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• The Expiration Trade by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...In this world of algorithmic trading, how can an independent trader stand a chance? Here's one way you can trade options to get an edge in the markets. We have all heard that 70% to 80% of all options expire worthless. Many of us have purchased options, only to watch the market move in the direction we anticipate and still lose money as the option we bought drops to zero. I'm not sure whether the percentage of options that expire worthless is correct and there have been articles published about that statement in general, but the one thing I do know is that all out-of-the-m...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: FEB 2011SUBJECT: Options

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• 10 Rules For Options Traders by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...10 Rules For Options Traders by Joe Luisi The success of your trading career is determined by profitability. And this profitability lies in the way you follow your trading plan. Here are 10 rules you should always consider before making a trade. It's a good idea to take some time each year to reflect on your trading successes and failures. What have you done right? What have you done wrong? Did your trades work out as planned? Did you make money? Don't let another year go by with failed dreams and hopes. Make this your year of change and financial advancement, one that offers many profitable...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: MAR 2002SUBJECT: Options

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• Options Or Stops? by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Options Or Stops? by Joe Luisi Options may cost less and give you more flexibility than outright stops. Here's how to choose between options and stops and some ways of using both throughout the life of the trade. Stops are essential, but they don't have to be orders to buy or sell stock or futures. Options are sometimes preferable to futures or stocks, due to their limited risk:if you own them, you can only lose the cost of the option. Here 's how to go about it. Once you take a futures position either buying or selling, you should place a stop to get you out of the market if your analysis ...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: NOV 2000SUBJECT: Options

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• Let Options Pay For Your Stops by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Let Options Pay For Your Stops by Joe Luisi Want to get into positions with good risk-return ratios and firm boundaries of gain and loss? Look no further: Here's a technique for having it all -- or most of it, anyway. You know you should use stops, but they cause losses, don't they? Would you use stops if you could minimize or even erase those losses by selling options? Would stops look better to you then? Sooner or later, every trader comes to realize that he needs to use stops. It doesn't matter if you're a short-term trader or a longer-term trader; stops are essential for the preservation ...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: MAR 2000SUBJECT: Options

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• Playing TRIX: The Triple Exponential Smoothing Oscillator by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Playing TRIX: The Triple Exponential Smoothing Oscillator by Joe Luisi Here's a look at a tried-and-true favorite, an oscillator that traders can use to determine the trend of the market. With each technical analysis software package comes a host of technical indicators, yet more often than not, the manual accompanying the package only provides a series of one-page guidelines describing how to use each indicator. So here's a more in-depth look at a particular indicator that's often found in those packages, one that for the most part is overlooked but has a real use for the technician: The ...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: JUN 1997SUBJECT: Novice Traders' Notebook

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• The Stochastic Oscillator by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...The stochastic oscillator is one of the more popular indica-tors available on today's software. This technical tool tells you where the current closing price is relative to the recent range of the market. Here are some techniques for using this classic indicator. First introduced by George Lane in the 1970s, the stochastic indicator has become one of the more popular technical indicators around. Pages upon pages have been devoted to explaining the indicator and how it works. Further, just about every technical analysis software product available today offers this indicator. The stochastic osc...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: DEC 1997SUBJECT: Novice Traders' Notebook

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• Avoiding False Signals by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Some people may think that technical analysis doesn't work anymore, but here's one author's solutions to today's challenging modern markets. by Joe Luisi Having been involved with technical trading for several years, I've noticed that technical analysis doesn't seem to hold the same promise it once did. Indicators and patterns that were once tried and true are no longer reliable; false signals and breakouts occur more frequently. Frequent stop running causes moves that seem to make no sense. Over the years, with computers having become so inexpensive, and data, either real time or delayed, re...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: SEP 1996

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• Charting Equity by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Charting Equity by Joe Luisi Technicians apply technical analysis to charts for trading decisions. This technician applies similar techniques to his trading system results. When asked what the key to long-term trading success is, successful traders always reply that money management is foremost. Professional traders often advise trading hopefuls that 70% of their time should be spent on money management and 30% on searching for low-risk, high-profit trading opportunities. Sounds reasonable, right? It does, but there's a flaw in this reasoning. Information on money management, what it is and ...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: MAY 1996

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• Trendlines as a Technical Tool by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...NOVICE TRADER Trendlines As A Technical Tool Applying trendlines to charts is a classic form of analysis. Here are some of the basics of using this tool. by Joe Luisi Trendlines, which are one of the most basic techniques in chart analysis, are lines drawn to portray market direction and even project where the market is going. A trendline? connects either a series of highs or a series of lows in a trend. It can represent either support?, as in an uptrend line, or resistance?, as in a downtrend line. (Consolidations are marked by horizontal trendlines.) Trendlines can provide visually orie...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: MAR 1996

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• On Using Stops by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 14:1 (45-49): On Using Stops by Joe Luisi Stop orders are used to manage risk and to enter and exit positions. But what are some of the methods you can use to do so? For a look at the basics plus some of the finer points, read on. Say your favorite indicator flashes a buy signal. You proceed to call your broker and enter the market. Then what do you do? Do you just sit back and wait for the profits to roll in? What happens if the market falls apart and it turns out you're facing a big loss? Getting into a trade is the easy part; learning how to protect and manage the trade is the hard par...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: JAN 1996SUBJECT: Novice Traders' Notebook

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• On Range Trading by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...On Range Trading by Joe Luisi Markets move from trading ranges to trends and back into trading ranges. Presented here are methods to identify the trading opportunities based on identifying trading ranges. Each time you look at a chart, you probably see trading opportunities because the practiced eye easily takes notes of the trading ranges and the trends between them. But it's not always easy to tell when a breakout from a trading range is simply a temporary move or the first step in a trend. Understanding how to examine a market range can help traders better analyze and trade the markets th...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: DEC 1995

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• Monitoring Equity For Market Analysis by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Monitoring Equity For Market Analysis by Joe Luisi STOCKS & COMMODITIES contributor Joe Luisi presents a strategy for using a graph of your profits and losses to pick either trend-following or a trading range trading system. It is well known -- or it should be -- that every trader should plot equity to see graphically how their trading results are faring. But what may not be as well known is that traders can actually use equity as an analytical tool. Equity analysis can indicate whether the markets are trending or trading sideways and what approach a trader should use. The basic approach to u...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: APR 1993

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• Trading The Equity Curve by Joe Luisi

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Trading The Equity Curve by Joe Luisi Technical analysis is typically applied to prices to determine the trend and changes in the trend. Now consider applying the same concept to analyzing your equity curve to determine those times when your equity may not be trending in the preferred direction. Money management may be the single most important aspect in trading, but few traders spend the necessary time required for successful trading. Generally, it is a rule of thumb that traders should spend 30% of their time analyzing the markets and 70% of their time split between looking for low-risk, ...

AUTHOR: Joe LuisiDATE: OCT 1992