TinGull

I do see your point there...I guess a lot of people would prefer to sell options hedged with options so their not having to tie up all their margin in a few trades. Its a huge margin risk to calculate your returns on.

Writing anything naked is really risky. If you're interested in writing and receiving premium, then sell call spreads. You're hedged that way and the margin required is much less.

So, they'd rather stuff a binder in their laptop bag instead of CD to put in their laptop while their on a plane? Plus, it really seems that the efficiency of things is being lost in taking the time to print a chart off and then mark it, put it in a binder and store it for later. I'm always trying to stream line anything I can and by being able to store all of my charts on my hard drive to bring them up immediately for later review I save a lot of time.

James, I hate to disagree but youre wrong here. If you don't demand paper along with the others that aren't demanding it, they'll see an excess of supply and stop making paper. Again, hate to be a dick about it but it's my backyard....seriously! We've got 3 paper mills in my area. That sort of attitude is why it's SO hard to get change on environmental issues. I say that people who don't fight for environmental change don't give a damn about this planet that they live on. As Ghandi said, 'be the change you want to see in the world".

I wouldn't say it's a lack of demand, but looks like it'd just be simple profit taking after a 9% move in the stock in a single day. Since it didn't close on or near it's highs, I wouldn't consider this a "test" either...but since it did come down to the point where I would enter and stopped...I'd be nibbling here for sure. I'd put out a marker lot and enter more if it goes my way on another low volume test.

REdOption is wholly owned by ToS i believe.

Yea, but it is saturday. I know I wish I could stay away from the computer on weekends, but alas...she sings her musings and I must come hither... I sure am a MP trader

You would be wrong in making that assumption. The second sentence in the quote you put of mine in the post was "It's obviously showing that the old support is now resistance, so if there can be a break of that, then I'd be looking long on a test of that broken resistance" I reiterated that statement by saying I wanted a test of old resistance to know a long should be taken. If the test never appeared and price shot higher, absolutely I'd have been out of luck with that trade. no big deal since there's plenty of fish in the sea. As for what sort of trader I am...I'm a cautious one. How do I incorporate VSA in my trading? Exactly how I just said I would trade that chart. When there's resistance and price breaks it, I wait for a test of that old resistance to make sure the pattern isn't a failure. If it is a failure, I'll play that failure for sure since those are my favorite plays. If support is broken, then I'll play a short on a No Demand bar as it retraces to the previously broken support. While price has now moved away from the initial test bar, that test occurred under a resistance point. I never go long right under resistance, nor would I ever advocate that someone do that.

The Redoption one is a letter I get a daily recap of, and the trades that he talks about that he's stalking and then ones he gets stopped out of and all that...very nice trades. Any others I don't have experience with.

Thats all fine and dandy,but if I were a fund manager I would much rather take a look through a CD of charts than have to thumb through binder after binder. I realize you've been in that business and I haven't, but it really steams me because my backyard is the one getting cut down to make pulp for paper reams that you guys can't live without. So...sorry if I get a little upset with the fact that people seem to have a "need" to showcase their charts on a medium provided by my land. Also, I'm an artist, too...and my artist goes on CD. Albeit, I'm an aural artist and make music so I don't have much choice, but not ALL artists send their work around on paper to prospective galleries in their original form. Many will send them on CD's for the gallery to view first.

Sorry for going on an environmental rant, but why on earth do you need to print off charts? Why can't the same results be had by taking screenshots and keeping them in a folder on your computer and provide any prospective employer with a burnt CD of your efforts? It's a serious waste of paper and printing resources that I don't think need to be wasted. It may not seem like much, but every little bit is going to help.

Options can be very difficult to grasp at first. I've been at it for over 2 years and still know there's TONS of stuff i don't know. I love learning though, and will always continue on with options. So...yes, it's difficult at first to grasp. That's why I say to look into an autotrade service. On their website is a list of services you can subscribe to and have ToS autotrade those recommendations for you if you choose. If you're looking for a way to gain 10% in 10 months on 10k...I don't know that the possibilities are limitless, ya know. It'll be tough, but plenty of people out there can do it and do make that. Just a matter of finding them. Talk with ToS and see what they have to say. Cant hurt just talking to them, right?

Put your charts into a MS Word document and save the paper.

What I would expect now (since I'm not a breakout trader) is to watch for price to test that breakout area. Once I see a test bar at the breakout price, then I'd enter a long at the close of that bar.

I'm not sure I understand your Q about the charts...they all seem to come thru fine here, and if I need to blow it up I just click on it and it brings me to photobucket with the big view. Is it something on photobucket as for the resizing? You can always upload them here on TL by clicking File Upload tab up top of the page:

Thats tough for me to say...it certainly looks like a test, but the only prior support this chart had was broken with these three bars. Would I be looking to take a long? No, I wouldn't yet. Would I on a break above the highs of those 3 bars, sure. It's obviously showing that the old support is now resistance, so if there can be a break of that, then I'd be looking long on a test of that broken resistance.

HA! Aint that the truth

When I click a different currency in the top and then go back to the EUR_Curncy it gives an error saying "Input past end of file". When I click OK it says then... "Unable to get the Floor property of the WorksheetFunction class." and then the MP chart disappears. Could it be because it's Excel 2007?

YUp, just what I think, too. Market's really quiet, too, for SPX being off 13.

Ok, I cry uncle. I can't figure out how to operate this spreadsheet....It opens fine but I dont know where to input data to make my own profiles.... Thanks for any help

HA! I am...Id love to see a decrease in vol right about now.

Well...no volume there as it's a chart of the VIX.

How you like this chart? Which direction would you think it's headed?

Sorry you had such an experience with them. I've never had anything but amazing experiences, as have 99% of all people I've spoken with. And, per ToS's site, the customer chooses with service they want to have the calls traded from. ToS doesn't make that choice for the customer.

Indices are lower risk than commodities I think. Again, if you talk with thinkorswim about their autotrade service, they put your money into trades where direction DOES NOT MATTER. Your trades can make money if price goes up, if price goes down, or if price stays put. Really, check them out.