The Option Block

Option Block 177: Moving 0.0%, or Wait and See Trading Block: Today the market was literally unched across the board, sitting at 0.0, playing the "wait and see" game. Apple hitting new milestones, now the most, now the most valuable company on the planet. Corn rundown, quiet recently.  Odd Block: Put Volume Spikes on Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), and options traders sell volatility...

Option Block 176: Groupon Garbage Trading Block: A mild rally across the Street. S&P vol getting squeezed of all its juice. Cisco knocks it out of the park post-earnings. Groupon garbage post-earnings. Cosi trading at a depressed level. Facebook south of the 20-handle. Odd Block: Protection swapped on Novartis (NVS); large blocks of calls rolled on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the (DJX) and...

Option Block 175: Groupon Volatility Bonanza Trading Block: Groupon rallies into earnings, an absolute roller coaster today. No weekend back for VIX cash, toying with the 14 level. Odd Block: General Electric (GE) sees massive call activity. From black to red: Traders buy puts on The Blackstone Group (BX). The winners and losers in Focus Media's (FMCN) buyout offer. Xpress Block: John Grigus takes...

Option Block 174: Doing Whatever It Takes   Trading Block: Another mixed day on the street: a stale, unchanged market today. Keeping our eye on Nvidia. Zynga making more headlines by firing their COO. ETrade ousts its CEO.   Odd Block: Calls active after E*TRADE ousts CEO.   Xpress Block: Sean Fitzgerald runs through a couple of use question for the OX crew: Why are Groupon options at a 100% margi...

Option Block 173: Economists Do Not Have a Clue Trading Block: A mild rally on the day, VIX cash moving in lockstep with the market again. EA lawsuit pounds Zynga - THQ came out with earnings. Knight getting "rescue" bid from a bunch of customers including TD Ameritrade, and the stock has been a roller coaster ever since. Bernanke says economists don't have a clue about individual well-being. Oil...

Option Block 172: Mini Crash Crush Trading Block: VIX essentially unchanged on the day. Discussing its underperformance again as traders again showed a willingness to unload vol going into the weekend. Mini-crash crushes a number of stocks (Citi, Bank of America, etc.) and annihilates KCG. CBOE earnings this morning - net income up from 2011 despite weak options volume across the board. Facebook b...

Option Block 171: Another Raucous Live Show Live and unscripted, this episode doesn’t follow the normal Option Block layout, but it’s spectacular nevertheless. Most major indices closed relatively unchanged on the day. Despite that, it was still a pretty busy day on the desk. Crop report. Unusual put buying in Home Depot…could it be in preparation for August earnings? Apple testing $600 again. Min...

Option Block 170: Options for Earnings Trading Block: A broad rally in most names, yet Ford, EA and others getting clobbered. Where's the love? Facebook after the bell, hovering down a bit. Zynga disappoints again. Apple knocks it out of the park, but it’s not good enough. This is the way to "miss" earnings. Amazon after the bell. Netflix striking again. Chipotle has been clipped well over 30%. Od...

Option Block 169: Synthetic Puts and the Fudge Factor Trading Block: A selloff across the major indices today, amid concerns about financing in Spain. IMF is about to stop payments to Greece, thus increasing the odds of insolvency by September. VIX gets weekend back and then some. Even McDonald's can't make money in this environment - down about 3% after recent earnings. Odd Block: Unusual and int...

Option Block 168: Scalping GOOG Time Spreads Trading Block: Lots of earnings after the bell - Google up, Microsoft meh, and Chipotle earnings down. Is this the rise of Qdoba? A mild rally across the board, accompanied by a mild vol sell-off. A bit of a rally in Ford. Odd Block: A straddle swap in USL, plus upside calls in Anglogold AU. Xpress Block: Sean Fitzgerald discusses Google and Chipotle, w...

Option Block 167: TVIX Apocalypse Trading Block: VIX failed to do much today. TVIX still lighting up the tape, a surprise to all of us. Some activity going on in the Facebook Aug calls and puts. Retail sales down 5% in June. JPM “Hedge Loss” now $5.8B -- always the same old story. PFG Best still spiraling into the toilet, the story seems to have taken Chicago by storm. Odd Block: Unusual and inter...

Option Block 166: Calendar Strangle Swap Trading Block: PFG Best madness; the Chicago based options brokerage firm reeling after their CEO, Russ Wasendorf, attempted suicide after charges of fraud and a missing $200M+ in customer funds. How did the NFA miss this? Another day, another mild selloff that weakens toward the close. The Apple pre-pre earnings. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity...

Option Block 165: I Make Liquidity Trading Block: Another day, another mild selloff. VIX getting the weekend/holiday back, plus a little more. Oil/Commodity rundown - the hot, dry weather has had a big impact of the ags, especially corn. Activision on the block. Odd Block: An unusual activity review for Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB), Research in Motion, Ltd. (RIMM), and Horizon Pharma, Inc. H...

Option Block 164: Independence Day Slowdown Trading Block: Apple lurking near $600 again before earnings. RIMM in the toilet and ended up blowing past weekly ATM straddle after all. Ford also taking a beating. June numbers are out and options volume down 13% overall from last year. Avg. daily volume down 8.47%, equity option volume down 13%, and overall equity options ADV down 9%. OCC announced th...

Option Block 163: Supreme Court Takes the Vol Out Trading Block: Supreme Court decision roils the market. Are we taking the weekend out of the VIX already? 30 year mort. at 3.66%. JP Morgan hedge loss expected to be $5B, perhaps up to $9B. RIMM, Nike, and Family Dollar reporting numbers after the bell. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Universal Health Services (UHS) and O’Reilly Auto...

Option Block 162: Risk Reversal Hour Trading Block: Midday selloff continues following post-weekend/selloff vol pop. EU summit concerns with Spain requesting EU aid for their banks, and Cyprus requesting an EU bailout.  Last week most active ever for VIX futures.  New home sales hit a two-year high last month - 369,000 new homes vs, 346,000 expected. Oil continues to fall, right into the teeth of...

Option Block 161: Now With 75% More Ranting Trading Block: A bit of a blood bath today after Goldman recommended shorting the S&P. A lack of VIX movement compared to a big 30-handle selloff. Moody's to downgrade up to 15 banks after the close just piled on the bad news for today. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IDIX). Xpress Block: Returning panelist Al...

Option Block 160: Blue Horeshoe Loves Option Block Trading Block: Greek pro-bailout ruling was not exactly the boon the markets expected. Spanish load concerns still weighing on the market. Almost like a post-earnings throughout the market with vol coming in across the board. NAHB housing index of homebuilder sentiment highest in five years, but still below 50. The Supreme Court may rule whether C...

Option Block 159: The 1-3.5-6 Ratio Condor Swap Trading Block: News is out that the central banks are trying to make a coordinated effort to help out Greece after the elections. Commodity rundown - open quota unchanged. Fallout for Apple after WWDC. Nokia down 15% on news of slashing 10,000 more jobs - down 50% since April. Is this the beginning of the end for Nokia? Will Microsoft buy them? Is th...

Option Block 158:  Mini Widowmaker Trading Block: VIX provided most of the movement in the market. Spain concerns weigh on the market again. Analyst says JP Morgan could make an upside surprise as they disclose more about the $2 billion "hedge."  Apple's WWDC doesn't budge the stock - announces new MacBooks, iOS 6, better voice, no new iPhone, and switching away from Google maps - a potential big...

Option Block 157: We Are in a Holding Pattern Until We Are Not Trading Block: For the second show in a row, the S&P is literally closed unchanged at 0.0%, what are the odds? The Fed pretty much stymied most activity. Have to love the Feds - says end of tax cuts is the most important fiscal event on the horizon, yet refuses to comment on whether tax cuts should stay or go. China cut their benchmark...

Option Block 156: Greek Tragedy Trading Block: The selloff eased after the bloodbath on Friday. The S&P closed almost completely unchanged today. Still waiting for the Greeks. All-time record lows in the 10- and 30-year bonds. VIX headed to 30...and beyond? A Facebook flow recap. Peak 6 gobbles up the remnants of Pension, creating a new entity, Apex Clearing Corp. Odd Block: Unusual and interestin...

Option Block 155: The Long and Winding Road to Nowhere   Trading Block: Given the end of month, it was a strange seesaw-like day on the market. Facebook is actually going up, closing today at $29.53. There is a lot of opportunity in those options. Commodities movers today included crude oil, natural gas, soy meal, oats, soybeans, wheat, coffee and lumber. But who could forget about bond? Gold and...

Option Block 154: When In Doubt, Roll It Out Trading Block: More Facebook fallout - What's the situation been like at OX? Participate in our Facebook options survey, link on Options Insider. Facebook dragged other social media stock, like Zynga and LinkedIn, down with it. A low BBI with Apple over at KYO. Odd Block: Interesting and/or unusual activity in: AT&T, Currency Shares Euro Trust, (FXE), a...

Option Block 153: Facebook Faceplant Trading Block: The market had no real direction. The Euro got crushed and bonds had the only give back of the day. Sebastian looks at the correlation between TLT and VIX. Commodities rundown featuring gold, crude oil and natural gas. Xpress Block: Going over the tumultuous week/weekend of Facebook. What was the environment like over at OX? The financial media h...