The Option Block

Option Block 409: Talking PCLN, Crude and Pairs Trading Trading Block: There is still no real agreement among Fed officials on rate hike timing. Oil cuts loss as supply hike not as large as anticipated. Earnings today: before the bell: Wal-Mart, Priceline Group Inc., T-Mobile; after the bell: Intuit   Odd Block: Calls roll in (BWP), calls and puts trading in Microsoft Corp (MSFT), and calls trade...

Option Block 408: Juicy Apple Puts Trading Block: Earnings today after the bell:  AIG, Groupon, King Digital Media (Candy Crush). Earnings before the bell today: Avon, McGraw Hill, Kellogg Co. Insuring against Apple blow-up just got a lot more expensive. Tesla shares fall after earnings, despite musk apple comparison. Oil prices rally from sharp losses.     Odd Block: Call buyers in Domtar Corp (U...

Option Block 407: Cracking Down on Insider Trading Trading Block: A light day on the market. Oil rallies for third day after OPEC sees greater crude demand. Oil rose for a third straight session on Monday as OPEC forecast greater demand for crude this year than previously thought and projected less supply from countries outside the group. Does Germany owe Greece war reparations?  Toys for boys pus...

Option Block 406: Selling Nonsense Apple Puts Trading Block: Earnings today after the bell: Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn, Activision. Traders silenced: CME to close most futures trading pits. Open-outcry trading stood no chance, says futures 'father' Melamed.     Odd Block: Upside calls trade in Youku Tudou Inc. (YOKU), put sellers in Apple Inc. (AAPL), and puts trade in Oasis Petroleum Inc. (OAS)  ...

Option Block 405: Neither Rain nor Snow Trading Block: Chicago digs out from under the snow. Patriots win! Sorry investors.   Shake Shack shares are getting pummeled. Apple taps bond markets for $5bn. Oil advances on US slowdown hopes.   Odd Block: Call spreads in iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ), 3-way in Danaher Corp (DHR), and time spreads trade in Chimerix Inc. (CMRX)   Xpress Block: New 2015 O...

Option Block 404: Earnings Palooza: GOOG, AAPL, AMZN, BABA, F, and More Trading Block: Apple crushes it on earnings - Uncle Mike, did this change your bearish sentiment from the last show? Earnings this morning: Ford and Alibaba. Earnings today after the bell: Amazon and Google.   Odd Block: Put spreads trade in Assured Guaranty LTD. (AGO), puts roll in Newfield Exploration Co. (NFX), and calls tr...

Option Block 403: Frozen Dolls and Apple Puts Trading Block: Not much movement in the market today. Greek elections had little to no effect. Earnings after the bell today: MSFT. Mattel: Barbie being crushed by Frozen, CEO stepping down.   Odd Block: Puts seller trade in United States Oil Fund LP (USO), put blocks trade in NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE), possible OTM put sellers in Micron Technology (MU...

Option Block 402: Yield Hunters Out In Force   Trading Block: A sea of green across the board today. After the bell today:  Starbucks - Time to get your Starbucks (stock) again? - ATM straddle approx. $1.70     Odd Block: Calls trade in W&T Offshore, Inc. (WTI), Put buyers in Nielsen Holdings NV (NLSN), and Calls trade in KB Home (KBH)     Xpress Block: Alex discusses the FX markets and also the c...

Option Block 401: Apple vs. Swiss Franc Trading Block: Switzerland stuns markets by giving up on currency peg. Big moves in gold. The Tesla free fall: Elon Musk now $2.8B poorer. US stocks head lower; crude oil price falls again. Intel moving up again.     Odd Block: Puts go up in Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg (TSM), calls roll in WeyerHaeuser Co. (WY), and size call buyer in Brisol-Meyers Squibb Co. (...

Option Block 400th Episode Spectacular Our favorite episodes, listener questions and memories from 400 episodes of the Option Block.   Listener Mail Palooza: Question from Charles B - Great show guys. Congrats on your continued success. I recently stopped trading options on Google and PCLN because the spreads were just too wide. Why do the market makers do this? Is it not in their best interest to...

Option Block 399: The Gamma Rage Monster Trading Block: A reversal of the selloff we saw earlier this week. Big Apple numbers. S&P 500 erases 2015 loss, euro weakens on stimulus bets     Odd Block: Puts trade in iPath S&P 500 Short Term VIX ETN (VXX), calls go up in Brunswick Corp. (BC), and puts roll in Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO)   Xpress Block: What was the most notable change in the bu...

Option Block 398: Getting Burned By Deltas Trading Block: A selloff of the market today. Facebook options turning bearish on 2015 after 195% rally. Crude oil falls below $50 a barrel for the first time in 5 1/2 years. OCC announces cleared contract volume up 4% in 2014 and a record year for cleared futures volume.   Odd Block: Calls trade in iShares MSCI Italy Index (EWI), opening call buyers in L...

Option Block 397: 2014 Year in Review Trading Block: Looking Back at 2014 The crash in the price of oil. The potential for Apple to move. GDP growth at 5% in the US. The 10-year trading about 100 basis points below expectations. Changes in portfolio margin. VIX becoming more and more mainstream. The Ukrainian crisis of Q1/Q2. The October volatility. Continuing consolidation in the brokerage commun...

Option Block 396: The Most Epic Strategy Block Ever Trading Block: A shortened holiday week, so not much is moving on the street. Upside move in Taser. Facebook and Amazon.   Odd Block: Calls trade in Cobalt International Energy (CIE), opening calls trade in U.S. Bancorp (USB), and calls going up in Alibaba Holding Group Ltd (BABA).     Xpress Block: Another new tool is being rolled out by OX - IR...

Volatility Views 140: It All Starts with Onion Volatility Volatility Review: The week in vol VIX Cash: High - 25.2, Low - 16.07. S&P: 10 day HVOL - 22, 30 day HVOL - 13, Skew Index - 126.4, at the low end of the chart for the past three months. VVIX: High - 141.22, Low - 109.4, nearly doubled over the past two weeks. VIX Options: Total 4.29m (2.97m Calls, 1.32m Puts), only one day over 1M contract...

Option Block 395: Janet Yellen vs. Farrah Fawcett Trading Block: A very aggressive day on the street. The market is off to the races - up nearly 2% in the session today. Brent triggers a circuit breaker - to the upside? U.S. stocks lead global equities rally on Fed rate policy. Odd Block: Upside calls trade in ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil (UCO), puts trade in Mylan Inc (MYL), calls trade in Qu...

Option Block 394: Oil Speculators Get Burned Trading Block: Oil and oil related issues are still dominating trading - crude taking it on the chin. Brent and WTI hovering at crazy ranges. Most recent CFTC data shows increased net long positions. VIX, VXST and VVIX     Odd Block: Golar LNG Limited (GLNG), AGCO Corporation (AGCO), and Neptune Technologies & Bioressources-Ord (NEPT)   Xpress Block: A...

Option Block 393: Oil, LULU, Swaps, and More Trading Block: A mild day on the street. Swap Talk: Why are people fighting over Dodd-Frank and derivatives? Traders hedge oil ETF while energy stocks lure buyers. U.S. oil prices drop below $60     Odd Block: Bullish calls trade in Dex Media Inc., synthetic covered calls trade in Sandridge Energy (SD), and looking for a rebound in Whiting Petroleum Cor...

Option Block 392: The Great Broken Wing Butterfly Debate Trading Block: A mild day on the street. Oil futures slide on Saudi price cut to U.S. VIX shunned as few bumps seen for S&P 500 at years end.     Odd Block: Call rolls in Opko Health Inc. (OPK), calls trade in Avago Technologies (AVGO), and calls trade in Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE).   Xpress Block: Insight into oil and gas. The Xpress...

Option Block 391: Crude Oil Madness Trading Block: A bloodbath in the tech and commodities sectors. Mini Apple crash catches the market off-guard. Energy and oil had their own crash on Friday. The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 294,770,356 options contracts traded in November, down 6.26 percent compared to last November.     Odd Block: Puts trade in Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO), c...

Option Block 390: Squeezing Out the Vol Trading Block: Short holiday week - When might the market come out? Answer: Monday! Implied Vol in the basement. VIX crushed.  Odd Block: Calls trade in TIVO Inc. (TIVO), size calls trade in Demand Media Inc (DMD), and calls trade in Tiffany and Co. (TIF) Xpress Block: With the Viceroy out with the flu, we will play the Trading Patterns guessing game.  Strat...

Option Block 389: Fly Adjustments and Dividends Trading Block: A mild day on the street. Best Buy profit beats estimates as costs fall. Fresh SEC crackdown on ‘flash crashes.’ Correlation gauge for S&P 500 falls at fastest rate ever.     Odd Block: Upside call buyers in Axiall Corp. (AXLL), put roll in Stillwater Mining Company (SWC), and calls roll in Huntsman Corp (HUN)   Xpress Block: Behind th...

Option Block 388: Japanese Volatility Trading Block: U.S. stocks open lower as Japanese recession weighs. American markets poised for a pullback after four straight weeks of gains. Japan shocks as economy slips into recession. Cracks widen at OPEC as oil prices tumble.     Odd Block: Size combo in Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (SPX), puts trade in iShares MSCI Japan (EWJ), call traders in Buckeye...

Option Block 387: Crude Oil Put Palooza Trading Block: Gold struggles to find buyers in third quarter. Lower oil prices give a lift to the American economy. Buffett to trade P&G stock to buy Duracell.     Odd Block: Calls trade in Cyberark Software LTD (CYBR), calls trade in Demand Media Inc. (DMD), call ratios trade in Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR)   Xpress Block: Amazon and Apple hit near-...

Option Block 386: Massive GLD Adjustment Breakdown Trading Block: U.S. stocks move higher again. Twitter shares could move 5 percent in either direction by Friday. BABA soars in China ahead of "Singles Day"   Odd Block: Large buy writes go up in Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), call buyers in Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), and call sweeps in Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (HOV).   Xpress Block: Alex discusses...