Articles from the Experts

Option Block 281: It’s Time for Histrionics

Trading Block: The shutdown dance continues. VIX cash break the 17 handle. Tesla in a frenzy after car fire. Ackman/Icahn/Herbalife debacle.  CBOE glitch causes routing issues for NASDAQ.

Odd Block: Puts trade in Covanta Holding Corp (CVA), calls trade in the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), collar trades in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED)

Xpress Block: A ton of two-sided paper, e-mini activity and Tesla.

Mail Block: Mega mail block, that is.

• Question from @Metegia (Ian) - @Options Great show! Could you please mention the date of the show at start? Intros, trading block, vol, but no context around date (Jun 4). Thanks!
• Mega Question from Richard D - Mark and Team, First let me say I LOVE your podcasts. I'll even listen to outdated episodes of the option block because in addition to the knowledge I can gain, you guys also have a great rapport with one another and are very humorous! Great job starting all this Mark! I wish you continued success. Now for my post (this is my 2nd post. My first post was on skew.) I've been trading options as a retail investor for about 2 years now. Its been an interesting experience. I generally trade vertical spreads in lieu of stock positions or occasionally directional calendars or diagonals. Although I have had some success with verticals I don't feel I am "optimizing" my positions. For example, I'm not always sure how far out to make the short position or keep the short closer to the long and trade more quantity. Also, sometimes I've put on verticals that are 3-4 months to expiration, only to find the underlying make a large move in my direction but the vertical not performing nearly as well! This not do to a major volatility change but more because it seems that they are so far out from expiration. I'm also not clear when a vertical is a "good deal" vs just going long the call or put. I have heard you comment many times about the skew in the OTM options making options look attractive, for example I think in this episode you mentioned Facebook. I have still not gotten to the point to recognize how to identify these. So my questions are:

• 1. Could you give an example using let's say Facebook, yahoo, or tesla on what a vertical looked like in the past and one that looks more attractive now?

• 2. Could you talk about tools that can help identify when verticals or even time spreads look "favorable"? Having a full time job and not having the money or time for a coach makes those options out of the questions. Now this being said, the spread may look favorable, but unless you hold to expiration it seems your short could remain at that skew quite a long time or even become more skewed, so I am not sure this is a great vertical strategy (I guess you'll let me know!). Tools for the retail investor could also be a good idea for a show, either the bootcamp show or another one. Thanks again, Richard

Around the Block: More shutdown nonsense ahead - all eyes on Washington.

Option Block 279: OTM Fly Breakdown

Trading Block: There was a mild rally today. All Facebook all day at OX.

Odd Block: Calls trade in Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR), puts trade in iShares MSCI Australia Index (EWA), calls trade in Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (HTZ), and risk reversal trades in St. Jude Medical (STJ).

Xpress Block: Biotech, mobile, and hedging activity pouring in. What are the GLD traders trading?  Let’s take a look: 1-SPY, 2-SLV, 3-APPL, 4-FB, 5-DUST (daily gold miners bear 3X ETF), 6- JCP, 7- USO, 8- GDX (market vectors gold miners), 9 - GE, 10 – TSLA.  What about SLV? 1-SDS, 2- GDX, 3-USO, 4-VXX, 5-SSO, 6-FB, 7-TZA, 8-SCO, 9-TNA, 10-AAPL.

Mail Block: What do you want to know?

·         Question from Nocturne: trying to understand OTM butterflies. What’s a use case for an OTM fly vs. a simple vertical or ratio? Very confused.

·         Question from “Joe”: I haven’t been trading options for very long so forgive me if I’m out of line. I’ve been listening to your show for the past six months and find it very informative. But I also wonder if many of the concepts you discuss are simply over the heads of the typical retail trader such as gamma, vega, implied volatility, etc. I know I’m frequently confused by some of these topics. Does retail really need to know all of this stuff or is a more straightforward approach (like if you sell this option, your max loss is x, your max gain is y, you have z days until your trade expires, etc.) a better way to reach the masses without scaring them or putting them off options? I hope you read my question but, if you do, to avoid embarrassment please just refer to me as “Joe”.

Around the Block: Debt debate and earnings approaching

Trading Block: A mild day on the street. Watch out! SPY ex-dividend today. Metals hosting a "Volapalooza"

Odd Block:  Calls Trade in Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), calls trade in Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (EGLE), put buyers in Sealed Air Corp (SEE), and calls trade in Meritor Inc. (MTOR). 

Xpress Block:  Tesla is still on a tear. CME metal trading very active.

Listener Mail: You have the questions, we have the answers.

• Question from Buckeye6 - I am a new listener catching up on the archives. On an earlier episode, Mark mentioned the OX platform highlights which options qualify for reduced commissions to close. But I do not see what he is talking about. Where do I find this information? Thank you.
• Question for the Option Block from Luke: "Uncle Mike" has suggested that if one has a spread that has gone in the money, the short leg can be rolled up by at least one strike, with a goal of breakeven or near breakeven. He suggested waiting until the day before expiration, but I have an ITM spread, so thought I would look at it one day early. I have a bear call spread on SPY: Short Sep 170 (sold at $0.59), long Sep 172 (bought at $0.255), when SPY was at about $165. It never reached my 70% profit target, before going ITM this week. With the no taper announcement, SPY has gone to $173.03. Today (Wednesday before expiration) I could buy the 170 call for $3.07, and sell the 172 for $1.30, which looks very far from breakeven, unless I greatly misunderstood what he meant by breakeven in this context. Actually, the spread on the 170 call is 3.03-3.11, but still. Even if these calls went to 0 extrinsic, how could I ever get breakeven here? Or did I just get a really really bad price on my initial short fill? For completeness, the long 172 call is trading for about $0.94. Thank you for a great show!

Around the Block: AKA taper watch

Option Block 275:  Predictably Crappy

Trading Block: A mild selloff, but gold and silver took it on the chin.  AAPL down 30 handles in a dismal post iPhone announcement.  Ichan liked it at $500, he’ll love it at $470. Lulu earnings before the open...sheer pants knock the stock down 5%, well off the highs of $82 from earlier this year.

Odd Block:  Puts trade in Mechel OAO (MTL), calls trade in Wendy’s Co. (WEN), and calls trade in Vera Bradley Inc. (VRA). Alex discloses that he knows way too much about women’s retail.

Xpress Block: Lots of questions coming in about AAPL, LULU, and SPX.

Mail Block:  Question from Contrails.
Hi Mark, I really like your talk shows and loving all the humor. Thank you for educating and entertaining me all those night shifts that you guys keep me in company. I have one burning question for you regarding an observation I noticed today as I was following the SPY and SPY weekly options. First off, I am a noober. But i could not find an explanation for what I saw for those weeklys that are expiring in 4 days. So what happened is that the ATM and ITM calls were not following the price of the SPY. So as SPY was fluctuating up and down, the calls mentioned above were higher in price around 1030 AM EST compared with calls corresponding to same SPY price later during the day around 1300. The call price difference was about 15% which is a lot for home gamer like me. Why is that??? By the way I did not check the Puts, I'll look at it later today… Do the weeklys lose time value Theta as the hours go by during trading day? Or is this something related to the all mysterious Vega? But I plotted the greeks of those options on TOS and they were all flat lines, Confusing!!! Please enlighten me more Please don't mention my real name on the podcast. You can call me "Contrails" And please let me know if you get a chance the title of the podcast you'll answer my burning question. Your fan, Contrails

Around the Block:  Looking at gold, silver, and oil in light of next week’s FOMC meeting. VIX expiration next week.