The Option Block

Option Block 107: The End of the AAPL Bulls? Trading Block: Housing starts better than expected, yet the market shrugged off an usually strong indicator for movement. S&P breaks through 1225 -- a key support level. Apple down in the 375 level. Ford getting crushed -- down $0.40 despite strong October sales. Is the Dec 9/10 put spread a popular sale? Metals down today. AGQ is gaining popularity, co...

TRADING BLOCK : Italian borrowing costs spooked the market.  May we actually see some countries abandon the Euro? Groupon options finally went live, not surprisingly, with 100+ vols in the downside skew, puts were bid! A lot of selling in the 1 and 500 lot July 15's, the highest activity strike next to the Dec 20 puts. ODD BLOCK: Unusual activity in: Titanium Metals Corp. (TIE) Home Depot Inc. (HD...

Option Block 105: A Pod of Sissy girls Trading Block: How to use SPX movement in the downside skew to gauge the sentiment of a particular rally. An uncharacteristic sell-off in Apple -- will they finally lose their grip on the 400 handle? Green Mountain Coffee closed at nearly $41 today, down a whopping 40%. Odd Block: Unusual activity in eBay Inc. (EBAY): A Bullish option strategist appears in on...

Option Block 104: Piling Onto Groupon Trading Block: A bit of a market turnaround, but mainly a relatively mild day. What a strange place VIX and volatility are in general right now. Priceline (PCLN) earnings today after the close, trading over $500. The frenzy began Friday as Groupon went public -- when will the options go live? A quick metals/commodity rundown. Odd Block: Unusual activity in: Mc...

Option Block 103: Greece is the Word Trading Block: Greece! The other European countries have finally said enough is enough - they may survive without Greece, but Greece can't survive without them. It looks like the VIX was hedging its own bets, there was a giant relief sell-off like was last week. XLE up over 2% on the day. There's definitely been a lot of movement in energy today, when it feels...

Option Block 102: Turn Off the Idiot Box Trading Block: Bonds rallied, volatility exploded. MF Global news, combined with inflation and the Japanese efforts to intervene in their currency, provided for a big up day in the dollar. Given the lack of volume, the market had a strong sell-off today. Here in Chicago the Merc and the Board had to come down and say no trading. Gold and silver, they've bee...

Option Block 101: Size Money vs. Smart Money Trading Block: The market is off to the races...again. Strong rallies across the board. VIX cash finally makes its way down into the sub-30 range, welcome news for those who have been leaning to the downside in VIX. European leaders expand bailout fund - 50% write-down on Greek debt. Is the European debacle behind us? Strong economic data -- the economy...

Option Block: The 100th Episode Extravaganza Trading Block: A brand new Options Insider website! Are there any legs to the rally? Where was VIX during this rally? Netflix, the window maker, released earnings after the bell. Odd Block: Unusual activity in: Bank of America - (BAC) Signs of optimism in the progress towards a European debt crisis deal has helped push Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and th...

Option Block 99: Selling MSFT Premium Trading Block: A rare fairly uneventful day. Chipotle Mexican Grill with earnings after the bell - Is CMG the other Apple? Microsoft after the close - a whopping non-event. Odd Block: Unusual activity in: Microsoft (MSFT) Basically printing money today. Options on the software giant are the most actively traded by volume on any single stock ahead of the compan...

The Option Block 98: Playing Apple Earnings Trading Block: Volatility rundown. Issues with the structure of the VIX - is it time to revamp the "Fear Index." Hot metals action.  Odd Block: One massive bull in CHMT. Sizable bullish call activity in USU. Xpress Block - Debating the use of market orders by retail options traders. Around the Block: Playing AAPL earnings with options. Is a buywrite synt...

Option Block 97: Live From FIA Chicago Trading Block: VIX Rundown - VIX at a decisive point, at the 32 level, it could be on the move. Apple rallying post-Jobs -- how best to position going into earnings. Alcoa came off after the bell already selling off. A look at upcoming earnings season perhaps? SPXpm -- comments and criticisms. Odd Block: Integrated circuit maker Marvell Technology Group Ltd....

Option Block 96: Resetting the VIX Bar Trading Block: VIX finally gets to the mid-30s! The bar for has been raised. Apple without Jobs - down 0.5%. What effect could Jobs have on Apple stock post-mortem, or is this a turning point for Apple? Odd Block: Mortgage insurer MBIA Inc. (MBI): Shares are trading 3% higher this morning and early option activity suggests some investors believe the recent up...

Option Block 95: Kodak vs. American Airlines Trading Block: The Greek yo-yo has struck again! Greek debt outlook was not as rosy as last week -- market down again in response. Apple down again, amid rumors of an Amazon tablet continue. Whack-a-Bankruptcy -- just when rumors of one bankruptcy subside, more emerge to take its place. Airline stocks are taking a nose dive today due to fears the weak e...

Option Block 94: AMZN Takes On AAPL Trading Block: The market rallied on stronger than expected GDP numbers, and a little ease on European concerns, combined for a strong up move early in the day. Thirty-year rate is 4.01% -- the lowest on record. Rumors of Amazon getting into the tablet wars -- stock down 3%. With Amazon in its territory, Apple moved to the downside -- is it time to be bullish? T...

Option Block 93: Metal-Ocalypse Strikes Again Trading Block: The relationship between VIX and VXN, how it could have helped you. Late session rally on European hopes. The Metal-ocalypse continues - where is the bottom? Sell-offs in both GLD and SLV. EK crushed to the downside...again -- CDs upfront premium not at 41%! Groupon's ponzi scheme continues -- restated their entire 2010 results and slash...

Option Block 92: Werewolves Love SLV Trading Block: A sea of red in the market today - recession fears slam everything except treasuries. VIX cash gaps up yet again -- VIX futures outlook. Metals/Commodities rundown - everything down across the board, with gold down as well, but no rolling down will be taking place before the weekend. Ford below the $10 handle. Odd Block: Yahoo! - (YHOO) Following...

Option Block 91: The Widowmaker Rides Again Trading Block: The "Widowmaker" (NFLX) CEO apologizes for the screw up with their pricing and thusly losing 1 million customers and the stock dropping 50% since the price increases in July. Could Netflix split into two separate businesses? Lenders tell Greece to get its act together and reduce the size of its government, or run out of cash within a few w...

Option Block 90: The Voice of Options TRADING BLOCK: Research in Motion (RIMM) - The future looks bleak. “The Widowmaker” strikes again - Netflix (NFLX), which was trading $300 just two months ago, down 40%. Yet another “rogue trader” on the loose - this time it costs UBS $2 billion. Commodities rundown - gold is coming down, is this the right time tighten up your hedges?  ODD BLOCK: Unusual and i...

Option Block 89: Risk On, Risk Off Trading Block: Metals outlook - Gold, bonds, and GLD have all been pulling back, there seems to be a lot of building of cash reserves right now. The heavy movement in VXO relative to VIX means there is a lot at the money buying to up the curve. Risk on/ risk off. VIX has been trading above VXN, so clearly the risk is in the financials, not tech. Could there be a...

Option Block 88: Gold Vol and The Big O Don't forget that Option Block listeners get FIVE FREE trades when you open a new OX account.  Click for details: www.optionsxpress.com/oxradio Trading Block: The market turned red despite Uncle Ben's promises. Obama's jobs speech - how will it affect the market? Commodity rundown - GLD off to the races again today, but is it time to start being bearish? A r...

Option Block 87: OX-Schwab Day One Trading Block: Another yo-yo day on the street. Manufacturing data was stronger than expected, but not enough to keep the market positive. The long weekend should have been priced out already, but it seems that many traders are holding off from hitting the bids ahead of non-farms tomorrow.  A look of the metals/commodities: gold, silver, and natural gas. Odd Bloc...

Option Block 86: Back in the Day Trading Block: Tech leads the way today, while GLD finally has a down day. Short VIX bets are finally paying off, but there's still more downside to go. Plus, a rundown of metals from a wild day. How much of a downside move in gold are we looking at before considering rolling the puts back down? Not much action to report from commodities today. Odd Block: Unusual a...

Option Block 85: Apple's Jobs-lessness Trading Block: The news of Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple has dominated the headlines. What does this mean for future Apple plays? What's the outlook on Apple vol going forward? An outlook of the metals market. The CME raises the margin rate of gold, a little too late? What's driving an interest in copper? Also, has scalping negative gamma exacerbated th...

Option Block 84: The Madness Returns Trading Block: Special guest Andrew Giovinazzi of Aqumin takes Sebastian’s seat as the all-star gang discusses market madness. The market has become quite the drama queen with global concerns smack the market again. Consumer confidence is still low - this is getting to be a broken record. Commodities rundown - gold and treasuries are where everyone is putting t...

Option Block 83: GOOG Gobbles MMI.  Who's Next? TRADING BLOCK Google (GOOG) acquires MMI, which explains some of their strange trading patterns recently.  Were rumors leaked out ahead of time? A rundown of metals and commodities. The price of gold - is it realistic?  INTERVIEW BLOCK    This week's guest, Russell Rhoads, author and instructor at Options Institute at the CBOE discusses his newest bo...