Vol is Back…or is it? Another eventful week coming to a close, as markets have seemingly been able to shake off Euro Zone concerns and look poised for positive weekly gains. After spending a few solid days below the 30-level, the VIX skyrocketed 16% on Tuesday only to give much of it back by market […]
Markets are in a sharp decline today amidst renewed Euro Zone concerns. The VIX has gained over 20% on the day thus far, currently standing at 36. I know VIX options activity over the last few sessions has suggested investors were anticipating volatility to subside throughout the remained of the year, but I never got […]
Earnings season continues in earnest tonight with quarterly reports from AXP, EBAY, LRCX, RVBD, and WYNN scheduled for after the close. Earnings related options flow continues to dominate trading activity, but a few non-earnings related weekly options trades have piqued my interest heading into expiration Friday. Of note we’ve seen: 4k Oct 12 puts sold […]
Apple is scheduled to report 4Q financial results today after the close. The Street is expecting EPS of $7.24 on revenue of $29.5 biliion. This will be the first post-Steve Jobs earnings report so all eyes will be squarely on Tim Cook and how he approaches providing key information to the financial community. Things to […]
I’m passing along an article from the Options Trading Signals guys responding to this very question. The OTS team has done a remarkable job in calling the market’s recent upward momentum so I’m paying close attention to the key points they make and implementing some of their ideas in my weekly options trading activities. Highlighted […]
While screening for weekly options to sell today, one name that stuck out like a sore thumb was Southwestern Energy (SWN) as implied volatility in the options expiring next week is up some 13% and the company just announced earnings will be released on October 27, which falls after October expiration. Clearly something is going […]
Google (GOOG) is scheduled to report 3Q financial results today after the close. The Street is expecting EPS of $8.74 on revenue of $7.2 billion. Shares of GOOG have exhibited decent volatility around earnings releases averaging a +/-7.3% around its last 8 earnings reports with a high of 13% emanating from last quarter’s results (see […]
Our weekly options trading screens alerted us to an opportunity in First Solar (FSLR). Shares of FSLR have fallen over 40% in the last month and a half and all signs point towards continued weakness over the coming days. Around 11:15 we got long some deep in-the-money weekly puts to ride shares lower. When looking […]
Calendar Q3 earnings season kicks off tomorrow with Alcoa (AA) scheduled to report earnings after the market close. With shares of AA trading around $10, the weekly options straddle could be purchased for $0.73, representing a ~7% move for the week. Notable weekly options flow today includes buyers of over 3k Hewlett Packard (HPQ) Oct […]
Each Friday I look to sell weekly options set to expire the following Friday to take advantage of the rapid time-value decay (theta) of the weeklys heading into the weekend. Weekly options incur the greatest time value loss on the Friday before the weekend and on expiration Friday. Options market makers tend to adjust pricing […]