The Option Block

Trading Block: Last week in review Is the trade war back on the table? The May number are in: OCC cleared contract volume increased 8% in May. Credit Suisse announces 1-to-10 reverse split for $TVIX and $TVIZ effective June 8th. Odd Block: Ratio call spread in Melco Resorts & Entertainment (MLCO), put apocalypse in Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), and put roll in iShares MSCI Turkey Index Fund (TUR). S...

Trading Block: Trade wars are back on the table. Credit Suisse announces 1-to-10 reverse split for TVIX and TVIZ effective June 8th. Odd Block: Put palooza in Deutsche Bank AG (DB). Opening size call sale in Exeton Corporation (EXC). Calls and puts trade in PagSeguro Digital Ltd (PAGS) Mail Block: Options question of the week Holiday Weekends are notoriously tough for VIX traders. The markets love...

Trading Block: Earnings! Friday - Foot Locker Best Buy reaffirms guidance - renews concerns about the inroads of Amazon. Monday review: Intuit - 191.30, ATM straddle: 11, approx.7% Gap Inc. (GPS) - 33, ATM straddle: 2.60, approx. 8% Netlifx vs. Disney - Who will come out ahead in the long run? Odd Block: Big selloff in Petroleo Brasil (PBR). Size opening risk reversal in iShares JPMorgan USD (EMB)...

Trading Block: Earnings! Tuesday - Kohl's Wednesday - Lowe's, Target Thursday - Best Buy Friday - Foot Locker Intuit - $191.30, ATM Straddle: $11, approx. 5.7% Odd Block: Call palooza in PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL). Rolling calls in Union Pacific Corporation (UNP). Cheapie calls in Northern Oil & Gas, Inc. (NOG) Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses how to profitably buy OTM calls Around the...

Trading Block: Featuring special guest host Greg Stevens, VP of Product Development for Options at Fidelity. Earnings! Tuesday - Home Depot Wednesday - Cisco, Macy's Thursday - Walmart, Applied Materials, JC Penney, Nordstrom Friday - John Deere AMAT - 54.30, ATM straddle: 2.25, approx. 4% Odd Block: Line in the sand puts in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA). Call love in General Electric Comp...

Trading Block: Earnings! Tuesday - Home Depot Wednesday - Cisco, Macy's Thursday - Walmart, Applied Materials, JC Penney, Nordstrom Friday - John Deere Odd Block: Crazy call palooza in Caesars Entertainment Corp (CZR). Bullish risk reversal in QUALCOMM, Inc. (QCOM). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses what skew is. Mail Block: Options question of the week CME Group just announced a new Ethe...

Trading Block: Earnings! Thursday - Nvidia NVDA - ATM straddle: 17, approx. 6.5% Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "catastrophe" put in Tesla Motors (TSLA). Crazy option palooza in Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY). Line in the sand puts in HP Inc. (HPE). Call trade in Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR). Mail Block: Options Question of the Week VIX is back in the mid-teens but the Volatility space is hotte...

Trading Block: What's moving the options market? Options Volume for April: OCC announced that total cleared contract volume in April reached 405,853,179 contracts, a 27% increase from April 2017 volume of 320,547,848 contracts and marking the highest April on record. Earnings! Tuesday - The Walt Disney Company Thursday - Nvidia Odd Block: Bullish paper opening in Coty Inc. (COTY). Rolling calls in...

Originally Posted January 24th, 2017 Trading Block: The Trump Effect: President Donald Trump is set to unleash a cascade of stock-market anxiety - The day of reckoning for the Wall Street is here. McDonalds (MCD) earnings today. Friday close - $122.26; ATM Straddle - $3.52, approx. 3%; Open down $.75, Traded as low as $2.44; No more love for all-day breakfast. Odd Block: Calls and puts trade in Mo...

Trading Block: Earnings! Monday - McDonalds Tuesday - Apple, Snap Inc. Wednesday - Tesla Thursday - Activision/Blizzard, WWE Friday - CBOE Odd Block: Jan 2020 50 "catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA). Closing/rolling paper in ILG Inc. (ILG). Buying a put stupid in PowerShares DB US Dollar Index (UUP). Crazy put-paoolza in Sea Foods Co (DF) Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses ways i...

Trading Block: Earnings: AMZN - 1460, ATM straddle 90, approx. 6% MSFT - 92, ATM straddle 4, approx. 4% INTC - 51.38, ATM straddle 2.40, approx. 5% GOOGL - ATM straddle 54, approx. 5% Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA). Apr 12.5 Puts in CNH Industrial NV (CNHI). Line in the sand puts in L Brands Inc. (LB). Line in the sand puts in Dicks Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS)....

Trading Block: VIX down. Vol futures down. Gold vol is very low. 10-year yield at 3%. Metals get the crap kicked out of them. Earnings: GOOGL - ATM straddle: 54, approx. 5%. More tech earnings to come. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA). Puts trade in Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CBI). Calls trade in D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI). Puts trade in CBL & Associates Prope...

Trading Block: That's right. We are up to 16 exchanges now. MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL options exchanges, today announced that it intends to launch MIAX Emerald as its third fully electronic options exchange in 2019. Options Flash Poll: The proposed third exchange from MIAX exchange will raise the total number of U.S. Options Exchanges to 16. Is this a good thing for the options market? Is it the...

Trading Block: What is happening that might move the markets? Calm coming soon? A silent Trump Twitter account helps. A calmer backdrop for equities would bring pain to speculators, or more kindly, reduce the value of their hedges. Earnings Season Is Set to Crush Volatility Once Again Earnings: Monday - Netflix (after the bell) $307, ATM straddle $28, approx. 9% Tuesday - IBM, Johnson & Johnson, U...

Trading Block: A look back at what moved the market this week Volatility ETFs nearly double. Top Performing ETFs of the Year Bitcoin's Price Jumps $1,000 In 30 Minutes Of Market Growth Across The Board Why Bitcoin Behaves Like the Flu Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA), sweep puts in CNH Industrial NV (CNHI), line in the sand puts in L Brands Inc (LB), call butte...

Trading Block WWE stock selling off post Wrestlemania - still very lofty. Big contracts today - April 34 puts and April 40 calls. Spotify options starting on April 9. Big launch day for Dropbox with nearly 10k contracts. Odd Block: Some of the stranger paper we saw trade today More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA) Weekly call palooza in GameStop Corp. (GME) Someone spooked in...

Trading Block: TSLA - up $50 in a few days. FB up over $7 since yesterday. SPOT options start on April 9. Dropbox has a big launch day with nearly 10k contracts. OCC cleared contract volume up 15% in March. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50"Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA), weekly call-palooza in GameStop Corp. (GME), crazy call spread in Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP), and call love in Array...

Trading Block: OCC Cleared contract volume up 15% in March. Highest first quarter volume and highest first quarter for equity options on record. Cleared futures average daily volume for quarter up six percent from Q1 2017. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA); put-palooza in SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI), call-palooza in GameStop Corp. (GME), and rolling puts in The Hartf...

TRADING BLOCK Is the trade war over? Market back in rally mode. VIX off a few handles. Have the FANGs been de-fanged? Opinion: If the FAANGs have got you down, it's time to win with the WNSSS stocks https://www.marketwatch.com/story/if-the-faangs-have-got-you-down-its-time-to-win-with-the-wnsss-stocks-2018-03-29 Tesla hit $250 yesterday - off over $100 in a few weeks. Facebook annihilation continu...

Trading Block: The market is back in rally mode, is the trade war over? VIX off a few handles. Tesla breaks the magical $300 level. The Facebook selloff continues. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA), funky stupid in MGM Resorts International (MGM), buying Jan upside in Newmont Mining Corp (NEM), and size call sweep in Finish Line Inc. (FINL) Mail Block: It's Madn...

Trading Block: The market is tanking on trade war concerns: Trump is at it again. Volatility returns - VIX back in the 20s. The tech selloff continues - FB closed $185 on 3/16 - traded as low as $163.72 today, down nearly 12%. Fed hikes rates as expected. US weekly jobless claims total 226,000, in line with expectations Earnings: NKE: $65.30, ATM straddle - $3.60, approx. 5.5% Odd Block: Calls tra...

Trading Block: VIX is back in the 20's. Facebook is taking it on the chin as Russia fallout continues - down 7% and leading other tech stocks into the toilet. Fed Meeting with New Chairman on Wednesday. Earnings: Oracle - ATM straddle - $2.75, over 100k contracts on the tape. Odd Block: Call palooza in Olin Corporation (OLN), put palooza in UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), split ticket puts in Crite...

Trading Block: Looking back at the week's news: US weekly jobless claims total 226,000, in line with expectations Dow up more than 200 points, attempts to snap 3-session skid, as Boeing's stock rises ToysRUs closing all stores. iHeartMedia files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. SNAP tanks due to controversial Rihanna ad on platform. Spotify says it will begin trading shares April 3. Strategy Block: Uncl...

Trading Block: Discovering the plight of liquidity providers at CBOE RMC today. It's ironic timing since Spot Trading just shut down. Potentially changing tick sizes in VIX futures and options. VIX options breakdown is 90/10 standard vs weekly volume. Odd Block: Line in the sand puts in Dick's Sporting Goods Inc (DKS). Buying more Tim in Johnson Controls International (JCI). Size put/call kickers...

Trading Block: Markets unchanged mid-day. VIX back around the 17-handle. A rundown of CBOE RMC. Earnings: Highlights: Friday- Revlon, Big Lots A lot of big box retail this week, too - Costco, Target, Kroger, etc. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA). Line in the sand puts in Victoria's Secret (LB). Size call fly/roll in Electronic Arts (EA). Strategy Block: Mik...