Market Analysis
2017 was a remarkable year in many ways for investors. First and foremost, the market reached new all-time highs with the Dow climbing 25% and the S&P 500 up 19% for the year. In fact, the Dow had 70 record closes during the year! But not to be outdone, the Nasdaq jumped an impressive 28% making 2017 the best year for investors since 2013!
Global economic growth and the strengthening of investor confidence helped propel the markets higher. Interest rates have remained at historically low levels which also helped the markets despite ongoing concerns about political uncertainty. However, the year was unusual in that it lacked any type of sharp pullback that typically accompanies large rallies. The S&P 500 has not suffered a significant pullback since prior to the election and volatility has plummeted to records lows.
The drop in volatility across the board in virtually all asset classes has made trading extremely difficult for option sellers. This past year we had to trade almost exclusively in commodities options which offered slightly higher levels of volatility at times. Despite the challenging trading environment, we still managed to generate a respectable 27.11% return on our trading capital in 2017 after factoring in all of our trading costs (commissions). In fact, 2017 was my best trading year of the past three years!
Changes for 2018
Things are changing in my life which preclude me from continuing to dedicate the amount of resources required to operate and maintain a trading website. I have opened up the entire website as free content. There is no longer a Pro (paid) membership available (or any memberships, for that matter). I will no longer be offering the trade alert service for subscribers. In fact, all current paid members have received pro-rated refunds of their subscription fees.
It has been a great deal of fun publishing this blog and sharing my trades with you in a nearly real-time manner. However, the costs of running the site and time required have become quite significant and I no longer have the ability to continue doing it in a manner that I would find rewarding.
I will leave the site up for now so that it can be a resource to readers, but I do not plan to add content or trades, at least not in the immediate future.
Thank you to all of you that have been faithful readers, subscribers and contributors over the past three years. It truly has been an honor and pleasure to share ideas with you.
Happy Trading and Happy New Year!
