Articles from the Experts
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 Option Block 121: Degenerate Options Traders Trading Block: Ho hum day on the street, but VIX makes it below 20 after much dancing in the area. Looking at a sleepy creep up of the general markets and for a dedicated selling of volatility. Uncle Mike’s patience has paid off in Ford. Mark rolls in the Wheel of Fun. The gang fixes the issues with weeklys, but are the exchanges listening? Playing around in earnings season. Kodak throws in the towel and declares bankruptcy. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Safeway, Inc. (SWY). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike takes us through win-loss ratios. High probability does not equal guaranteed money. Premium selling is not an annuity; you still have to prepare for risk. Around the Block: Earnings dominating the horizon. |
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Option Block 120: Doin' Stuff Trading Block: Another mild day on the market. Metals/Commodities rundown - GLD up a bit, but not much. Premium on the VIX futures is getting crushed. Corn and grains limit down after a USDA report this morning rocked the market. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. (NWL) and Research in Motion (RIMM). Xpress Block: Rob Kurzatkowski commands the OX desk today and discusses the ags from CME and Globex, limits and what you need to know before trading following reports. Strategy Block: Andrew Giovanazzi runs the strategy block and talks about doing stuff after trading Zenga and XLF. Around the Block: Earnings outlook: Goldman Sachs, Citi - 1/18, Intel - 1/19, as well as Apple - 1/24. Will we push through the 1300-level, or will it act as a level of resistance? Next Wednesday is VIX expiration for the Jan contracts. |
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Option Block 119: The Fanboy Piggyback Trading Block: Another mild day on the street. Apple hits a new high ahead of earnings, riding high on iPad 3 rumors. Apple's new high comes in spite of the fact that Android finally eclipsed IOS in the mobile market over the holidays. Netflix was up 14% today despite opting out of ultraviolet program. Is the widowmaker back? Nuance, perhaps a stealth play going into CES. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Perfect World Co., Ltd. (PWRD). Xpress Block: John Grigus runs the OX desk this week and discusses year-end topics, such as closing out worthless securities and most importantly, taxes. Listener Questions: Option margin “Hello, everyone. Who knows how and where to get the historical margin data for the options? Thanks!” Around the Block: Biotech and pharmaceutical stocks are lighting up the screens. Kodak closed and $0.40. What is their future? Looking forward to Alcoa. Lots of earnings and retail sales coming up. |
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Option Block 118: Buying Cheapy Premium Trading Block: Market mostly unchanged today. Vol off modestly - a decent day for gamma scalping in the VIX. Jobless claims modestly lower - the market shrugged it off. A Metals/Commodities rundown. Apple on a little bit of a tear which has rallied since mid-December, augmented by a lot of attention with the CES next week. A quick discussion of butterfly and iron butterfly positions. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) and Fossil, Inc. (FOSL). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses the recent surge in costumers buying risk, with Bank of America being the most popular. Around the Block: CES on the horizon and will impact the volatility of many tech stocks - be on the lookout for the next Nvidia, which rallied 50% in the weeks following CES last year. Where will oil go now that it's above 100? |
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Option Block 117: 2011 Year in Review
Headlines:
The Year Ahead:
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Option Block 116: Holiday Volatility Sale Trading Block: A weak rally going into the holiday -- not too much going down on the street except for the continued annihilation of volatility. GLD and GVX ended the year down. Not much movement otherwise given the time of year. Odd Block: A look back at some usual activity from the past, including GLD and Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI). Xpress Block: Rob K talks about straddles and strangles given the fact that volatility has been crushed lately. Around the Block: The bulk of the holiday weekend has already come out. Have a happy holiday! |
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Option Block 115: Scooping Cheap Volatility Trading Block: A volatility/VIX rundown -- it's up, it's down, it's in lockstep with the market, it does its own thing. It's VIX madness. Zenga, a new tech name to hit the market -- can it follow in the footsteps of Linkedin, Groupon, Angie's List or the other 2011 tech bubble names? A Metals/commodity rundown. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ), and an Odd Block review from 10/27 on Hecla Mining Co. (HL). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses the busy Friday expiration, taking calls from customers about deep in-the-money spreads and other goings on at OX. Around the Block: What are we watching this holiday week? Buffalo Wild Wing (BWLB) joins the Wheel of Fun, also game developer Take 2. It’s a holiday week, so plan accordingly if you are long premium. |
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Option Block 114: No Straddles Without Gamma Scalping Trading Block: SPY and other expirations on ETFs--close out your shorts! More put buyers are rolling into VIX - even the Journal is starting to pick up on it. Given this erratic movement, how risky is hedging the VIX? GLD put options, a relatively inexpensive option if you still need to hedge you're GLD downside. A Reuters article debating and discussing the sideways movements of the market, which gained popularity of the site recently, recommended straddles as a way to play with market. Should it even be allowed to recommend straddles without following it up with the appropriate discussion on gamma scalping? RIMM earnings after the close – at-the-money straddle trading $1.75 with one day to go. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Walgreens Co. (WAG), Credit Suisse Group (CS), and an activity review from November 17Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX). Xpress Block: John Grigus from OX discusses the Van Eck ETFs and Sears (SHLD), which came out with a re-org. The December futures contracts will go off and stop trading at 8:30 CST. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw talks about diagonal spreads and the diagonal butterfly given the weekly options being the great fascination of the retail world and gives us his two cents. Around the Block: An update on RIMM - that straddle still not paying the bills, trading about a dollar lower. Will VIX continue to decline? Will the market head north from here? |
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Option Block 113: The Great VIX Implosion Trading Block: It's been quite the roller coaster ride for VIX as of late, a lot of people picked up their insurance and are sitting fully hedged, just riding out the storm. Over at KYO, Dollar General and GNC stocks continue an upward climb. Gold down today, as well as crude oil, bonds may be next. Plus, Netflix, aka the widow-maker, makes a return cameo. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI), Targacept, Inc. (TRGT), and revisiting an 11/28 activity review on MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses corporate restructuring and how once they announce some news it can affect the stock and options. Around the Block: Retail sales tomorrow, crude inventories Wednesday. Best Buy could be interesting to watch along with other names in the Wheel of Fun. |
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Option Block 112: VIX Resistance Trading Block: VIX cash back above 30, how long can it last? MF Global disaster continues to get worse, with no clue as to where customer money is. Customers are making additional margin payments because their funds at MF Global are frozen. This disaster may have ramifications for years to come. Metals/commodity rundown -- volatile gold and silver. Ford brought their dividend back after five years. Odd Block: Three-legged spreads. Unusual activity in Yahoo!, Inc. – (YHOO) andLiz Claiborne, Inc. – (LIZ). Plus, an update on last week's activity review: RIMM and Darden Restaurants (DRI). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses the simulated index concept and how to relate it to higher income and higher net worth individuals. How to use a life insurance policy if you exceed your retirement plan contribution level. Around the Block: The ongoing turmoil in the Eurozone is continuing to keep the VIX in limbo. RIMM earnings next week. Walgreens producing very high vol levels. |