The price of gold has surged this year, taking gold shares upwards with it. Readers of my Xcelerated Profits Report have rung the register with 45% profits on Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) and a triple-digit winner on Golden Star Resources (NYSE: GSS). We’re also up big on Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) at the moment.

All is good, right?

On the surface, perhaps. But not if you believe what the options market is saying…

The mainstream “press” does not want you to pay attention to option strategies such as covered calls.  There is a conspiracy here – and it’s meant to keep you ignorant to a sector of the market that just doesn’t fit in with the “buy stocks and mutual funds” mantra that makes Wall Street money.

As promised last week, this is the start of a series on options strategies I’ve planned in order to show you a world of possibilities that the mainstream “press” quite simply doesn’t want you to pay attention to. At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I firmly believe that most investors are intentionally kept in the dark about anything that breaks away from the “buy stocks and mutual funds” mantra that makes Wall Street money.

Stock market-wise, I wish we were back in July 2008. At that time, a 1% swing in the market was an anomaly. Today, it’s the norm. And even though we’ve seen volatility calm down somewhat in recent weeks, don’t be fooled. As we enter another earnings season, we’ll see volatility pick up again. So what are you going to do?

While history has shown us that there shouldn’t be much correlation between the stock and commodity markets, the current inter-connectedness between the two at the moment is still very evident. We’re still seeing large, intra-day and intra-week price swings, most of it coming on the heels of stock market moves. 

The stock market is a volatile, unforgiving beast. Now more than ever. The current rally aside, it’s eating many investors’ portfolios alive – and may well do so again in the near future. The question is, though… has this hurt you or actually helped you? 

Wall Street has gone nuts. It has lost track of how stock markets are supposed to work. I say we put an end to it and take advantage of the market’s apparent short-sightedness.

It is time for another simulator update.  To say the last week of trading has been interesting is an understatement.  Even though three-quarters of the nation is screaming about a recession, the equities maket continues to rise.  The Dow has not been at this level in quite a while.