Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years on Monday, which means with good behavior he might get out in 75 to 80 years. Several of Madoff’s victims testified in his sentencing hearing. They told tales of bankrup and ruin. To avoid having to testify in a similar hearing someday, here are three helpful hints:

1.- Don’t believe in geniuses who tell you they’re right all the time – they do not exist.
2. – Diversify! Never put all of your assets into one stock, one sector, one broker, one fund, or one anything.
3. Learn how to… [ Read more ]

As we celebrate the 233rd birthday of the United States this weekend, we pause to remember the words of John Adams, one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. After the Declaration was passed by the Continental Congress, Adams wrote to his wife Abagail that succeeding generations of Americans should celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration with “..Games, Sports, Guns, bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more”. Adams died at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts`on July 4, 1826, as his fellow Americans were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary… [ Read more ]

Happy July! July is named after Julius Caesar, a politician who was seduced by a foreign woman and then stabbed by a bunch of Senators. Things really haven’t changed a whole lot in 2053 years, but have a Caesar salad and enjoy the summer.

Summertime and the Trading is Easy

Well it is officially summer and historically the markets tend to slow down. Or is that just an old wive’s tale? And what do old wives know about the markets anyway? And how can I stop asking rhetorical questions? [ Read more ]

There was a lot of excitement a couple of weeks ago concerning Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Steve Jobs didn’t return, but there was a new iPhone. With all that activity and volatility, Apple stock made a high of 144.56 on June 9th, and that was good news for anyone who had seen the Chicago School of Trading’s Options Director, Dan Keegan on ONN-tv’s Street Smarts last month talking about strategies that traders could use to take advantage of a possible upward move. His strategy for Apple was spot on and garnered some press coverage: Read it[ Read more ]

This has nothing to do with trading, but everthing to do with Chicago in the summerttime. 25 years ago today, on June 23, 1984, Ryne Sandberg homered in the 9th and 10th innings off of fellow future hall-of-famer Bruce Sutter to twice tie a game that the Cubs eventually won in 11 innings against the hated Cardinals. That nationally televised game propelled Sandberg and the Cubs into national prominence. Here is a link to site that contains the video of those two homers.

Radio Waves

CST’s Dan Keegan and Bill Gruzynski appeared last month… [ Read more ]

Triple, triple, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and chaudron bubble.
(apologies to Shakespeare)

This should be a volatile an exciting week in trading. It is expiration week for all June equity options, all stock indices – options and futures, ETFs, and financial futures and their options. This expiration always cause a lot of activity in not only futures and options, but in their underlying instruments. Before rule changes in stock indices, they all expired at the close on Friday of expiration week: The so-called Triple Witching Hour.

Nowadays the action is… [ Read more ]

March was a record month in volume at the CBOE, and Chairman Bill Brodsky appeared on CNBC’s Fast Money to discuss the growth in options volume. Watch this clip and see how Mr. Brodsky emphasised education in the continued growth of the options business.

Our Dan Keegan also hosted a webinar for PFG Best on April 28th. Just click here for the recording. The subject was using [ Read more ]

It is a popular misconception that May 5th is Mexico’s Independence Day (September 16th is the real day). It is in fact a celebration of the 1862 defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla. The French had invaded Mexico ostensibly to collect a debt. They ended up conquering Mexico and naming the Austrian Maximilian I Emperor of Mexico.

When our Civil War ended in 1865, we turned up the heat on the French to get out, which they did. Unfortunately for Maximilian, he did not go with them and was executed in 1867 by the government of Benito… [ Read more ]

Happy May Day. May 1 is May Day, or International Workers Day. Labor groups worldwide mark the anniversary of Chicago’s Haymarket Riot in 1886, where anarchist labor organizers clashed with police. Dozens of police and rioters were killed in an incident that marked the beginning of the international labor movement. The workers were looking to gain control of their lives from their opressive bosses. Instead of throwing bombs, they should have gone over to The Chicago Board of Trade which was over 30 years old in 1886.

Traders control their own destiny; that has always been the… [ Read more ]

This Thursday, February 12, 2009 marks the 200th birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Our quotes this week will all be from them. If you are wondering what Lincoln and Darwin have to do with trading, you obviously don’t understand how important the concepts of Freedom and Natural Selection are to trading. Free markets depend on free men in a free society to function properly and there is no better living example of survival of the fittest than the competitive world of trading. So join the fittest – learn how to trade intelligently.… [ Read more ]