Articles from the Experts
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 Option Block 162: Risk Reversal Hour Trading Block: Midday selloff continues following post-weekend/selloff vol pop. EU summit concerns with Spain requesting EU aid for their banks, and Cyprus requesting an EU bailout. Last week most active ever for VIX futures. New home sales hit a two-year high last month - 369,000 new homes vs, 346,000 expected. Oil continues to fall, right into the teeth of summer driving season. Everyone waiting on Supreme Court healthcare vote. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Men's Warehouse (MW) and Motorola Solutions (MSI). Xpress Block: John Grigus sits down and discusses the news that Amex will be bringing back their binary options. Higher corn and grain prices due to a lack of rain in the midwest. Listener Mail: Email from George K: I loved Mark's rants from the past few shows. He hit the nail on the head with both Morningstar and the "Wall Street" sequel. I'm a Morningstar subscriber but their options offerings are a complete joke. I agree with his comments that it's 1983 from Morningstar's options perspective. They pretend that they don't exist. Hopefully you guys can fix that. As for the "Wall Street" sequel, Mark left out my favorite part - the Budd Foxx/Charlie Sheen cameo. That bad was so bad that I turned off my TV in disgust. It took me about another month to get around to actually finishing the movie. In all seriousness, thank you Mark for making the Options Insider radio network and providing so much great content like the Option Block. There truly is nothing else like this network, or this show anywhere else. You've created a great home for options traders and we appreciate it. Around the Block: Keeping an eye on the Supreme Court healthcare vote and the EU meeting later this week. |
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Option Block 161: Now With 75% More Ranting Trading Block: A bit of a blood bath today after Goldman recommended shorting the S&P. A lack of VIX movement compared to a big 30-handle selloff. Moody's to downgrade up to 15 banks after the close just piled on the bad news for today. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IDIX). Xpress Block: Returning panelist Alex Jacobson takes the OX hot seat and discusses the "non-reaction" to today's down market. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses contract selection and how it important it is have the correct contracts. Around the Block: Maybe the weekend effect will play with the VIX and we may see the beginning of a rally. Short the VIX, long SPX. Keeping an eye on the Ford Dec 11's and bond yields. |
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Option Block 160: Blue Horeshoe Loves Option Block Trading Block: Greek pro-bailout ruling was not exactly the boon the markets expected. Spanish load concerns still weighing on the market. Almost like a post-earnings throughout the market with vol coming in across the board. NAHB housing index of homebuilder sentiment highest in five years, but still below 50. The Supreme Court may rule whether Congress has the power to require people to buy health insurance. According to the bets, there’s a 68 percent probability that the law’s individual mandate will be ruled unconstitutional in 2012. Facebook reversed the trend of past week and finally closed upsize. Microsoft's secret Window 8 tablet - the new iPad killer? Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Harman International Industries (HAR), Molina Healthcare Inc. (MOH), and W.R Grace (GRA). Listener Question: The dying breed of floor traders With the dying breed that is the floor trader, can you share the craziest/scariest story/stories that you remember from your days on the floor? Being a younger guy myself and having only traded behind the friendly confines of the computer screen I often think to myself that I can't entirely appreciate the origins of the market having never been a part of that dying culture. (Via The Options Insider forum by: optionsvoodoo) Around the Block: With Greece in the rear view window, and Facebook rallying, we're watching S&P and gold. The VIX may be headed to 17 or lower. |
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Option Block 159: The 1-3.5-6 Ratio Condor Swap Trading Block: News is out that the central banks are trying to make a coordinated effort to help out Greece after the elections. Commodity rundown - open quota unchanged. Fallout for Apple after WWDC. Nokia down 15% on news of slashing 10,000 more jobs - down 50% since April. Is this the beginning of the end for Nokia? Will Microsoft buy them? Is this another Motorola? Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) and Safeway, Inc. (SWY). Xpress Block: John Grigus is back at sits down in the OX hot seat to discuss a Nasdaq/OMX memo about starting a Facebook member accommodation program. Tomorrow is expiration. Around the Block: Remember, this is expiration week! We'll have to see what happens to Nokia. Greece, Spain, Greece, etc. |
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Option Block 158: Mini Widowmaker Trading Block: VIX provided most of the movement in the market. Spain concerns weigh on the market again. Analyst says JP Morgan could make an upside surprise as they disclose more about the $2 billion "hedge." Apple's WWDC doesn't budge the stock - announces new MacBooks, iOS 6, better voice, no new iPhone, and switching away from Google maps - a potential big hit for Google. Commodity/vol rundown. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR), Pitney Bowes, Inc. (PBI), and Focus Media Holding, Ltd. (FMCN). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi is back in the OX hot seat and goes over what was active over at optionsXpress. Apple, SPY, and more, a grain report coming out tomorrow. Helping a few customers with spreads. Mail Block: Taking on Listener Questions What role does option volume play in your overall trading? For examples: I'm thinking about selling 50-100 puts in a name that only trades about 400 contracts a day. Should I be concerned about unwinding that position when the time comes? Thanks and please make more 80's references during the show. (Via email from Sean Robinson) What do you guys think about selling the Facebook Jul 23P for $0.70? Yeah or nay? (Via Twitter from SPY16) Around the Block: June 13: PPI & Retail Sales June 14: CPI & Jobless Claims June 15: Industrial Production, Consumer Sentiment & Triple Witching Expiration |
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Option Block 157: We Are in a Holding Pattern Until We Are Not Trading Block: For the second show in a row, the S&P is literally closed unchanged at 0.0%, what are the odds? The Fed pretty much stymied most activity. Have to love the Feds - says end of tax cuts is the most important fiscal event on the horizon, yet refuses to comment on whether tax cuts should stay or go. China cut their benchmark lending rate for the first time in about 4 years. VIX drifting toward the lower end of its recent range. Commodity/Metals update. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (LULU), Market Vectors Gold Miners Index ETF (GDX), and SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) Xpress Block: Sean Fitzgerald returns to the Xpress Block for the second time and discusses Facebook and its seemingly recent divorce from the public's love and attention. In other news, Starbucks will start producing for the "K-Cup" Green Mountain single cup coffee brewing system. Listener Mail: When do you think daily options will become available and what impact do you think they will have on the industry? Also what particular strategies do you see coming of these daily contracts that vary from some of the current strategies? Thanks. (Via The Options Insider’s online forum from optionsvoodoo) Hello crew, I was wondering if any of you have a bread and butter income type trade that you put on consistently with little regard to overall market conditions/bias? Whether that be on a weekly or monthly basis where the primary profit driver is theta decay. Also in terms of viewing options skew, what products offer the best way to view and understand skew? Thank you. (Via email from Kyle Bongers) Around the Block: Keeping an eye on Greece and The Fed. |
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Option Block 156: Greek Tragedy Trading Block: The selloff eased after the bloodbath on Friday. The S&P closed almost completely unchanged today. Still waiting for the Greeks. All-time record lows in the 10- and 30-year bonds. VIX headed to 30...and beyond? A Facebook flow recap. Peak 6 gobbles up the remnants of Pension, creating a new entity, Apex Clearing Corp. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Research in Motion, Ltd. (RIMM), HollyFrontier Corp. (HFC), and Hansen Medical, Inc. (HNSN). Xpress Block: Newcomer Sean Fitzgerald gets to take hold on the OX reins and discusses the July crude oil technicals, SPX and an upcoming economic report. Around the Block: Greece, Greece and more Greece with a side of Saganaki. |
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Option Block 155: The Long and Winding Road to Nowhere Trading Block: Given the end of month, it was a strange seesaw-like day on the market. Facebook is actually going up, closing today at $29.53. There is a lot of opportunity in those options. Commodities movers today included crude oil, natural gas, soy meal, oats, soybeans, wheat, coffee and lumber. But who could forget about bond? Gold and silver rundown. Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes the OX seat and talks first about the Corzine Rule being proposed for futures brokers, and then the number tomorrow. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw's strategy and story from today are about adjustments of trades. Around the Block: Again, the big number tomorrow - if you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail. Election in Greece later this month. Check out the Facebook options survey results posted on theoptionsinsider.com |
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Option Block 154: When In Doubt, Roll It Out Trading Block: More Facebook fallout - What's the situation been like at OX? Participate in our Facebook options survey, link on Options Insider. Facebook dragged other social media stock, like Zynga and LinkedIn, down with it. A low BBI with Apple over at KYO. Odd Block: Interesting and/or unusual activity in: AT&T, Currency Shares Euro Trust, (FXE), and Owens-Illinois, Inc. (OI). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes a seat in Xpress Block chair and discusses a call taken today by a customer looking to buy some silver futures all the way out to Dec 2015. Also, some updates on the commodities as well. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw has the floor in this Strategy Block and talks about trading back spreads Apple. Around the Block: Facebook Options list on the 29th. |
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Option Block 153: Facebook Faceplant Trading Block: The market had no real direction. The Euro got crushed and bonds had the only give back of the day. Sebastian looks at the correlation between TLT and VIX. Commodities rundown featuring gold, crude oil and natural gas. Xpress Block: Going over the tumultuous week/weekend of Facebook. What was the environment like over at OX? The financial media had a field day with the Facebook IPO. Going over the valuation of Facebook and the upcoming options on the 29th. Around the Block: Breaking news: On May 31st, the CBOE will extend the listings of their PM settled, SPX end of week options to include the following expirations: June 8th, June 22nd and July 6th. Keeping an eye on the crude inventories report. A long three-day weekend coming up. |