Try out StockTwits, I understand that you may not understand what it is or what it provides. So here is a comprehensive introduction from a trader that uses StockTwits like me. It is a very well laid out guide of what it is, what to expect, and who to follow... and not follow. Since I got 1 view about 30 min ago I have since added the chick. Let's see how many I get now, continue reading....
As of late, I have been pretty busy trading and following the price action of the major 3 indices. The price action is not indicative of a healthy market. Did we make new ATHs today? Yep. Was that price action warranted with the news/ and reports coming out? NOPE!
So it is very difficult to trade this market, even for me a professional trader. To combat this issue, I have turned off almost all studies, and the news watching price action and using Fibonacci retracement and extensions.
It does appear that there is a distinct possibility that the Fed will NOT raise rates this month. I have a setup that I am about to deploy to collect the gains on the IV spike in the options chain called a strangle.
This strategy is what I use for trading the earnings, but this time around with what I believe will be more volatile going into Trip witch and not knowing for sure that the Fed will raise this month, I feel the strangle is the best, low cost option for trading a "move" even if direction is unknown. The amount of the move is what warrants this strategy, like in earnings.
Trading straddles, and strangles in any other situation is pretty much net/net, and you would be pissing most of your trading capital away to your broker (who would probably love the idea, as they collect most of the premium). There is a guy on YouTube first name Anton. He brings up a lot of crucial information about retail traders and the mistakes they make, and further how the broker is the one that makes most of the gains against "traders" (not investors).
To keep this short, I will try and remember to do a screencast on this further explaining details. I highly suggest that if you want to trade options that you open paper accts with the broker that you want to use. I use TOS (thinkorswim) trading platform offered through TD Ameritrade. If you don't feel comfortable reaching out to them, or want to use an independent paper acct there are others out there, but I find TOS to be the best, along with tradestation.
So I will end this here. Here is the link to learn about STOCKTWITS, if you are a serious trader, or want to be, this is where it's at for sure.
https://medium.com/@DeathCubeA/a-quick-guide-to-using-stocktwits-2f49463e5c80
Trade well,
Be well,
Stay safe!
Yours in trading
Chris Michaels