Ask the Expert has moved!

You can now partake in our wisdom every day at Scottrade.com

If you would like to have daily live (and recorded) events from Learning Markets (and really who wouldn’t?) you can get them by joining us at Scottrade.com. Yes, you will have to set up an account ($7 trades and $0 ETFs? Not too shabby) but the daily webinars are all free.

We are also hosting twice-weekly strategy sessions that dive deeper into specific investing, and option topics on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, weekly podcasts, weekly blog posts and monthly articles in the Scottrade community. If you have questions about this change (and I mean ANY questions) please feel free to contact us by sending us an email at questions@learningmarkets.com.

Ask the Expert Archives

• [WEBINAR] Making Profits From the Euro's Future Decline February 16, 2012 NOTE: This is the last live Ask the Expert webinar we will be hosting at Learningmarkets.com, however, before you lump us in with the likes of Reed Hastings or Thorsten Heins allow us to give you a little more info. If you would like to have daily liv...
• [WEBINAR] Bernanke Sends Traders Mixed Signals February 2, 2012 Capital flows are trending several directions today leaving most indexes relatively flat. Traders are still trying to digest what the Fed Chairman really thinks about bonds and the conclusion they come to will likely make or break the current stock trend....
• [WEBINAR] Can the Fed Push Stocks Higher? January 26, 2012 As many of you know, the bond market and stocks have been diverging from their normal relationship, which is usually a very bad sign for stocks. However, we have to ask why that is happening. Is this a case of normal mispricing and market inefficiency or ...
• [Webinar] Are There Any Bears Left? January 19, 2012 Having the Bank of America (BAC) announcement behind us is a big load off and so far disaster seems to have been averted. The underlying market fundamentals still look sketchy but bears don't seem to be willing to take a risk. In today's event we will ...
• [WEBINAR] Bond Auctions and Stocks Diverge January 12, 2012 Without sounding like perma-bears we have to say that the current rally in stocks is still a little mystifying. They seem to be defying underlying capital flows that are clearly still favoring safe-haven assets. In today's webinar we will discuss this par...
• [WEBINAR] Bank of America: Fakeout or Breakout? January 5, 2012 Banks, led by Bank of America, are up today on.... well that is sort of the problem - why are banks moving up? There are a few theories including the fact that they recently upgraded each other (nice huh?) but nothing really concrete that would justi...
• [WEBINAR] Four Things to Watch Before a Euro Breakout December 29, 2011 The EUR/USD exchange rate has become a proxy for the global markets. When it drops - things are bad. When it rises - everything is great. As one of the largest financial markets in the world, the euro is an excellent window into investor sentiment so the ...
• [WEBINAR] Why is Everyone So Afraid of the European Debt Crisis? December 8, 2011 In today's Ask the Expert webinar we wanted to help traders understand why the debt crisis in Europe is such a problem. If we imagine Europe as a sub-prime crisis such as the one that occurred in the U.S. in 2008 it might make a little more sense. In 2008...
• [WEBINAR] Looking for Confirmation in Stocks December 1, 2011 This has been a very strong week for stocks mostly due to Monday and Wednesday's price spikes. However, what we lack is real confirmation that investors are moving assets from safe-havens to risky assets like stocks. That change is what is sometimes refer...
• [WEBINAR] Why Rising Italian and Spanish Yields Cause Market Declines November 17, 2011 Stocks  fell again on concerns about rising bond yields in Spain and Italy. This is a reflection of the general risk appetite, but it also indicates that investors are fearful of another margin adjustment. What that means and why it caused so many proble...
• [WEBINAR] Why Short Term Traders are Struggling November 3, 2011 We could summarize many of the questions we have been getting over the last week about the euro, yen, S&P 500, and earnings very succinctly if somewhat profanely, but the bottom line is that if you feel confused about the market - join the club. Ho...
• [WEBINAR] Breakout! October 27, 2011 What exactly did the Europeans do yesterday? They are leveraging the EFSF (already a leveraged fund) 4-5 times, forcing a haircut on the banks, and counting on struggling economies to keep cutting budgets. Oh yeah, and they have set up a special fund for ...
• [WEBINAR] Trading the Eurozone's Debt-Crisis October 20, 2011 Over the last several days the news from Europe has been dramatic. An agreement for a 2-trillion euro expansion of the bailout fund was erroneously reported and misunderstood by many big traders. More sovereign debt and European banks were downgraded. And...
• [WEBINAR] Is the Market Going to Breakout or Fakeout? October 13, 2011 Yawn - channels can get a little boring and they can also last for a long time. The last market channel lasted 6 months and the subsequent breakout (August, 2011) ended in a mere two weeks. However, being able to tell when they have ended is important and...
• [WEBINAR] Why Dividends Matter to Investors October 7, 2011 In today's Ask the Expert webinar we diverged from our normal format and after a brief market update / Q&A we discussed dividends. We feel strongly that this is a misunderstood subject among traders who have become numb to long term investing due to b...
• [WEBINAR] What's Holding the Market Up? September 30, 2011 Three days in a row (so far) we have seen prices rally then sell off again. Does that mean anything and should bulls be concerned? In today's ask the expert webinar we will discuss the current market environment and walk through our projections for the ne...
• [Webinar] Can You Profit From the Swissie? September 8, 2011 The Swiss intervention has really dominated the financial markets this week. It is massive in scale and very surprising. This is another chance for us to look for an opportunity to profit when an intervention fails - as they usually do. In today's webinar...
• [Webinar] Is Good News Really Bad for Stocks? September 1, 2011 The problem we have in the market right now is that traders are expecting stimulus from the fed, which is good in the short term at least, but good economic news makes stimulus less likely, which is bad. That combination has created a very fragile market ...
• [WEBINAR] Where is Gold Going Next? August 25, 2011 Most traders are familiar with the market fear index (the "VIX") and how to use it to measure investor fear or confidence. However, there is also a VIX that covers gold as well. Specifically it analyzes the implied volatility levels of the options on GLD ...
• [Webinar] Can You Really Trade Volatility? August 18, 2011 We had a long discussion today about whether you can really trade the VIX or not. We get a lot of questions about this when the market gets a little crazy so we thought it would be good to discuss the issues and opportunities of trading volatility. The sh...
• [WEBINAR] Profiting from Currency Market Intervention August 11, 2011 We discussed several topics during today's Ask the Expert webinar, however, one of the issues in the market right now that I find most interesting is the impact of artificial intervention. We followed up on the impact of last week's Bank of Japan interven...
• [WEBINAR] How Far Will the Head and Shoulders Break? August 4, 2011 You can add us to the long list of traders who have been caught by surprise with the breakout today. Bonds are screaming, the VIX is in panic mode and stocks could close down more than 4% today if selling continues. In today's event we will walk through t...
• [WEBINAR] Do Technical Indicators Work in Today's Market? July 28, 2011 We are discussing two topics in today's Ask the Expert webinar. First what are the affects on the market from an U.S. debt default or downgrade and what is the difference between the two. This question pretty much relies on one thing - how will it impact ...
• [Webinar] Trading the Euro Breakout July 21, 2011 Whether you are a stock or forex investor you need to know what is driving the euro this week. The currency is making a break to the upside, which could be the start of a BIG shake-up. If the current euro price pattern breaks out, we would expect a very c...
• [Webinar] Trading In the Money Credit Spreads During Earnings July 14, 2011 Last week we touched on the concept of using in-the-money credit spreads to take advantage of earnings announcements. This spurred a lot of questions from readers, many of whom were only familiar with credit spreads as an out-of-the-money strategy. An ...
• [WEBINAR] Will the Market Breakout... or Fakeout? July 7, 2011 The market went on a run last week following the the "resolution" of the Greek debt situation. The rally was so robust that stocks popped right back up to the top side of the channel it has been stuck in for several months. At this point traders are under...
• [Webinar] Will Forex Trading be Banned? June 30, 2011 In today's event we discussed three important questions we have been getting a lot over the past few weeks. Will Forex Trading be Banned? No, it won't be banned in the U.S. I can understand why traders are concerned about this because spot gold will n...
• [Webinar] What Happens When Government Intervenes? June 23, 2011 This is a tricky subject to discuss without getting pulled into a political or ethical argument. In our personal lives, we can do that all we want, but when we put on our trader-hats each day we have to be as impartial as possible or emotion will interfer...
• [Webinar] Trading the Dollar and Dollar Index June 16, 2011 Learn how to trade the USDX and the other dollar indexes. This is important for forex, stock and option traders.
• [Webinar] Do Stop Losses Help or Hurt? June 9, 2011 Although most brokerages favor stop losses the concept is actually more controversial than many new traders imagine. Stops are frequently used and may seem like a good idea for short term positions, however, many experienced investors consider them a dang...
• [Webinar] Using High Probability Trading in a Channel June 2, 2011 High probability trading is often misunderstood because it is really a misnomer. The stock market has too many large outliers to conform to the kind of probability analysis that is implied by the title. However, that does not mean that this isn't a great ...
• [WEBINAR] Profiting From Short-Term Sector Rotation May 26, 2011 We get questions about sector rotation quite often, but this is actually a very "fuzzy" topic. The roots of the concept probably stem from analysis done by the NBER (the same people that define what a recession is) but the data used is a little suspect.
• [WEBINAR] Can You Profit From Greece? May 19, 2011 In today's webinar we discussed two specific instruments that can be traded to profit from a potential disruption in the European credit market.
• [WEBINAR] Trading First Quarter Earnings Season May 12, 2011 This week we will be spending time discussing 'neutral' option trading strategies -- an interesting strategy when done right, and a disaster when done wrong.
• [WEBINAR] Will Gold Follow the Silver Crash? May 6, 2011 In this week's webinar we discussed the gold and silver relationship, and whether investors should and/or could profit from a decline in gold, oil, and silver prices.
• [WEBINAR] Stocks Break Out -- How Far will the Trend Go? April 28, 2011 This week we will continue our discussion on neutral trading strategies as a way to avoid predicting expectations, and answer your questions.
• [WEBINAR] Trading Strategies for This Earnings Season April 23, 2011 This week we talked about ways that option traders can give up some of the potential upside from a trade in return for a higher probability of a win and a much smaller cost of entry.
• [WEBINAR] Surviving Draw-Downs to Profit in Trends March 30, 2011 Traders need to be willing to take risk throughout the market cycles so they have the potential to catch the big trends. In this week's Ask the Expert video I will walk through a couple of tips to begin resolving these issues in your own account.
• [WEBINAR] Buying Real Estate at the Bottom March 16, 2011 In this week's Ask the Expert webinar we discussed why and how traders can invest in real estate through stocks rather than the physical asset itself.
• [WEBINAR] Cash Is Still King -- Even With Penny Stocks March 10, 2011 In today's Ask the Expert webinar we walked through a couple very simple things you can use to evaluate a small firm and decide whether the risk really is worth the potential (if unlikely) reward.
• [WEBINAR] Trading Oil Without Getting Burned March 2, 2011 There are ways to take advantage of price spikes if you are willing to tolerate risk, and in today's Ask the Expert webinar we discussed a few of these as well as the options-specific issues that can be avoided or minimized.
• [WEBINAR] Safe-Haven Investments: How "Safe" Are They? February 23, 2011 In today's Ask the Expert we discussed these issues in the context of the current rally in safe-haven investments, and talked through a few ways you can look for confirmation of these trends. Knowing how risky the rally in oil, gold, or silver is will help you pick the right strategy and set appropriate expectations.
• [WEBINAR] The Gold Market -- Conspiracy or Opportunity? December 17, 2010 In today's Ask the Expert I will spend time walking you through how the gold market works, what gold investments we think are the best and whether there really is a shadowy plan to keep prices artificially low.