Folks, the Middle East crisis is continuing to boil. We've just got a report of a US drone strike in Baghdad killing a top Oron backed militia member and Hezbollah is now responding to the other assassination that happened last week with massive massive rocket strikes and all of this is connected and the timing is not a coincidence. Military analysts in the United States are on edge as they come close to expecting the battle to spread to the straight of harmo if this gets blockaded by War and death in addition to the or present conflict in the Red Sea on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. Well folks, let me tell you, it's going to be an absolute catastrophe.

You can expect oil prices to nearly double and Middle East tension to go through the roof as more and more players get drawn in as we've seen happen since October 7th. Now, at the same time as this tension is continuing to boil and boil and boil, boil like a frog jumping for life. Well, US Secretary of State Blinkin is in the Middle East trying to calm things down and in today's video, I'm going to give you the run down on exactly what is going on, what you need to know as well as some trade ideas to play in this market environment. and the only thing I ask in return is that you hit that ravishing like button and also don't forget to subscribe.

So as you know, there's a massive proxy war right now between the West and Iran Iran Likes to fight through little militia groups throughout the Middle East and this battle is worsening. Quote: In recent weeks, the US military has responded several times to more than 70 attacks by Iranian backed armed groups in Iraq against Us bases and camps in Iraq and Syria. Those Us strikes twice targeted another Iraqi militia linked to Iran Hezbollah as well as several others from The New York Times. Now here's the thing folks.

the US has generally avoided striking in Baghdad because of the population density in that City But a few days ago, they decided that they were going to take out a key figure there with a drone Precision strike. This Precision strike was on a leader known as Abu Taqua a key militia leader linked to Iran wanted by America for organizing attacks against America person for quite a long time. This comes shortly after the key attack on an Iranian linked Hamas leader in Lebanon that happened last week. And folks, you will continue to see more and more Precision strikes on key leaders.

And this has been a longterm Trend that we've seen for the last couple of months. and this is all sending a very, very loud message to Iran that the West is indeed willing to take more direct and precise military action. and and the question is, how will Iran respond next? We saw what happened after the US sent helicopters to sink some of the Houie boats. Well, what is going to happen Now the ball is now in Iran's court that who was this Abua individual? Well, he was the commander of a group that is a radical Iraqi Shiite Military Arm in Syria and Iraq.

Established in 2013, the group has gained significant attention for its military and political. Activity One of the key characteristics of this group is its fighting capabilities. The group has developed a reputation for its well-trained and disciplined Fighters. They have been actively involved in many battles and attacks, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

They participated in the fight against Isis and they've Been instrumental in reclaiming territories from other extremist groups. Their military might has positioned them as a key player in the Shia militia Network providing them with access to resources and influence in both Iraq and Syria And guess what, folks, knocking out one of their senior members is a key key way to not just Stoke tensions with groups that are already causing a lot of problems, but also completely escalate the entire crisis to a whole new level and bigger picture. Over the last couple of weeks, you've had a huge uptick in problems in the Red Sea area which connects to the Sews Canal one of the most important trading routes in the world and as you know, the Iran back to the rebels started attacking tankers and ships of trade in that region and then the US sent a helicopter to defend them and killed toothies. and then Iran sent its warship to send a message to America And as a result, that whole area is now basically dead for trade.

Many major companies have already rerouted their ships, but now the same thing is happening over here in the Straight of Harmo. So what is the Straight of Harmo and why is it so important? Charlie Charlie Toe Well, the Straight of Harmo is one of the most critical waterways in the world Connect conting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea It plays a significant role in global trade for many, many different reasons. I Mean Firstly, it serves as a major Transit point for oil shipments. More than one-third of the world's Seaborn oil passes through the straight, making it a vital vital energy route.

This is crucial for countries heavily dependent on oil imports, such as for example, Japan and South Korea Any disruption to this oil can have very, very far reaching effects. In addition to oil, the Straight of Harmo is also an essential route for transporting liquefied natural gas. we'll call it. LNG Qatar One of the world's largest LNG exporters relies heavily on the Straight for its shipments.

LG is a vital vital energy source for many many countries, providing a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, which is a big big race for people to adopt more energy efficient, more Earth efficient fuels. Therefore, any disruption or closure of the Straight could lead to a shortage of LNG and potentially impact the energy landscape around the world. Now, not only does this route serve as a major route for energy, but it is also a key pathway for other good and commodities. Innumerable commercial vessels pass through the Straight every single day carrying a wide range of products such as Electronics Automobiles and Tex Stes.

Any blockage or heightened tensions in the Straight can disrupt these trade routes, leading to delays and increased costs for businesses around the world. We thought we were getting away from the inflation. While this has the potential to bring back Global inflation, so now, of course, amidst all this, the US is rushing to figure out how to stop this from continuing to spiral from. The Wall Street Journal Quote: America's top diplomats are converging on the Middle East as they make a full court press to prevent the war in the Gaza Strip from sparking a broader, more destabilizing regional conflict.

President Biden has sent Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin and one of his most trusted White House advisers to the Middle East amid a surge in attacks across the region that have increased the risks of any missteps triggering a larger, unpredictable conf flager. So if you're Anthony blinking right now and you're in the Middle East, you have to figure out both how to show the backing of our allies in the Middle East but also not piss off Iran too much to the point that they escalate the conflict to a level that draws in a more direct conflict between US troops and Iran What do you think about the disaster emerging in the Middle East Is this going to get better? or is this going to get worse? Are we heading for a Barries and Roses everybody's going to be peaceful situation or or are things not looking so peachy? You can let us know in the comment section down below we love hearing from you. Let's move on. It's time to talk about what's going on in this market.

so markets continue to hover around alltime. High Seen a small bounce on Friday the day of Fry and some support Gathering After several aggressive days of Dipping we have officially broken our red directional SMA on the 20-day and for this current Trend to continue blowing below it. Well, that would be brewing a lot. A lot of negative momentum which can be hard to stop.

However, this is the week that the market can reject that and accept back upwards. We'll see if it can pull that off. We'll see the vix though. Look at the lovely vix.

Well, the vix does seem to be on an overall upward momentum cycle, suggesting that fear and UNC certainty are in an emerging bull market. This again is the crucial crucial week to test that thesis and for markets to pick up and for markets to decide if we are heading into a Q1 pump or a Q1 dump. We don't like dumpy dumpo here at Zip Trader but there are opportunities to trade dumpy Dumpo if you are smart and you're paying attention. However, right now, data continues to suggest a pump.

but but you don't know until you know, right? and you got to keep your eyes open. Traders They can make a thesis on where markets are going, but at the end of the day the market has to prove the thesis proof and not promises. You can't just sit there and guess where markets are going to go. You got to make a thesis and then wait for the market to prove your thesis to be correct.

Now I Continue to believe that the best combo to play this overall Market condition is with strategic spy calls as well as hedging with Vix calls. Vix is bound to break out in the next couple of months regardless of whether spy continues to go up or not. But I Also believe that spy will follow an overall uptrend and breakout to all-time highs and build above them as has been the case historically when you get breakouts to record highs. If if you look at the chart over the last 100 years, when you're looking at breakouts in overall markets, well, it tends to build up to that breakout point.

To that record high point markets are like no, no, no, no, no no we can't break out. Then once you get the breakout, you get a lot of foming in and it and it just builds and builds and builds. Now in terms of top stocks to watch this week, well, number One watch is Mara Lovely. Mara Mara has been in an overall dip recovery from the massive dip from 3197 those beautiful cycle highs I Believe she's going to make an attempt to break past those highs in the coming weeks and I believe Bitcoin will bail out Mara the uptrend in Bitcoin that's heading into having and heading into the ETF approval which should happen in a couple weeks I Believe that's going to bail out MAA Quite a lot and thus I continue to believe that MAA is a key and Prime play right now specifically Mora Calls We've talked a lot about those number Two Vix I Know we talked about Vix a few seconds ago, but look for the next.

Spike upward. We like the 15 strike calls expiring March 20th for her. That gives Vix plenty plenty of time to break out of its historically low price. Number Three Paler the tier of palen pltr.

so pltr is under pretty aggressive consolidation right now and needlessly, so the earnings at the last report were totally killer. Complete complete murderer I Believe shorts are having their way right now and I expect paler to bottom around 1449 support at worst, but likely she picks up and Booms and fills in the gap between that support and $21.85 which means a few month out call options on the tier of palon are starting to look quite juicy. So juicy that my lips are watering. Take look at those March 15th 20 strike calls on the tier of Palin trading at an Ask of about 57 cents I Think you'll see those boom quite a lot heading into the next six or seven weeks.

Sure, Sure, maybe they lose money for another couple of weeks, but I think I think you're going to see Paler pick up very very soon. Might be more diligent to wait until she bottoms and actually proves the ability to rebound bottoms at that 1449 support, but again at the end of the day I Think that overall you can't really go that wrong if you play calls on Paler dating out to March If you read that last earnings report and you look at what expectations are going into the next earnings report which I think are very, very low for what Paler could actually do, well, I think I think Paler is going to really, really boom in the next cycle and and accordingly, well, these call options should be good bets of course. As always, make sure to do your own due diligence on all stocks we present in these videos. They're just ideas for you to start looking at and start learning from.

But at the end of the day, if you're the one taking the risk, you got to be the one doing the ultimate. Frisk A lot of people they get real risky before they do their frisky and that is a recipe for disaster folks. A recipe for disaster, not a entree that I'd want to eat. Anyways, folks, that caps off today's video for those of you looking to learn a new skill.

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Anyways, have a great rest of your day and we'll see you in the next video.