Jon Markman

Editor, Trader's Advantage and CounterPoint Options

Jon Markman is the editor of Trader’s Advantage, a daily trading service that leverages his unique swing trading principles and aims to capture profits of 7% to 15% — and often much more with his options trades — in less than 90 days. By combining technical analysis with underlying fundamentals, Jon recommends beaten down stocks on the brink of reversal and powerful momentum stocks breaking out to new highs.

In CounterPoint Options Jon helps options traders lock in consistent profits from the volatility that rocks the market. At its heart is a proprietary trading system, Magnitude, that pinpoints indexes or sectors that have reached a critical inflection point — then translates that signal into profitable trades.

CounterPoint Options keeps volatility options trading very simple, focusing on the most popular, highly traded exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are headed for a key reversal. Magnitude scans the market and allows subscribers to take advantage of these very liquid trading opportunities.

When CounterPoint Options first launched, it was focused solely on trading the VIX, commonly known as the “fear index.” When traders start buying up put options as “portfolio insurance,” the VIX spikes — a phenomenon that we’ll either trade directly, or use to inform our ETF trades on specific slices of the market. Our agile (and highly lucrative) strategy lets us turn volatility into profits… just like professional traders and hedge funds have been doing for years.

CounterPoint Options helps individual traders make steady, consistent profits from a very methodical approach to growing your portfolio in the midst of a turbulent market.

A pioneer in the development of stock-rating systems and screening software, Jon Markman is co-inventor on two Microsoft patents and author of the best-selling books Swing Trading and Online Investing. He was portfolio manager and senior investment strategist at a multi-strategy hedge fund from 2002 to 2005; managing editor and columnist at CNBC on MSN Money from 1997 to 2002; and an editor, investment columnist and investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times from 1984 to 1997.

Jon won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Financial Journalism for his columns explaining market chicanery in 2002; Society of Professional Journalists awards for his 2001 reporting on Enron and the post-Sept. 11-investment environment; and was a news editor on the Los Angeles Times staff that won Pulitzer Prizes for spot-news reporting in 1992 and 1994.

A graduate of Duke University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Jon speaks frequently on investment topics at conferences nationwide, as well as on TV and radio.

Recent Articles

7 Reasons the Bulls Are Back This March

By Jon Markman, Editor, Trader's Advantage and CounterPoint Options Mar 2, 2010

With all the talk about debt, deficits and value destruction in the news lately, I figured you could stand to hear something positive for a change. So with thanks to the analysts at ISI Group in New York, here are some strengths in the U.S. and global economy to put into your mix of thoughts:

The Case for Emerging Markets

By Jon Markman, Editor, Trader's Advantage and CounterPoint Options Aug 21, 2009

Global stocks have been on a slide lately as traders worry about the developing world's ability to grow without the U.S. consumer and about fallout from the Chinese government's decision to cut back on the massive expansion of credit that has kept its factories busy. Here are two ways to take advantage of the recent slide.

Don’t Buy Into the Green Shoots Hype

By Jon Markman, Editor, Trader's Advantage and CounterPoint Options Jun 25, 2009

We have received a lot of what appears to be positive economic news this month, including a decline in continuing unemployment claims -- playing into the green shoot hypothesis perfectly. But if you look at the data closely, it's possible that any recovery that does occur over the next year could be jobless and joyless.

A Stock That Will Take the Sting Out of High Gas Prices

By Jon Markman, Editor, Trader's Advantage and CounterPoint Options Jun 19, 2009

While most stocks have bounced around in the past three weeks, one sector has managed to remain fairly steady: the energy pipeline providers. I know, I know. The idea of investing in natural gas and petroleum pipelines is too exciting for words. But just give me a moment here because I do think you'll like this one company.

Top Natural Gas Stock to Buy Now

By Jon Markman, Editor, Trader's Advantage and CounterPoint Options Jun 9, 2009

Natural gas plays have been popular with investors lately, so how about one focusing on distributing natural gas to the Pacific Northwest with virtually no competition and significant upside potential? What's more, it's a master limited partnership, which means that, in exchange for avoiding corporate income taxes, the firm must pass out the majority of their profits to investors in quarterly required distributions.