CNBC adds mentor Dan Sheridan to OPTIONS ACTION program Dec. 30

Dan Sheridan, options mentor, makes his first appearance on CNBC's OPTIONS ACTION this Friday, December 30, 2011.

SHOW TIMES

• Fridays, 5p ET
• Saturday, 6a ET
• Sunday, 6a ET

Set your DVR.

More about Dan and his mentoring program.

Commercial net short drops 12% in todays' COT

We're speaking of gold futures. The last time commercials so lightened up on their short hedges (end of September), gold bulked up about 150 molto pronto in the subsequent weeks. This is not an ironclad promise the yellow metal will repeat the performance right here, right now, and there are distinct deflationary pressures weighing on gold just now, but we find this indicator to be meaningful, and a year-end spurt in gold would be much in character with the perverse nature of the markets, i.e. a rally now that all the guru's (Gartmann et al) have said the "bull is dead," "I've sold all my gold," etc. etc. etc.

(See earlier posts here.)

Speaking of gold, that's what the three kings brought the young and future King, gold, incense and myrrh. Read about the significance of these gifts.

Merry Christmas to all our readers.

GOLD	COT REPORT	COMMERCIALS NET SHORT
1605.00	12/23/11	164,554
1597.50	12/16/11	186,217
1715.00	12/9/11	201,500
1745.30	12/2/11	193,545
1688.50	11/25/11	192,413
1719.00	11/18/11	204,163
1773.00	11/11/11	196,935
1749.00	11/4/11	182,400
1744.40	10/28/11	168,114
1638.70	10/21/11	159,153
1680.00	10/14/11	168,478
1652.00	10/7/11	164,751
1624.80	9/30/11	166,683
1647.00	9/23/11	197,628
1809.60	9/16/11	210,468
1859.40	9/9/11	227,714
1881.90	9/2/11	217,355
1813.70	8/26/11	230,436

Working on two features for trade press

One condor trader, one calendar, completely different approaches, both successful. More on these later....