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So far, 2024 has been an outlier year, with the S&P 500 hitting at least 41 new all-time highs, making it the index's best year since 1997.

In this episode of Stocks In Translation, Yahoo Finance's markets and data editor Jared Blikre and Yahoo Finance producer Sydnee Fried are joined by Tom Sosnoff, founder and CEO of tastylive and tastytrade.

Sosnoff, a veteran of the online brokerage industry, shares insights from his 20-year career as a pit trader on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He also talks about his leap into entrepreneurship with thinkorswim, the company he sold to TD Ameritrade for $750 million, and his subsequent sale of tastytrade in 2021 for $1.1 billion.

When asked about the current market, the self-described contrarian suggests, “Maybe it’s a little frothy.” In a frothy market, prices rise rapidly due to speculation or investor excitement, often outpacing fundamental values. This can signal a potential market bubble.

The group goes on to discuss liquidity. “If something is liquid, it’s tradable, and it’s sufficient,” notes Sosnoff. “It's one of the great things about US markets is they're generally liquid across the board, you know, across the whole spectrum.”

Sosnoff also explains the relationship between volatility and risk. “In reality, when volatility goes up, the risk is less, not more… When volatility goes down, meaning when volatility contracts, the risk is greater,” adding. “It's the only true math equation in finance.”

When asked about the future of retail trading, Sosnoff suggests, “I think you're gonna see tokenization, we're gonna digitize everything. It's just a matter of time… “You'll be trading, you'd be able to trade virtually any product in a single currency anywhere in the world and clear it centrally.”

Twice a week, Stocks In Translation cuts through the market mayhem, noisy numbers and hyperbole to give you the information you need to make the right trade for your portfolio. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service.

This post was written by John Tejada.