What Can You Learn at the Forex & Options Expo?

In just a few short weeks, forex and options traders will head to Las Vegas for the Forex & Options Expo. Scheduled to take place from September 13 through September 15, the Forex & Options expo features more than 40 speakers. From Rob Booker and Jack Crooks to Kerry Given and Dan Passarelli, this is the can't-miss event of the year for forex and options traders.

"It's a great chance to meet a lot of like-minded people that are interested in options," said Joe Bell, Senior Equity Analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research, who will be attending the expo for the first time this year. "We specialize in sentiment, and we think that's one of our niches here, and we think that's something a lot of people don't focus on. It's something we're trying to get the word out for our company and also a good chance to network and meet up with individual investors that are interested in the same things we are."

Brad Reinard, the Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Cash Thru Options LLC, decided to attend the show when his company started to expand. "It's time to shake hands and get in front of customers," he said. "Ninety-nine percent of my customers and their actions are on the phone or the Internet. So we're primarily an Internet-based company."

Reinard will present three times during the event. His topics include "Options Trading Tips, Tricks, and Strategies from the Experts," "Why Index Credit Spreads and Iron Condors Can Complement Any Portfolio," and "How to Improve the Consistency, Safety, and Profitability of Index Credit Spreads and Iron Condors."

When Bell presents, he will focus on one key topic: "Utilizing Sentiment for Your Trading in a Hedge Fund Dominated Market."

"Essentially, I'm going to touch on the herd mentality," Bell told Benzinga. "The reason why we think [sentiment] is useful. The dangers of groupthink, and if you can see some of the dangers of groupthink and how the crowd isn't necessarily always correct when they have this same mass psychology."

Bell aims to teach expo attendees how to gauge investor sentiment and use it to their advantage. "If you know what the crowd is thinking, you can sometimes use that as an edge," he said. "One example would be stocks that have strong fundamentals, that performed well, and technically have strong price action. But yet they have a lot of doubters and people betting against the stock. We think that represents a lot of sideline money, or potential buyers, in the future.

"We're gonna touch on all the skeptics and explain what sentiment means and how it works in the market. Then I'm gonna go into some specific indicators that we look at for trade setups, and sort of touch on how the sentiment indicators have changed over the years with respect to how we see this as a hedge fund-dominated market and how some of the traditional sentiment indicators need to be adjusted a little bit on how you analyze them because the hedge fund traders are dominating in this market."

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