Articles from the Experts
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 Option Block 142: Premium Selling Idiots Trading Block: VIX popped out of its range -- so much for fading to the downside. Apple, the target of an antitrust suit, was still up 1% yesterday. Commodities rundown -- new 10 year lows reached in the natural gas market. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Iron Mountain (IRM). Xpress Block: Mike Z from OX sits down for his first Xpress Block and discusses the announcement of ICE launching a cash settled grain futures contracts. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw goes over the difference between being a degenerate premium seller and just being an idiot -- and how to be the former instead of the latter. Around the Block: Earnings are back baby! Google after the bell today. Intel earnings - 4/17. Thursday is (4/19) the big day with -- CMG, LUV, BAC, AMD, NOK. Keeping an eye on short puts in crude oil. |
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Option Block 141: Getting Long Prison Premium Trading Block: Market down today in the wake of weak non-farm numbers on Friday. Yet Apple still up, if only by 1/2%. VIX heading north. It’s the $1billion day -- Microsoft buys 800 AOL patents for $1B and Facebook buys Instagram for $1B. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in America Online (AOL) and Corrections Corps of America (CXW).
Xpress Block: John Grigus sits down at the OX desk and discusses the possibility of mini-stocks (1/10th size).
Mail Block: Open Interest Question:
I am entering the world of trading weekly options. With monthly options I have been told to make sure there is at least 100 open interest when I consider buying an option. I'm noticing some of the weeklies I'm considering don't have much open interest even though they perform well in my back testing. My question is. If there is little or no open interest, is there a chance I will not be able to sell my option. Even at the bid price?
Around the Block: Looking to see if the vol can expand a little more - waiting for the bulls to come back. Keeping an eye on initial claims given the weak jobs number. Alcoa earnings 4/10, Google earnings 4/12. |
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Option Block 140: Doing Stuff with the Funk Trading Block: The markets were aimless today except for Apple carrying the NASDAQ. It's a weekday, so Apple must be up 1%. Vol rundown. The mainstream media finally starts to pick up on what we've been saying about VIX, VXX and the TVIX all along, “Curious Case of VIX and VIX Products.” Odd Block: Activity review from March 8: Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). Unusual activity today in: Wellcare Health Plans Inc. (WCG). Xpress Block: Newcomer Anitra DuPart jumps into the OX hot seat and today's customer activity at optionsXpress. Jobless claims and an Apple rally gave a little bounce to the market. Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBY) came out with earnings today, profits up 32%. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw sits down and discusses some valuable life lessons. First, you must have trust when working with a business partner, financial planner, etc. - even Bernie Madoff has a clean record. Second, you must understand the important of financial education. Around the Block: Watching the weekend, it hasn't really come out yet. The endless European crisis continues, but switches the Spain. |
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Option Block 139: No More Exchanges, Please Trading Block: Lots of upside on the day: Dow, S&P, NASDAQ, and VIX. The many masters of VIX. Andrew and the love of fundamental indicators. Doing stuff - NASDAQ-style. Yes, they're launching ANOTHER options platform. More fragmentation! More issues with spreading! More quotes! The more the merrier? Um, not so much. The gang also discusses myriad ways to improve the market, including regulation, margin, managing risk, and doing stuff. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Gap, Inc. (GPS), Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA), and TJX Compaines, Inc. (TJX). Xpress Block: Groupon restates earnings from last quarter, sparking several calls to the trading desk. Around the Block: Shortened trading week this week, so make sure you price the weekend out accordingly. Andrew is thinking that volatility will come in a little. Webinars are on the calendar for KYO in April and May. Non-farm payrolls are still coming out on Friday, despite the market being closed. |
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Option Block 138: There Is No Crying in Options Trading Block: Vol rundown - despite little movement, there is quite a bit of intraday volatility in the vol products. RIMM, COSI & TIBX earnings after the bell. Obama looks to end oil subsidies. Europe still weighing in on the broad market. Best Buy slashing stores nationwide. The BATS debacle continues after they cancelled their IPO. ZNGA buys app developer for $180M plus $30M retention bonuses. Odd Block: Wednesday activity review: Groupon, Inc. (GRPN). Monday activity review: Red Hat, Inc. (RHT). Last but not least, unusual activity in TIBCO Software Inc. (TIBX). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses getting quotes when trading - always have a plan B for getting a quote. Also, learn how to get out of a trade if you make a mistake. Around the Block: Taking another look at today's earnings. Andrew tells a hallowing tale about making sure to cover your errors. Keeping an eye on XLV and oil upside. The end of the quarter looms ahead. |
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Option Block 137: Selling the Hunger Games Trading Block: BATS debacle: All IPO trades busted as a matching engine encountered a software bug. The range of symbols, of course, included Apple. If you are executed on a limit order what do you do after your trade is busted? It's analogous to pin risk. CBOE suing ISE over 10x SPY contracts -- the no-brainer news of the week. The crushing of TVIX continues -- it is bound to reverse split. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Red Hat, Inc. (RHT). Xpress Block: After the dust settled on customer fallout from BATS/APPL debacle and recent TVIX drama, Lions Gate Films (LGF) saw an increase in options contracts in front of the new movie release "The Hunger Games." Around the Block: Keeping an eye on crude oil, if and/or when gas hit $5/gallon is when we'll see things grind to a halt. Corporate earning in a few weeks. Looking for something to push to market before the summer doldrums. |
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Option Block 136: Hunting, Fishing, and Options Trading Block: The market felt the weight of manufacturing issues in Germany, France and, most importantly, China. Chinese manufacturing shrank for the fifth straight month. Dollar General earnings before the bell today -- a Tosaw favorite. Also, the TVIX train wreck continues. Odd Block: Unusual activity in LULU again! Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (LULU). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi holds down the OX seat in today’s show and discusses TVIX and the recent increase of customer concerns/questions. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw talk Apple: collars, covered calls, and other trade strategies. Around the Block: Expecting moves in GLD, bonds and oil. Where can USO go given political issues in Iran? Upcoming economic calendar: Earnings - RIMM & COSI 3/29. |
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Option Block 135: Naked Canadians & A Conference Roundup Trading Block: VIX on the rebound - the weekend coming back into the VIX, but the futures themselves were down today. A rundown from RMC: What is going into the term structure of the VIX futures? How does negative gamma scalping impact the market? Weeklies are not the primary gamma driver - it's still in the front month. SPX put spread vs. VIX call calendars as a market hedge. A rundown from FIA Boca: Blame is still being tossed about for MF Global. CBOE announces "VIX of VIX." ISE is perhaps creating a trading floor - what is the thought process on this? One share of Apple stock is now worth more than a new iPad! Thoughts on the Apple dividend? Odd Block: Friday review: Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (LU), an activity review from Feb. 27: United Technologies Corp. (UTX) Xpress Block: Holding down the OX desk, John Grigus discusses the increase in volume that's been seen recently. Also JP Morgan dividends, a lot of OTM calls going out to June/July. The interest rate futures got pummeled. Around the Block: Economic Calendar: This week starts with and ends with housing. DG on 3/22 |
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Option Block 134: The Day the Market Moved Trading Block: A lot of excitement on the trading desk today following the largest move of the year so far. What factors contributed to this swing in to the upside? What was the rise in Vol that we show intraday? The Fed has hinted that it may start raising interest rates starting in 2014 - what effects might we see in the housing market? Xpress Block: John Grigus discusses Barron's 17th annual ranking of online brokers. OX received the 2nd highest score for customer service and education! This week starts the outbound calling for ETF dividends. Strategy Block: Mark Sebastian discusses some of the weird stuff he's being seeing the option order flow. Including the VIX and the Apple "bubble". Around the Block: Keeping an eye on oil prices - the DOE/EIA comes out at 9:35am CDT tomorrow. Initial claims on Thursday, looking to see if it continues in downward trend. PPI and CPI later this week. There doesn't seem to be any reason why this current rally shouldn't continue. |
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Option Block 133: One Thing Sebastian Won't Do Trading Block: With Greek deadline looming, will we get a vol pop or further vol implosion? CBOE is being investigated by the SEC, and its Chief Regulatory Officer put "on leave." TVIX is starting to couple back again, and volume in UVXY has helped alleviate that of TVIX. The new iPad is not exactly setting the market on fire or the hottest thing since sliced bread? Where is Apple vol in the wake of this announcement? Odd Block: Usual activity in Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI), and Carnival Corp. (CCL). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses advice for working with your broker, and the process that goes into a broker override. Around the Block: Non-farms is the big event tomorrow that everyone will be watching. Keeping an eye on Greece. |