ULTA: An Earnings Preview

A Bullish Stock in a Bear Market Despite the rally we have seen the past several weeks, the underlying cracks in the market remain, many of which have become even more apparent on earnings. However, that hasn’t been the case for all companies. In fact, many companies within the energy and consumer staples spaces have … Read more

A Buy Setup in XLE

The Sector SPDR Trust Energy ETF – XLE There isn’t much I like here on the buy side, even after this pullback, but I do have a keen focus on the energy sector for a couple of different reasons. The sector has been exhibiting relative strength all year, it has experienced a solid pullback and … Read more

The Difference Between Earnings Results and Reactions

Earnings Results vs. Reactions When Results and Reactions Don’t Match Going into earnings season, investors (myself included) were weighed down by the pervasiveness of negative fundamental data that was surely going to have a negative impact on earnings season. We knew that inflation was high. We knew that consumers were getting squeezed by that in … Read more

How to Day Trade the SPX Using Butterflies

For today’s Five Star episode, I wanted to highlight what my colleague and fantastic trader, Allison Ostrander has been up to. She has been crushing it in our Simpler Options trading room, and her own Mastery service, using day trading butterflies on the SPX. I’ve loved watching what she’s doing, especially because, as you know, … Read more

AMD: Earnings in Focus

FAANG Earnings is Through: Is the FAANGover Next? We made it through FAANG Earnings Week, and saw volatile, market moving reports from the likes of Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft (MSFT). However, these moves, while significant, need to demonstrate follow-through for more continuation to the upside. Whether or not we will actually get that, … Read more

Amazon and Apple: An Earnings Preview

Is it Friday yet? Not so fast! There are still many market-moving events up on the calendar today. First of all, we have the post-Fed move. While we can oftentimes see massive Fed-induced market rallies, they haven’t lasted. Will today be different? There are some signs of that, but until I get follow-through, I’m not … Read more

To Fail or Not to Fail?

Index Price Action Over the course of the last month, after the last quick down move at the end of May, the indexes have continued to chop. All of this chop, while not too exciting to trade, has created a lot of consolidation. Consolidation that will, sometime soon, breakout. However, at this juncture, it’s not … Read more

State of the Market: Q2 Earnings Deep Dive Replay

Hey traders!   Thank you so much to everyone who could join me yesterday for the quarterly Earnings Deep Dive! I had a fantastic time reviewing some of my favorite options trading setups going into earnings, top tickers with high probability directional moves, favorite tools, and more. To check out the replay, click on the … Read more

Trading Stock Splits + Pre-Earnings Momentum

Hey traders! Another day, another stock split. Not that Shopify (SHOP) really needed to split, after falling from an all-time high of $1762.92 to its last price pre-split at $373.21. In the past few years, trading options prior to stock splits in momentum favorites such as Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), and more provided … Read more

The Critical Upcoming Earnings Impact

The Summertime Lull Typically, June trade can be a little quiet and slow. We wrap up a seasonally weak May, along with earnings season, and then enter into summertime season where traders take vacations, kids are out of school and volatility can slow down. This year, it has played out a bit differently as we … Read more