Friday, September 5, 2014

Detailed guidance for putting on the bull calendar spread in TLT

– Posted in: Tutorials

I have been offering calendar spreads as a relatively riskless way to play the bull market in T-Bonds. If you’re interested in initiating the spread but are unsure about how to do it, this recording provides explicitly detailed instructions for buying the Oct 18/Sep 12 calendar spread at the 120 strike that anyone can follow. It also explains how to roll the spread forward each week so that we wind up owning the October 18 calls for nearly nothing or perhaps even a small credit. There is other material as well, including an analysis of the Jackpot Bet I’d proffered for Priceline this morning. But if you’re interested only in the material concerning the TLT strategy, it begins 11 minutes and 26 seconds into the session. The entire recording, which also includes Hidden Pivot analysis for Gold, E-Mini &S&P and EUR/USD, runs a little more than an hour.

GCZ14 – December Gold (Last:1264.10)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

In trading early Friday morning, December Gold has bounced nearly $10 so far from within two ticks of my longstanding target at 1257.80. A buy down there would be a home run by now for night owls who were paying attention, but I have no way of knowing if any of you did the trade unless it is reported in the chat room.  Please note that the futures will fall to 1249.20, a Hidden Pivot that I flagged in Thursday morning's impromptu session, if the existing low is taken out.

Smelling More and More Like a Top

– Posted in: Free Rick's Picks

The gratuitous head fakes to new record highs that we've seen each day recently are starting to smell like a top -- the moreso because yesterday's feint actually failed to exceed Wednesday's peak.  If you were short on your own initiative at the close, hang with it and use a generous stop, since you may finally be about to see results. I expect Friday's price action to telegraph next week's mood.

DIA – Dow Industrials ETF (Last:171.64)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

Earlier, I had suggested buying Nov 22 150 puts if DIA hit a Hidden Pivot rally target at 171.67.  Yesterday, the stock head-faked to an all-time high at 171.57 before recceding sharply to 170.22, but our lowball bid for the puts stayed just out-of-reach. Let's try again, but without being so niggardly: bid 0.47 for the puts, good for the first 10 minutes of the session; then, if the order has not been filled, work it with the goal of buying midway between bid and offer.  Wherever you buy the puts, assuming you do so for 0.50 or less -- my limit here -- stop yourself out of them if they trade for 0.20 less than you paid.  ______ UPDATE (Sep 7, 10:20 p.m. EDT): The puts opened at 0.54 and traded as low as 0.47, but I'll use 0.50 as a tracking price. As suggested above, you should stop yourself out if they trade for 0.30.  Against that offer, and on a good-till-canceled basis, offer four Sep 30 150 puts short for 0.20. _______ UPDATE (Sep 18, 1:15 a.m.): The puts traded as low as 0.33 yesterday, so be prepared to get stopped out. I'd suggest using a 0.30 stop-limit for the first 30 minutes or so, since put sellers could get raped if DIA opens even moderately higher.

SNIPF – Snipp Interactive (Last:0.2490)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

I first touted Snipp Interactive back in January, when it was trading around 0.15. Although the stock subsequently fell to a dime, it has since rallied sharply, settling at 0.2562 yesterday. This is one of my favorite stocks, and I came away from a conference call with its CEO, Atul Sabharwal, eager to sing their praises. During that call, I hit Atul with my best idea, a sweepstakes-type promotion, but he was already three steps ahead of me, able to cite, for one, New York State's rules and costs for exactly the type of marketing scheme I'd suggested. Full disclosure: I hold 100,000 shares plus warrants to purchase another 50,000 shares.  But I hope that won't discourage you from performing your own due diligence, since you are likely to be as impressed as I was when you find out what the company has been up to. For me, at least, Snipp (OTC: SNIPF) perfectly satisfies Peter Lynch's rule that investors favor companies whose strengths and methods they can understand. Snipp does interactive marketing that allows clients to track results in real time. The results have been sufficiently impressive that the company has been attracting blue chip clients with little difficulty. Read more about SNIPP by clicking here. From a technical standpoint, although the stock's chart history is thin, it's possible to project a near-term rally target of 0.2730. A tenet of Hidden Pivot analysis is that an easy move through such targeted resistance implies there is unspent buying power percolating beneath the surface. This is not a "hot tip;" indeed, Snipp's story does not lend itself to the kind of hubris that will result in a $10 billion IPO. But it is an aggressive and imaginative pioneer in a rapidly developing niche, and its CEO has the kind of imagination,