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

John O’Donnell is back and more fired up than ever after watching Ron Paul and Ben Bernanke go at it during recent testimony. Ron Paul fires off about how flawed the fiat currency is, and why we need an alternative monetary system that is based off of real assets. John parlays this into his talk about Gold and Silver and their importance as insurance for a flawed Fiat money system. Merlin twists it a bit and looks at it from a shorter term trading perspective. Later the duo looks at China and Japan for further clues of market direction.

To start things off, Merlin tackles a few questions from his Live in-studio audience. These students from Roger Best’s ProTrader class, fire off questions regarding metals and the current situation with the US Dollar.  Diana Hill joins the show to talk about her recent articles in "Lessons from the Pro’s", in which she addresses the current problems with receiving funding from big banks, and how to use real estate to generate monthly income. In a period where most say real estate is a bad investment, Diana and Merlin talk about the incredible opportunity to buy real estate and let others pay you a monthly income! PowerPick: AIG

After a few bad trades in February, Merlin follows up his current EURUSD short which came though nicely to the downside. Money management is a sticky issue for many traders, so he walks you through how he is moving his stops down to help lock in profit, yet let it continue to drop. Later Don Dawson joins Merlin to talk about commodities and their impact on the current market. Dona had a Great call on copper last year which preceded a sharp market decline, is it a similar picture this time? Don also goes on to talk about how there is a massive disconnect in the correlations which have held up over the past few years, and as Don puts it “Something has to give!”

After having his last few trades rip in the opposite direction immediately after announcing his position on the radio, Merlin talks superstition and belief systems with Veteran Trader Mike McMahon. Whether it’s your special socks, or rock with a mustache on it, Mike believes superstitions are all in your head and don’t really have a place in trading. But is quick to add, if it works for you, go with it! Later Mike and Merlin take a look the Dollar and Euro which are both lining up at key Fibonacci levels. PowerPick: EURUSD  

Debbie Hague joins Power Trading Radio after a couple of weeks traveling and teaching for Online Trading Academy. On day when the market only had one good move which lasted about 2 hours, and Debbie caught it all! She walks us through her premarket analysis which drew her attention to specific market setups, on a couple of major market indices. Buying at the dead lows and selling at the dead highs is something every trader hopes to do, and Debbie walks us through exactly how she did it. The duo stresses the importance of having a solid plan and following it under any circumstances.

On this show John O’Donnell is joined by Robert Prechter of Elliott Wave fame to discuss thecontinuing credit purge deflation across world markets. Prechter outlines the socionomic hypothesis that social mood impacts human action and drive price. They explore and  discuss with  charts the large head & shoulders pattern in the Dow today, and correlation tothe non-confirming Dow Theory ratio structure today. The Dow/gold ratio, and S&P500/gold ratio all confirm the equity market has been in a silent crash mode since 2000 “real peak”.  O’Donnell and Prechter agree on the inflation vs deflation debate.

For those who started thinking about their retirement in their 20’s and have been actively managing their investments, the future looks pretty good! However, most of us didn’t start thinking about retirement until our late 30’s or 40’s! Bob Heitner joins Power Trading Radio to talk about how his students are defining what they need to do to achieve a pre-determined rate of return to let them retire in comfort. Considering the recent USA Today article which says that 1 in 10 Americans will have enough money for retirement, it’s a subject that is all too real for many of us! The key is identifying what ROR you need and building a strategy to achieve it. Bob talks about some of the key elements that his students look at to achieve and exceed their desired ROR, and secure their financial future! PowerPicks: SCHN, ATI

Fresh back in the studio from the Traders Expo in New York, Merlin dives right into his weakest subject: Options. While at the expo, there were 2 individuals who insisted that He learn options because of their flexibility and utility. Merlin brings Cory Lane into the studio to discuss these issues and tackle several listener questions regarding specific stocks. Cory, a long time trader of options, shares his insight into volatility, risk management, and probability factors to consider for all options traders. PowerPick: L

Guest host John O'Donnell chats with special guest Rick Wright about Greece, gold, foreign oil and much more.  Join the Ambassador of Opportunity and other special guests all this week.

Financial stocks and Semiconductors continue to vault the markets higher this week, yet there may be some downgrades coming which could seriously impact that lunar trajectory! John O’Donnell  joins Merlin Rothfeld for the weekend edition of Power Trading Radio where they discuss the potential Moody’s downgrade of some Major financial Institutions, including GS, BAC,C! John shows us some great charts which clearly illustrate a slowdown coming to the US economy. When will that hit is anyone’s guess, but the facts are the facts! Later, Merlin brings up the question of QE3 and the present inflation numbers. Does the fed now have the green light for QE3? JO says No!

On past shows, Merlin has talked about the importance of knowing EXACTLY what you are invested in, in all accounts. On this show, he challenges listeners to be proactive and find out exactly what they are holding in their 401k’s, IRA’s, SEP accounts etc… Then make a list of your investments and find out exactly what the fees are. Paul Orme joins the show to talk about what the average person can do to increase their rate of return, and diversify according to their own risk profile. Later, Paul talks about the new Pimco bond ETF and how that might benefit your portfolio.

Wednesday’s trading started out just like any other day, with a nice gap up and a little continuation rally that lasted several hours. Around midday, rumors started circulating that Apple might need to be rebalanced on the NASDAQ 100 which caused vicious selling for the remainder of the trading day. This selling crushed all gains, and dragged down all 3 major US indices. Steve Bobbitt joins the show to talk about how today’s trading activity may be the top that he is looking for. Bobbitt looks at how the futures relate to the underlying index, and the clues they give us about market health. Merlin and Steve offer targets for a variety of trading vehicles and offer insight into what the future may hold.

After answering a couple listener questions, Merlin is joined by Bert Antonik from Singapore. Bert shares with PTR listeners what his thoughts are on the current fiasco with the Euro. Last time Bet was on, he called the current rally in the Euro, and the exact target price which we reached last week. What will his next target be? Tune in and find out!! PowerPick: EURUSD

As the markets power ahead, a quick glance at the Nasdaq reveals something interesting. Only 1 stock is really moving up with any strength: AAPL So much so that it is one of the only nasdaq stocks breaking new highs. This power raises concerns with our guests Michael Young and Merlin Rothfeld, who feel that Apple is susceptible to a very sharp drop in price at anytime. This type of sell off can trigger HFT systems, and another potential flash crash. Michael also goes onto talk about how to trade a strong trending market like the one we have currently. The focus shifts to probability and risk management in these times of turmoil and uncertainty. PowerPick: BMY  

John O’Donnell joins Merlin Rothfeld for a weekly rundown of the major macroeconomic issues facing our markets. Europe takes center stage as Greece finally commits to some serious reductions, but it may be too little too late, as other areas of the Eurozone are also poised for doom. Later John dives in to his favorite topic, Gold and comments on its recent price moves as well as its importance as a hedge for fiat currency. Later the duo talks about the problems with Insider trading and the new bill circulating that would make it illegal for congressmen to trade off of insider information. PowerPick: JKS

Merlin is joined by Bob Heitner to discuss the eerie facts that the vast majority of Americans are ill prepared for retirement. Bob Points out a couple simple things that most are doing which will prevent them from attaining their retirement goals. First and foremost is keeping money in a savings account, as you can’t even beat inflation! Next is the buy and hold mentality! It does not work! Nearly every sector is at extended highs right now and poses significant risk to long term investors, and timing these markets makes for a much higher annualized rate of return. Bob stresses that with minimal effort, everyone can manage their own investments.

After a impassioned rant about the big banks funding presidential hopeful campaigns, Merlin is joined by seasoned Options trader Josip Causic. Josip tackles a couple listener questions about options strategies before moving on to explain the differences between European & American style options. There are significant risks involved in trading and using European style options helps reduce risk even further. However every coin has 2 sides, and Josip clearly explains the pros and cons. PowerPick: SWK

Merlin and guests had been talking for the past few weeks about the strange directional move that the dollar index is making with the S&P 500, both in the same direction! “Something has to give” they said, and low and behold we have seen the dollar crater while the major market indexes soared. Even gold and Oil benefited on Tuesdays dollar slide. Mike McMahon joins the show to talk about this relationship as well as several other currency pairs and some key supply and demand zones on each. PowerPick: CIT

Although the Super bowl was a pretty good game, Monday’s trading was rather mild. Almost an exact repeat of Friday, but without the huge upside gap! Mike McMahon joins the show to talk about the just announced Trader Planet Awards, which rated Online Trading Academy as the #1 Trading course in the industry, as well as best newsletters! Later Mike and Merlin go on to talk about patterns and how they increase odds, and reduce stress when trading. Both hosts are doing a lot of online education with sophisticated tools that actually allow students to be trading live, and have the instructor come into their computer and help mentor them! PowerPick: TXN

As this great week of trading comes to a close, John O’Donnell and Merlin Rothfeld break down some of the key issues facing the markets. The big focus right now is on unemployment numbers and they just keep getting twisted! John and Merlin have some fun with the unemployment rate before diving in to a list of factors which tell us that Europe is in pretty bad shape and headed into a depression. More importantly, how can we make money if that happens! PowerPick: RSG