BALLON STRANGLES, A BETTER TRADES STRATEGY

Summary: I have often taught that there is a countermove for everything that a market or stock can throw at you. You may not know it but there is one. This is generally a true statement because if you wait too long, there are some situations you can't get out of but for the most part there is a way to respond to and survive just a bout anything. IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT. The emphasis is to make the distinction that knowing is not enough. You must know how and that takes training. However it does start with knowing what.

I have often taught that there is a countermove for everything that a market or stock can throw at you. You may not know it but there is one. This is generally a true statement because if you wait too long, there are some situations you can't get out of but for the most part there is a way to respond to and survive just a bout anything. IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT. The emphasis is to make the distinction that knowing is not enough. You must know how and that takes training. However it does start with knowing what. I developed the Balloon Strangle as a way to counter the effects of high volatility and unpredictability (ie. Danger) of news announcements that happen when the market is closed. This would be like earnings after hours or an anticipated Board meeting or a court ruling. Something that could move the stock in a big way but you don't know for sure which way. Conventional wisdom (and it is good advice) is to avoid this like a plague. A conventional strategy to mitigate the effects of volatility is the strangle or straddle play. Traditional positions for a strangles and straddle are at or near the money. You take opposing positions so that either way it goes you have a winning position. You hope that the move is big enough that the losing position goes to zero and then the winning one can make money. Problem