How My Profit Radar Scored 2 Triple-Digit Gains in 72 Hours

In my newest options trading advisory Fast Lane Profits, we kicked off October by landing two quick triple-digit gains.

And when I say quick, I’m talking within 72 hours.

On October 6, it was your typical Wednesday morning. Stocks were about 5% off their highs and the headlines were filled with fear about the Evergrande crisis in China and the debt ceiling in Congress.

But my Profit Radar had just pinpointed an index that was entering what I consider the “fast lane” of the market.

This is a proprietary, single line of code that I layer on to my Profit Radar to essentially tell me which major index of the market is set to move the fastest in the coming days…

And sure enough, just 72 hours later, we pocketed a 141% gain on that very index thanks to the power of options.

That was just one of our gains, though.

Because over the exact same days, we scored another triple-digit gain.

This time, on a blue-chip stock that typically doesn’t offer these kinds of returns.

Here’s how we did it…

The Fastest Car in the Fast Lane

My fast lane approach is a two-pronged system.

See, I want to find the fastest lane in the market — that’s the index we traded that led us to a 141% gain.

It wasn’t some tech-heavy index or obscure sector trade. We bagged this triple-digit gain on the most common, plain Jane index there is — the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

It’s comprised of 30 of the largest stocks in the market. And highly stable stocks, like UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Home Depot (HD).

So this isn’t some volatile asset class that’s prone to delivering the kind of returns we saw in 72 hours.

In fact, the index was up just 2% over those three days.

But I was expecting this move before it happened, thanks to the index entering the fast lane.

Now, there’s a lot that goes into my Fast Lane strategy. More than we have time to get into here. But this is the gist…

In short, the Dow crossed a threshold on my Profit Radar that tracks the speed an index is moving.

And once it did, it triggered a signal for us to add call options.

To show you what I mean, let’s take a look at the Profit Radar from back on October 5…

(Click here to view larger image.)

That black circle represents the slow lane. Once an index dips into it and then moves out, even slightly, we know things are starting to heat up.

So we buy call options on the index to capitalize on the short-term move. That’s step one.

But that brings us to the second prong of my Fast Lane strategy.

To find potentially even juicier returns, we add another bullish trade on a stock that’s within that index.

To do that, I take a deep dive into the Dow to spot the single stock set to make a quick move over the next few days.

And for that, we stay with the Profit Radar and what it tells us about a stock’s direction…

How the Profit Radar Spots the Fastest Car

Regular readers know the Profit Radar is split up into quadrants: improving, leading, weakening, and lagging. All stocks and indexes tend to go through these four quadrants in a natural rotation.

And when a stock is moving from lagging into improving, that’s where the biggest moves happen.

It means momentum is gaining, and the stock is moving ahead of the broader market.

It just so happens that on October 5 when I pulled up the chart, industrial giant Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was making that move… You can see it below.

(Click here to view larger image.)

You can see how it is moving in that northeast direction on the Profit Radar, away from “lagging” and into “improving.”

It’s the perfect setup we look for in these short-term trades…

So I told my subscribers to buy a call option on CAT, and within 72 hours we had booked a second triple-digit gain — this time for 129%.

Now, I’ve shown you a lot of details about the Profit Radar in our letters here at True Options Masters.

But my Fast Lane strategy is totally different from what I show off here.

For example, when we use it in True Options Masters, I’m looking at price moves that will last weeks or months at a time. Trying to pinpoint the extremes of a stock or sector, and capitalize on those extremes.

You can still make good money following these ideas. But my Fast Lane approach is a different beast.

For one thing, we aren’t holding a trade for weeks.

We don’t even go out much longer than a week and a half with our option expirations, if even that far.

These trades move fast. That’s why we call it the Fast Lane.

And with these fast trades, seeing two triple-digit gains like we did in the Dow and Caterpillar, in just 72 hours, is par for the course.

Some gains come in as little as one day… And the longest we’ll be in a trade is up to a week.

Right now, I have another Fast Lane setting up as we speak. And any one of these next few trades could be yet another triple-digit gain.

The only way to get the real-time alerts though, is to be a member of our newest research advisory, Fast Lane Profits.

I’ve been told there’s still a few spaces left. But we’re restricting membership to just 500 people, to start. We want to make sure the power of these signals doesn’t get diluted by a ton of people all at once.

So if you’re ready to join me, and get two brand-new trade ideas every single week…

Each with triple-digit potential…

You can click here to get all the details and learn how to take part in my next Fast Lane alert.

Regards,

Chad Shoop, CMT
Editor, Quick Hit Profits

Chart of the Day:
Brace for Volatility

(Click here to view larger image.)

One of my favorite market “temperature gauges” is Bollinger Bands on the Volatility Index (VIX).

Many traders know that the VIX measures forward expectations of market volatility. A high VIX means fear in the market, and a low VIX suggests complacency.

If the VIX is a measure of volatility, then the Bollinger Bands on the VIX are a measure of… the volatility of volatility.

In other words, it gives us a picture of how compressed the perception of forward volatility is. That might sound like a lot to chew on, but it’s much simpler to read on a chart.

See that indicator at the bottom of the chart? I plotted a pink vertical line whenever the Bollinger Band Width dropped between 0.14 and 0.22, a range which has preceded large surges of volatility for the past year and a half. 

We just dropped into that range once again, with the Bollinger Bands pinching on the VIX pretty tightly as we head into the holidays.

Now, this is a bit unusual. Most years — barring 2018 most notably — the holiday season is a strong period for stocks. That’s not to say it’s impossible for us to see a downturn here. But seasonal factors do work against it.

Still, it’s prudent to prepare for some volatility here. If you’re sitting on big winners, it’s probably a good idea to take some profit off the table.

Regards,

Mike Merson
Managing Editor, True Options Masters