Options Trading with Fexingo: Calls, Puts, and Derivatives for Retail Investors

Episode 79 of Options Trading with Fexingo: Lucas and Luna dissect the S&P 500 equal weight index skew versus the market-cap weighted version. With the S&P 500 down 1.6% in five days and the Nasdaq sliding 3.3%, the cap-weighted index is dominated by mega-cap tech. The equal weight index tells a different story — and its options skew reveals whether traders are hedging breadth or chasing concentra...

Lucas and Luna dive into the relationship between the VIX and the VVIX — the CBOE's volatility-of-volatility index. With the VIX at 18.41 and the VVIX at 89.02, the spread is unusually wide. They explain what this 'volatility of volatility' divergence means for options traders, how to interpret a rising VVIX when the VIX is flat, and why a VVIX below 90 might signal complacency — or opportunity. U...

SpaceX is joining the Nasdaq-100 in a fast-tracked process, triggering massive ETF rebalancing and a unique options trading opportunity. Lucas and Luna break down how the forced buying from index funds inflates call premiums, how to structure a short-dated put credit spread as a contrarian play, and why the skew on SpaceX options looks nothing like Apple or NVIDIA. They also discuss the VIX sittin...

Lucas and Luna dive into how prediction markets are reshaping options trading in the wake of the CFTC investigation into Polymarket. They discuss how traders use Kalshi and Polymarket to hedge tail risks, gauge event probabilities for IPOs, and complement VIX positioning — with concrete examples from OpenAI's delayed IPO and the Fed rate hike debate. The episode explores the structural differences...

Lucas and Luna dive into the VIX of the VIX — the VVIX — and what its recent divergence from the VIX tells options traders about tail risk. With the VIX at 18.41 and rising while the VVIX slides to 89, they unpack why this matters for hedging strategies, put spreads, and the 'fear of fear' premium. A concrete case shows how traders are positioning for a potential rate hike from Kashkari without ov...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into how options traders are using bond ETF flow data to make directional bets as of late June 2026. With the S&P 500 down nearly 2% in five days and the VIX surging 14% to 19.75, the hosts explore the migration of capital from equities to fixed income. They discuss a specific trade: buying call spreads on the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) to positio...

In this episode of Options Trading with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into the surge in bond ETF flows that hit $12 billion in the past week, and how options traders are using that data to position for duration and credit risk. They break down the mechanics of trading options on bond ETFs like TLT and HYG, discuss the implications of a flattening yield curve, and share a concrete put spread example...

In this episode of Options Trading with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how professional traders are pairing the VIX and VVIX for intraday hedges in the current low-volatility environment. With the VIX at 17.98 and the S&P 500 sitting at 7,358, many retail option sellers are getting caught off guard by quick tail moves. The hosts break down a specific tactic: using VIX call spreads when VVIX is ab...

The Federal Reserve released its 2026 stress test results on June 24, showing banks can withstand $708 billion in losses under a severe recession scenario. The VIX jumped 13.6% to 18.63 as markets digested the overhaul of capital rules. Lucas and Luna break down exactly how options traders are positioning in bank stocks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs using put spreads and call ratios to navigate...

With the VIX spiking above 19 and the VVIX nearing 100, options traders are finding new opportunities in prediction markets. Lucas and Luna discuss how contracts tied to political and corporate events trade like binary options, why the CFTC lawsuit against Kentucky matters for liquidity, and how retail traders can use these instruments without getting burned. They walk through the Meta prediction...

In this episode of Options Trading with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the dividend capture strategy using options, an alternative to simply buying a stock before its ex-dividend date. They walk through a real example using a hypothetical stock trading near $100 with a $0.50 quarterly dividend, comparing the risk of owning shares outright versus using a call option to capture the dividend-adju...

With the VIX above 20 and consumer spending signals weakening from China's 618 festival and soft retail data, Lucas and Luna explore how options traders can incorporate macroeconomic consumption trends into their strategies. They discuss using consumer staples vs. discretionary sector skew, the effect of GDP-linked volatility on market maker hedging, and specific vertical spread ideas for a slowin...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the relationship between the VIX and VVIX — the volatility of volatility. With the VIX at 17.30 and the VVIX at 91.72, they explain what this spread tells options traders about market fear and positioning. Lucas walks through a real trade example using SPX put spreads, showing how the VVIX can signal whether the VIX is likely to spike or fade. Luna challen...

Lucas and Luna break down the impact of the VIX sitting at 17.51 on the viability of vertical credit spreads for retail traders. With the VVIX dropping to 88.43, the cost of tail protection has fallen, but so has premium income from short options. Using real examples from SPY and IWM, they examine why wide spreads have become dangerous and how to adjust strike selection and width to maintain a pos...

In episode 65 of Options Trading with Fexingo, hosts Lucas and Luna break down the current VIX term structure inversion — a rare and powerful signal for options traders. With the VIX at 16.78 and the VVIX falling 5.7% in five days, they explain what an inverted VIX futures curve means for vol selling, put buying, and calendar spreads. Using real data from June 21, 2026, and the recent SpaceX IPO v...

The VIX term structure inverted on June 19, 2026 for the first time since August 2024—short-term volatility expectations above longer-term ones. For options traders, this is a signal that shifts everything from calendar spreads to vega positioning. Lucas and Luna break down what an inverted VIX curve actually means for retail option strategies, why this inversion happened (Strait of Hormuz tension...

With the VIX jumping 13.8% this week to 16.78 and the Strait of Hormuz back in the headlines, Lucas and Luna examine how options traders price in geopolitical risk. They walk through a real example: a hypothetical put spread on an oil major, contrasting the implied vol surface before and after the Iran news. They discuss why energy skew flips from put/call parity to a premium on downside protectio...

Lucas and Luna dig into the June 2026 market rotation: the VIX spiked 13.8% in a week to 16.78, small caps underperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin, and the VVIX climbed to 88.43. They explain how a single bear put spread on the IWM — using the Russell 2000 ETF — captured the rotation without betting on a crash. The episode walks through the mechanics of put spreads, why the Russell is more sen...

In this episode of Options Trading with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the options skew from the SpaceX IPO and compare it to established tech giants like Apple and NVIDIA. They explain what the steep put skew for SpaceX tells us about retail trader expectations, how the VIX at 16.78 and VVIX at 88.43 suggest a tame volatility environment, and why the 30-day implied volatility on SpaceX option...

The Fed under Chairman Warsh has surprised markets with a more hawkish stance than anticipated. On June 19, 2026, Lucas and Luna break down how serious options traders are adjusting their portfolios in response to the new dot plot uncertainty. They examine the shift in volatility skew across the S&P 500, the VIX at 16.94, and how the VVIX at 88.43 signals a market repricing of tail risk. Using rea...

Lucas and Luna break down how the Warsh Fed's hawkish surprise is reshaping options markets in mid-2026. With the VIX at 16.43 and the VVIX at 88.17, they explore why options skew is steepening on the call side, how zero-DTE traders are adjusting, and why the market is pricing in a rate hike by year-end. They walk through a specific strangle strategy that profits from uncertainty without betting o...

The Fed's June 2026 statement overhaul—led by Chairman Warsh—removed the cutting bias and signaled a possible hike later this year. Lucas and Luna break down how that language shift repriced the S&P 500 skew, widened call-put spreads on rate-sensitive sectors, and created a vol-of-vol trade via the VVIX at 94.53. They walk through a concrete example: positioning for a hawkish surprise in the Septe...

The Fed just rewrote its rate statement, dropping the easing bias and creating a new volatility regime. Lucas and Luna break down how options traders can adjust their approach: why the VIX's drop to 18.35 may not be the whole story, how the VVIX at 94.64 suggests tail-risk premiums are still elevated, and why the dot plot uncertainty makes long puts and put spreads more attractive than selling pre...

On June 17, 2026, the VIX has dropped 16.6% in five days to 16.22, and the VVIX is below 90 for the first time in weeks. With Fed Chair Warsh expected to withhold the dot plot at tomorrow's meeting, options traders face a unique dilemma: trade the event or sit out? Lucas and Luna break down how the lack of rate-path guidance changes volatility expectations, why the VIX term structure is flattening...

Episode 55 of Options Trading with Fexingo examines the emerging market for AI compute futures. Lucas and Luna break down how this new asset class—standardized contracts for GPU compute time—offers options traders a novel volatility surface to trade. They discuss the recent CME announcement of compute futures, the implied volatility dynamics driven by AI chip shortages and data center buildouts, a...