Power Trading Radio - A Trader's Perspective On Investing In Stocks, Futures, Forex, Options Podcast

Guest Host John O'Donnell and special guest Ralph Benko debate Bernanke's stance on the Gold Standard.  Ralph Benko, based in Washington, DC, is a former Reagan White House aide, is a populist conservative Republican, and contributes a weekly column to Forbes.com, republished by Townhall.com and worldwide.  He is the senior advisor, economics, to the American Principles in Action and advisor to and editor of the Lehrman Institute's thegoldstandardnow.org.  

Merlin kicks things off by going over a listener’s question about shorting impacts on supply levels, then focuses on CAT for a well thought out trade by one of our listeners. Focus shifts to Real Estate as Diana Hill joins the show to walk through many of the current fundamental housing market numbers to help gain a clearer understanding of where we stand. Several listeners bring in questions ranging from buying homes with IRA money, to using 203k loans to buy the Hooters Casino in Vegas!

Merlin starts off the show talking about The current market conditions and clarifies some comments from Tuesday’s show regarding Dark Cloud Cover and the appropriate statistics. Next, we look at charts pertaining to a student’s question regarding Elliot Wave and Baidu. Steve Bobbitt joins the show to shed some light on how he uses Fibonacci as a predictive element in his trading, as well as how he teaches his students to use Futures to anticipate stock market direction. PowerPick: KBH

Certain market events are shaping up for, what Merlin believes, is a nice move down over the next few days. This is a combination of market internals as well as a candlestick formation on the Daily chart which foreshadows a 5% decline in price. Bert adds his 2 cents about Europe and the current situation with Spain and Italy, as well as the rumors that Germany is printing DM again! Bert and Merlin look at The Euro as well for potential targets. PowerPick: USDJPY

As the markets looked a little soft going into Monday’s trading session, Mr. Bernanke made some comments which vaulted them significantly higher. Causing many to speculate that QE3 is just around the corner. Merlin tackles a couple listener questions about High Frequency Trading and how it impacts the markets. Derek Zelek joins the show to talk about his ProTrader class and some of the key things he is teaching them about order executions. Derek shares with us some of the major points traders should be looking out for when sending orders to the market. After a brief walkthrough a trade they made in class today, Derek gives his opinion of where he sees the markets going over the short term.

HFT rears its ugly head with investigations by the SEC into newly IPO’d stock exchange BATs. John and Merlin weigh in on the evolution of trading markets and the influx of technology, specifically high speed computers. John takes a look at gold and silver as a potential addition to ones long term portfolio, as well as giving away his CD “Why Gold, Why Now” to callers. Merlin looks at some of the recent housing numbers for possible glimpses of a market bottom in the housing market.

Tillie Allison, CES & CFP, joins Merlin for a look at many listener questions regarding their long term portfolios and other financial difficulties. The pair look at the popular investment methodology CANSLIM, and break it down to some basic pro’s and cons. During this packed 1 hour show, topics range from loading up a portfolio with one stock,  live trading workshops, using options to generate income and the usage of TVIX and VIX derivatives.

Merlin kicks off things with a quick recap of his AUDUSD PowerPick from Tuesday, explaining exactly whyy he chose the levels, as well as mapping out the targets for his current trade. Later, Debbie hague joins the show from Denver Colorado, where she is currently teaching a Trade Plan class. Debbie talks about some of the standout rixk management errors she has encountered with students recently. Both comment on Apple and its unrelenting power in dragging up all the major indicies, yet some are weakening. PowerPick: QQQ\NQM12

Fresh off a trip to India, Currency expert Steve Misic joins the show to talk about some of the major differences he encountered with regards to trading and investing. Steve goes onto talk about his upcoming article in Trader’s Magazine, in which he focuses on the USDJPY and some interesting upcoming trade set-ups. Later Steve and Merlin take a look at the European situation and break down the price action of the Euro for potential trades. PowerPick: AUDUSD

Many feel that once you have trading down, you don’t need to learn any more about it. Not so! Mike McMahon joins Power Trading Radio to talk about a class that he attended as a student, not the instructor, in an effort to broaden his understanding of the tools and technology available. Having traded for 36 years, Mike has his system down pat, but stresses the need to constantly be learning from other professionals in order to stay fresh, and improve your skills. Mike and Merlin talk about some of the golden nuggets Mike picked up in the class, then they turn the mics to the listeners questions for some specific stock chart analysis.

John O’Donnell and Merlin Rothfeld run through some of the major issues facing the financial markets. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America came under fire, spurring speculation of the Volcker rule, and other regulations for big banks. The duo looks at Gold, the Dollar and several other stocks as requested by listeners. Later, Merlin and John look at a listeners comment about Apple being in a bubble, and its impact on the market. PowerPick: RMD

As more positive economic data floods the market, the bulls continued to rejoice Thursday. This is great news for investors, however, they should also be a little cautious. Paul Orme, joins Merlin to talk about how people should be preparing for an extended retirement period. Starting out, EVERYONE should know exactly what rate of return they need to retire with the lifestyle they choose. From that point, Paul and his team of instructors at Online Trading Academy craft a financial recipt to achieve, and in many cases, exceed those goals. Bottom line is everyone should be in charge of their own investments.  

As an insider at Goldman Sachs resigns, he unleashed a firestorm that threatens the financial behemoth. Merlin talks to a couple special guests to get their thoughts on the issue, before bringing on his special guest. Michael Young joins the show to talk about some of the tools he is using to stay in these ballistic markets. Later, Merlin and Michael look at some current futures charts for key supply and demand levels which we may run into soon. PowerPick: KLAC

Markets were already off to a good start before Bernanke vaulted them even higher with is “not much is going to change” attitude. Merlin tackles a variety of listener questions ranging from Currency correlations with the S&P500, the sharp drop in gold, and what to do with a Large amount of cash making next to nil interest.  These topics and much more on today’s Power Trading Radio! PowerPick: EURUSD

As Bernanke gets his facial hair all primed up for TV tomorrow, the trading world is busy anticipating the next move. So much pressure is on the Fed, that many traders are anticipating their next action. Kyle Hibbard joins the show to talk about what he tells his students, and how he trades big announcements like the one tomorrow. Later, Kyle and Merlin take a look at commodities and basic materials as a potential addition to a long term portfolio. Merlin and Kyle analyze the last time we had a bull market like this and compare the rate hikes that happened back then, none of which are present during the latest rally. One of these kids is not like the others!! PowerPick: IRM

With a global sigh of relief about Greece and their potential default, John O’Donnell raises concerns about other PIIG countries following suit. John and Merlin also dive in to the current economic numbers including unemployment data, which appears to be the driving force behind the current rally. Merlin addresses a question from a reporter regarding the high failure rate of traders, which Merlin and John discuss and offer some pretty clear cut justification for why they fail, as well as solutions to help them succeed. John also offers listeners 3 new webinars for all callers at 888-304-8723

Tillie Allison joins Power Trading Radio live from Minneapolis where she is teaching a ProTrader class for Online Trading Academy. We start off talking about her process of trade plan review, where she sits down with students to go over their trading plans step by step to ensure they are on the right path. She stresses that a trading plan is not something you can copy from your friend and put your name on it, it needs to be extremely personalized. Later, Tillie walks us through some live trades she made with her students this morning, then dives in to ETF selection for those in ProActive Investor mode! Tillie even gives us an entry point she is eyeballing for TLT!

With the recent article by Rick Wright, in which he talks about trading development, Merlin takes the question to his guest, Steve Bobbitt. Steve talks about how he developed his trading style, what tools he uses to craft his trades, and what time frame charts to look at. Merlin and Steve look at their trading styles as an extension of their personalities and something that takes time to craft. Later, the break down the current status of the S&P 500 and offer some insight into where it could be headed.

While global uncertainty prevails, there was a rush to the cleanest of the moldy apples. The dollar was the recipient of this rush, shooting up and sending the equity markets for a much needed selloff. Rick Wright joins the show to talk about how this surge in the dollar may impact the other currencies as well as what are the key levels he is looking for going forward. Rick also talks about his most recent newsletters: What’s your trading style, and Dealing with winning streaks. PowerPick: AUDUSD (although its already stopped out for a loss!)

As the week got off to a rocky start, a step back to look at market history paints an interesting picture. Jeff Manson joins Power Trading Radio, fresh from teaching a ProTrader stock class in Irvine California. Jeff goes on to talk about how over the past 44 years, the S&P 500 has stayed above the 20SMA for 30 days only 21 times. More interesting is how long the market continues to rally from that point! Merlin and Jeff analyze that phenomenon, and offer insight into where the market is headed. PowerPick: ASML