The Option Alpha Podcast

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I want to help you be a better trader even if you are currently still working a full-time job. Because the reality that even though I stay at home with my daughter, she's a full time "boss" if you know what I mean. So over the last year and a half I've had to change and adapt my own trading style to be even more efficient and producti...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast we'll have an in-depth talk about trading commissions and broker fees. Specifically, people always ask me about commission and with more members now than ever it’s becoming more and more important to negotiate great commission rates. So I'm here to help you save money by getting your trading commissions reduced. And I give nearly the same answe...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I had a chance to flip the script on Joshua Belanger from www. OptionSizzle.com. A former CME runner in Chicago, Josh has been a long time industry trader both on the professional and retail level.  What's so great about his story is that over the last 10 years he's been able to learn how markets work from many different angles including being...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll explain why you shouldn't be afraid of the assignment and exercise process when it comes to trading options. You see, all too often it's just a lack of understanding as to how the process really works. Who are the parties involved? How do they select who gets assigned? How long do I have to manage my new risk? I'll answer all of...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I completely break-down one of the worst trade alerts we've ever seen using a debit spread. And it honestly gets to the heart of why I started this website and blog more than 8 years ago; because there are still horrible companies and services out there publishing crap that doesn't help investors. In this show we'll compare and contrast th...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I had a chance to interview Henrick Santander, the guy behind http://www.the-lazy-trader.com who currently works a full-time job but is passionate about creating a trading system that fits his lifestyle. You'll hear how this long time Cuban (of 26 years) moved to Canada and is now trading very successfully each year making smart bets in the major in...

Ever wonder how often going back in history the stock market "crashes"? I mean we know that cyclical markets means another one will eventually happen (it's just a matter of time) but when? Or how often? We did the research for you and analyzed the market data going back to 1928 (as far as we could get it). In this podcast we'll take a look back in time for you and present our c...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll explain why most traders think stop-loss orders help manage risk and protect them when in fact they end up creating more losing trades. Using the "Lazy Trader" program I'll show you with concrete numbers on live trades how a stop-loss order would create 50% more losing trades than if you did nothing at all and let the trade stay...

When you start to trade more often and with more positions, remaining as neutral as possible will help smooth out your returns over time. This doesn't mean that you can't get directional (betting on a move up or down in something) but it does mean that you have to know how to re-balance your portfolio. We've shown before that using SPY beta weighting is a great start and in today&ap...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'm going to change the way you think about buying stock forever. Because just buying shares isn't effective anymore and with the help of options you can both increase your probability of success and reduce risk (and net cost basis). But first I'll need your help with my "Financial Planner Challenge." If we are going to change th...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast we are going to help you finally create an easy to use 3-step system for picking the best option strategy. Unlike most traders who try to fit their favorite strategy into every market situation, you'll find out why after asking just 2 simple questions we can eliminate the possible universe of options strategies by 80% to the best possible traders fo...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll give you a step-by-step guide to the top 7 things you should check before you make another trade. And this is not some quickly thrown together list; these are strategic steps that will help you make more decisive action when it comes to picking and filtering good trades from bad trades. Each checklist item is placed in perfect order so that you...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast we are going to cover the 14 stages that all investors go through with their emotions. Understanding that traders have specific emotions which have varying magnitude, is critical to learning how either you or another investor might behave. Thankfully there is a cyclic process of psychology that explains the relationship between our feelings and our judgm...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll answer one of the biggest questions I get when it comes to trading options with probabilities. You see with probability trading there can be this misconception that it's all a "Zero-Sum" game. But today I'll show you how you can break this cycle and start making more money with non-traditional thinking about how you close wi...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast we're going to have a very advanced conversation about implied volatility (IV) and why understanding IV is critical to gaining and edge in the market. Plus we'll use a very specific example with YHOO and HAL both that have IV of 32% but when we apply IV percentiles we find out that you should be trading these stocks completely different. Buckle...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll show you with real data why if every new trader was doing this 1 thing different they'd make more money. Plus I'll relate this to how why casinos have table limits because they know that limiting how much people gamble is actually more profitable for them long term. And finally we'll tell you why you should never be afraid of tra...

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll start a huge discussion on why I think you don't need charting or technical studies to be successful trading options. Plus I'll use YHOO & INTC as examples.

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'm going to give you a complete step-by-step guide to learning how trade options in 3 months. You'll learn to focus on 1 concept each week for 12 weeks.

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll cover some key foundational concepts about Call and Put options contracts by highlighting a classic simulated real estate deal.

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll cover one of the biggest misconceptions around trading and investing - account size. I'll explain why having more money actually makes you place worse trades.

In our 1st session of The Option Alpha Podcast I'll cover a little more about my trading background and how we got this far from such a small blog to start. Plus my goals and expectations for this podcast.