surprising lack of housing inventory, leading to bidding wars in parts of the country. This is a stark contrast to the expectations of Massive shadow inventory just a couple years ago! This market stability has helped the financial markets rally to historical highs, and possibly eclipse them! Diana talks about how china has entire cities which are empty, representing a different type of inventory: Ghost Inventory!

Tillie Allison joins Merlin for a look at the futures markets and the origins of her nickname “10 Tick”. Tillie addresses some of the money management issues she addressed early on as well as how she handled adjustments to her trading style based off of missing trades. In many cases, trades were missed by a only one tick, which is a problem for many traders. Tillie also talks briefly about how she could see her orders on the dome in the futures market.

With one day until a bevy of FOMC announcements, Merlin dives into a bunch of listener questions across several different asset classes. To begin with, Merlin takes a look at the current market setup, with a big focus on the issues facing Cypress and their banking situation. Next, he looks at what some of the risks are for trading Futures in the overnight session, which includes the indexes and currencies. Finally, a look at the broke relationship between the Euro and the S&P500 and what it may mean for markets going forward.

Scott McCormick and Merlin kick things off with a look at some important risk & money management lessons from their trading pasts and what traders should do to avoid these mistakes. Later, Scott offers some insights into multiple time frame analysis before drawing some great parallels to the market cycles from 1960-1982. A cycle that is very similar to what we are seeing in our current market.

Alan Hall began studying Elliott wave analysis and socionomics after meeting Bob Prechter in 1995. Alan’s grasp of socionomics made it easy for him to recognize the escalating housing mania, thus in 2004 he closed his building business and soon joined the Elliott Wave International staff as a writer. He received his degree in Fine Arts from Berry College, graduating into the world of the 1970s bear market. His range of job experiences spans from outdoor therapeutic counselor to decades as a custom homebuilder/designer. Alan wrote the lead articles for the inaugural issues of The Socionomist in May and June 2009. Since then, his article topics have showcased the wide range and deep applicability of the socionomic perspective. Alan has traveled widely, and been a contributor to Global Market Perspective, The European Financial Forecast and The Elliott Wave Theorist. Alan does a wide variety of research aimed at demonstrating the utility of socionomic theory.

Bob Dunn joins Merlin to talk about how, as a floor trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he anticipated traders actions as markets approached key levels. This was done with a combination of news headlines as well as watching the actions of his fellow traders as they lured in unsuspecting traders. Once they brought in as many people as possible, they would work to shake them out! Bob also goes on to talk about the recent market activity and how he would trade it going forward, especially with the gap that happened today!

The VIX hit an intraday low of 11.83, levels not seen in over 6 years! This makes buying options on the major market indexes very inexpensive! If you feel that the markets are a bit frothy, and might correct a bit, you should look to options for insurance! Steve Moses joins Merlin to talk about market volatility and his most recent posting in Power Trader Nation, in which he maps out a nice trade on PCP which might be of interest to traders. Steve and Merlin also talk about “the Greeks” and their significance on options trading before moving onto current market analysis.

Currency trader Steve Misic joins Merlin to talk a little bit about his weekly blog on Power Trading Nation, which highlights 7 different securities over a variety of asset classes. Focus shifts to the Pound which has been dropping like a stone due to so some bad economic data, then onto the US dollar vs. the Yen which has been taking off and has showed no signs of stalling out yet! Steve and Merlin look at key levels and offer trading tips, all with a strict emphasis on risk management!

3rd generation trader, Dan Sugar joins Merlin to talk about what is going on in the equity markets with analysis if Apple, Sandisk, Whole Foods, S&P 500 and much more. Dan shares his thoughts on market correlations between the 4 major indexes and how to decipher that information to produce trading opportunities.

As the Dow rockets to historic highs, John presents a list of comparisons between the 14,165 Dow mark back in 2007 vs. 2013. Things don’t look as good from a fundamental perspective as they did just 6 short years ago. The duo debate the strengths and weakness of both markets and offer suggestions for trading going forward. In response to a listener question about the next great developing country to invest in, John offers 2 that would most likely NOT be on your watch list, while Merlin feels more comfortable with his choice! Merlin also announces our Newest Gold Coin winner!!! Is it You?

Merlin shares with listeners some of the factors which led him to make drastic changes to his 401k plan this morning and what his expectations are going forward. Focus shifts to market timing the broader markets and why one needs to be careful using traditional sector rotational models. These models must be adapted to each investors risk profile and investment objective! Merlin takes many listener questions to heart and answers them with examples in his own portfolio.

Michael Young joins Merlin to talk about the crazy price action in the markets which has presented him and his students with some great trading opportunities! Michael also talks about a trade he is currency in on TEVA, sharing a lesson in patience and scaling out of a position. Later, focus turns to a listener question about which options to use to protect their portfolio at this moment in time.

Merlin and Brandon start things off with a brief discussion about trading Spot FX vs. Currency Futures. Later, Brandon talks about a trade that they were looking to make in the Futures XLT this morning on the Swiss Franc. The trade didn’t meet all of Brandon’s requirements for entry, therefore the room passed, and good thing! This was a great lesson for the students in patience & discipline! Merlin brings up more listener questions regarding the Euro, Yen, Aussie and other currencies which Brandon analyzes for possible supply and demand levels.

Despite confusing and erratic markets, long time trader Craig Weil reiterates that all is normal. He points out that things are always changing and we must adapt to these changes, that’s our job as traders!  Craig and Merlin take a look at a listener question regarding Apple, and identify some very attractive levels that could be significant going forward. They also talk a bit about using indicators such as Bollinger bands, CCI, and Japanese candlestick patterns as odds enhancers. Finally the duo looks at Facebook and Google to help answer more listener questions.

Robert Blumen Joins the show to talk about his recent articles on Mises.org pertaining to Deflation and its impact on the economy. John and Merlin weigh in with additional pros and cons in the debate as well as a focus on the pricing of Gold and other metals. These pricing models distort the real supply and demand of gold and may offer some answers for the gold bugs out there! Later, Merlin announces this week’s gold coin winner, who comes from a Very Golden city!!

30+ trading veteran Bob Dunn shares stories from his days on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and CBOT. Bob and Merlin discuss the strategic advantage that floor traders had with regards to breaking down actual order flow in the market place. This same methodology is translated to charts and is the fundamental philosophy behind Online Trading Academy’s trading methodology. Bob also talks about the great trading week he and his class are having, as well as offering his thoughts as to where the markets are headed.

Tillie Allison joins the show to talk about how she has specific goals and objectives for different asset classes when trading. Using a mix of Futures and Options to accomplish her trading and investment objectives, Tillie shares why she segments the assets in each account. The duo talk about market correlation, looking at the Russell 2000, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow for guidance of where the markets may be headed. Finally, Tillie talks about her upcoming Hour with the Pros, where she will be calling out key levels on the major indexes.

FX Street award winner Sam Evans joins the show to talk about how he utilizes fundamental information when evaluating trades. The duo then goes on to take a look at three currency pairs drawing most of the global attention. GBPUSD, EURUSD, USDJPY. Sam marks up some charts, looking for key supply and demand levels for future entries.

Markets sold off hard due to macroeconomic issues in Europe, Merlin takes a look at these issues as well as other noteworthy question from listeners. One in particular about Order Routing and after hours transactions, sparks a discussion between Merlin and Scott McCormick about the importance of proper order routing. Scott, gives examples of trades he made in his ProTrader Class in Sacramento California this morning. Later, the duo talk about current markets and the importance of understanding Impulse and corrective phases in the market.

4 months after the presidential election, Merlin reviews the 2 portfolios he built to represent a Republican vs. Democratic victory. The results were surprising, and illustrate why we need to use historical lessons to help with futures trades! Later Merlin shares some of his trading experiences with regards to the differences between day & Swing Trading, then onto explain the differences between Earnings Per Share and Revenues. Finally, Merlin announces the Gold coin winner for this week! Is it you?!?