$2.00 a share. WOW that was fast.

As I said a couple of days ago, the volatility in the next week or so has the potential to be unprecedented. The speed in which events are unfolding at this time is unparalleled to anything I have ever seen in 25 years. Bear started this off in June of 2007 and maybe we might finally get the panic selling we need to mark a tradeable bottom on the Bear news of 2008 coming to an end. Sad story, but the markets don't care who you are or what company you are. And if you are in business one day and out of business the next, the market will keep on trading without missing a beat whether you have just gone out of business or not. Right now, preservation of capital, as I have been saying, is very important. You have to be extremely disciplined in this market if you are trading in and out. Longer term, it might be time to start to nibble at these levels. We will eventually come out of all of this, but it's going to take time.

We haven't seen a big currency intervention in years. It's almost time. Last Thursday and Friday, Israel was in the open market buying dollars against their currency. The risk with the central banks intervention in the currency markets is if it doesn't work. If they intervene, it better work and sentiment had better turn around, or it's going to be a temporary blood bath as everybody closes out positions regardless of price. Currency intervention, in my opinion, will have gold and oil and other commodities crashing down if it works. Opec last week said world oil demand is not going higher for the next year, so a lot of this bull market in commodities is dollar driven.

However, the extreme quickness in how events are unfolding could also work the other way. The down move could just as easily stop and turn around and we could melt up. Who knows, just watch and stay nimble and trade within your means. As I write this at 9:30 P.M. Central on Sunday night, S&P futures are trading at 1255. Who knows, they could be up on the day tomorrow. This entire down move of the last 2000 Dow points has been very orderly and not the type of action that marks bottoms. Maybe today will be different. We will have to wait and see, but so much damage has been done that it is going to be a while before we get a recovery that is going to hold up. Individual equities can still perform well. Just do your homework and there are always stocks that will perform well in all types of different markets. We will try to find those at this time. Good luck to all and trade within your means.

Scott Snyder

Neither thinkorswim, Inc. nor Scott Snyder, (employee of thinkorswim Advisors dba RED Option) solicit or recommend any form of trading in the individual stocks (or their derivatives) mentioned above. Please do careful, independent research before investing any money as well as weigh the possible consequences on your particular financial situation before doing so. The risk of loss may be substantial.

This is the second time in a week that we have seen a stunning one day rally. Most of the Major Indexes had their largest move in over 4 years and the NASDAQ broke a 6-year string. That being said, what does it mean? First, and most importantly, it tells us this market
was largely oversold in the near term. The velocity of these two rallies indicates the market was ready to snap back with ANY good news. The problem was we have not seen any in weeks.
The velocity or sheer magnitude and speed of the rally are worth examining. Often times, the speed we move in a direction can be a good indicator of where the market may be heading. This holds true on a daily scale, where you see the market inch higher over and over only to be slapped down rapidly or vice versa. This also happens on a longer scale as we have seen lately. In this case we slide continually lower daily but have brief rapid snapbacks much like a rubber band.
Where does that leave us now? We need to see how we process this rally to give us a clearer picture of what the market holds. I don't think anyone believes we are out of the woods yet with all the Credit Issues but the clearing may be on the horizon. Twenty years of trading options has taught me one thing, rarely is news as good or bad as it appears. The most important thing we need to do is get this mess in the open. Traders can handle good or bad news, uncertainty is the killer.
I am writing this on Wednesday Morning and we have a nice rally going on with the Vix
trading around 25.5. My suspicion is that we may have to give back a portion of these gains to hold and continue this rally. I cannot stress the importance of being nimble and cautious in this market enough. If you stick to tight trading there are plenty of opportunities. Good Luck!

thinkorswim, Inc. and its registered employee, Steve Quirk, do not solicit or recommend any form of trading in the individual stocks (or their derivatives) mentioned above. Please do careful, independent research before investing any money as well as weigh the possible consequences on your particular financial situation before doing so. The risk of loss may be substantial.

After an incredible rally on Tuesday, the confidence and happiness of the market was tempered severely on Wednesday.We saw most major averages give up 75% of Tuesdays gains. The euphoria and excitement of the Fed cut quickly turned to grave concern as Merrill Lynch is rumored to have further write downs. This fear and concern was evident in the options trading as we see more then 72,000 of the April 30 puts trade. This option is trading at a volatility level of 167%. People are willing to pay such a high volatility as the concern runs deep. We did see some positive news on the day with the largest IPO in history as Visa (V) went public today and was up 24 % on the day. JP morgan also enjoyed a positive day but overall it was ugly as only 1 stock (KO) was up and 29 down in the Dow. We head to Thursday and expiration as we are closed on Friday ready for another wild ride as stock options, index options and Futures all expire tomorrow. I think we could have an up day but do not get too confident on any move as the one thing we have learned so far in 2008 is that the market is anything but predictable at the moment. we see the VIX back near the 30 level and if we can stay below that level there is still plenty of room to the upside.

thinkorswim, Inc. and its registered employee, Joe Kinahan, do not solicit or recommend any form of trading in the individual stocks (or their derivatives) mentioned above. Please do careful, independent research before investing any money as well as weigh the possible consequences on your particular financial situation before doing so. The risk of loss may be substantial.

We saw a decent bounce off our lows from March 10, with most major Indexes up close to 4% since the Fed worked their magic with rates and liquidity. The most luminous storm clouds (financials) continue to cause alert and make any market buyers nervous. So it seems to be a couple cautious steps up and take the gains. Today, the early afternoon of March 27th, brings some more pessimism by traders in shares of Lehman Brothers, -8% as concerns mount on the largest mortgage bondholder in the US. In addition to our persistent fears here, now we have more unrest in Iraq and possibly some oil supply interruptions. Oil now is around $107 a barrel.

The biggest surprise of the day had to be the weakness in the Tech Sector as Oracle reported worse than expected revenues and is down close to 8%, dragging that sector lower with it. The way to play this market seems to be to take small risks, collect small gains and live to play on. The VIX is trading roughly 26 which indicates we may be settling in to smaller daily movements in the near term. My neck was getting sore from the daily 250 swings in the Dow so I welcome rest. Good Luck!

Steve Quirk

thinkorswim, Inc. and its registered employee, Steve Quirk, do not solicit or recommend any form of trading in the individual stocks (or their derivatives) mentioned above. Please do careful, independent research before investing any money as well as weigh the possible consequences on your particular financial situation before doing so. The risk of loss may be substantial.