The Option Block

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...

Option Block 152: Facebook: Buy, Sell, or Wait for Options? Trading Block: Not a great day on the market, NASDAQ down significantly. The big grind toward summer begins, almost an exact replay on last year. OTM premium looks like a good buy. A rundown of commodities - gold is still getting whipped. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Elan Pharmaceuticals,...

Option Block 151: The After-Hours Trading Debate Trading Block: Groupon earnings after the close, up by just a dollar. Red throughout most of the commodities today. Zynga had a little pop on the heels of the Facebook IPO news. Much like GRPN, a lot of legging opportunities. Ford re-tracing some of it lows in the recent months. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Groupon, Inc. (GRPN), Do...

Option Block 150: I'm a Trader, Not a Miracle Worker Trading Block: Cisco moving to the downside again after disappointing earnings. Priceline brought in a lot of calls to OX after they missed their earnings mark. New tools, provided by CME, are planned to help traders spot arb opportunities between ETF options and futures options. CBOE looking at creating an Apple VIX product. Activision posts mo...

Option Block 149: Beignets, Chicory Coffee, and Facebook Trading Block: Markets marginally changed. Thoughts on the Bloomberg article comparing it to the Markit CDX North America High Yield Index. The European issues continue. Post-elections reactions. Keeping an eye on EA after hours. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in iStar Financial Inc. (SFI). Xpress Block: John Grigus discusses th...

Option Block 148:  Bizarro Day Trading Block: Preparing for Non-farms tomorrow. Now is a great time to get out of any short premium, if it's for a small price, and moving into long VIX calls. Gold got smacked out today. Natural gas up while oil and coal and both down.  Odd Block: Interesting and usual activity in Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), Green Mountain Coffee Roaster (GMCR), and earnings plays in Lin...

Option Block 147: Is ZYNGA the Synthetic Facebook? Trading Block: Most of the bleeding in the NASDAQ came from Apple, down again, and having trouble holding its highs. Denny's earning after the bell. Odd Block: Interesting and usual activity in Manitowoc Company, Inc. (MTW), and Warner Chilcott LTD (WCRX). Xpress Block: John Grigus discusses the integration of Charles Schwab and optionsXpress and...

Option Block 146: The Art of Position Management Trading Block: Apple, Apple, Apple! Off to the upside post earnings after getting beaten up last week. Waiting for Zenga and Amazon earnings after the bell. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Skullcandy, Inc. (SKUL), Aetna (AET), and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike discusses his recent moves and strategy with Apple w...

Option Block 145: What’s the Point of Open Interest? Trading Block: The term structure of the VIX was today's worst enemy. Netflix, the widowmaker, reporting after the bell, and exhibiting its typical bad behavior. Apple seems stuck in the $570 range going into earnings. Revisiting a question from last week, what account size do you need to really trade Apple effectively? Odd Block: Unusual and in...

Option Block 144: Walking into the Bandsaw of Theta Trading Block: Tosaw's run with Apple may be on its last legs. Loads of earnings after the close: NOT AAPL, but AMD, Bank of America (BOA), and Microsoft (MSFT). Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity inPandora Media, Inc. (P), CBS Corp. (CBS), and EXCO Resources, Inc. (XCO). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses being prepared for expiration a...

Option Block 143: Apple Apocalypse Trading Block: S&P rally vs. NASDAQ (Apple) apocalypse. AAPL sold out aggressively, down about 4%. Tosaw suggested last week the many buyers were lurking around $600. Priceline, Google and Apple were all down on the day. Andrew has a theory on why. Ten-year note rebound. Odd Block: An Apple overview, and unusual activity in Arvin Meritor INC. (MTOR). Xpress Block...

Option Block 142: Premium Selling Idiots Trading Block: VIX popped out of its range -- so much for fading to the downside. Apple, the target of an antitrust suit, was still up 1% yesterday. Commodities rundown -- new 10 year lows reached in the natural gas market. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Iron Mountain (IRM). Xpress Block: Mike Z from OX sits down for his first Xpress Block a...

Option Block 141: Getting Long Prison Premium Trading Block: Market down today in the wake of weak non-farm numbers on Friday. Yet Apple still up, if only by 1/2%. VIX heading north. It’s the $1billion day -- Microsoft buys 800 AOL patents for $1B and Facebook buys Instagram for $1B. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in America Online (AOL) and Corrections Corps of America (CXW). Xpress...

Option Block 140: Doing Stuff with the Funk   Trading Block:   The markets were aimless today except for Apple carrying the NASDAQ.  It's a weekday, so Apple must be up 1%. Vol rundown. The mainstream media finally starts to pick up on what we've been saying about VIX, VXX and the TVIX all along, “Curious Case of VIX and VIX Products.” Odd Block: Activity review from March 8: Carnival Cruise Lines...

Option Block 139:  No More Exchanges, Please Trading Block: Lots of upside on the day: Dow, S&P, NASDAQ, and VIX. The many masters of VIX. Andrew and the love of fundamental indicators.  Doing stuff - NASDAQ-style.  Yes, they're launching ANOTHER options platform.  More fragmentation! More issues with spreading!  More quotes!  The more the merrier? Um, not so much.  The gang also discusses myriad...

Option Block 138: There Is No Crying in Options Trading Block: Vol rundown - despite little movement, there is quite a bit of intraday volatility in the vol products. RIMM, COSI & TIBX earnings after the bell. Obama looks to end oil subsidies. Europe still weighing in on the broad market. Best Buy slashing stores nationwide. The BATS debacle continues after they cancelled their IPO. ZNGA buys app...

Option Block 137: Selling the Hunger Games Trading Block: BATS debacle: All IPO trades busted as a matching engine encountered a software bug. The range of symbols, of course, included Apple. If you are executed on a limit order what do you do after your trade is busted? It's analogous to pin risk. CBOE suing ISE over 10x SPY contracts -- the no-brainer news of the week. The crushing of TVIX conti...

Option Block 136: Hunting, Fishing, and Options Trading Block: The market felt the weight of manufacturing issues in Germany, France and, most importantly, China. Chinese manufacturing shrank for the fifth straight month. Dollar General earnings before the bell today -- a Tosaw favorite. Also, the TVIX train wreck continues.  Odd Block: Unusual activity in LULU again! Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (LU...

Option Block 135: Naked Canadians & A Conference Roundup Trading Block: VIX on the rebound - the weekend coming back into the VIX, but the futures themselves were down today. A rundown from RMC: What is going into the term structure of the VIX futures? How does negative gamma scalping impact the market? Weeklies are not the primary gamma driver - it's still in the front month. SPX put spread vs. V...

Option Block 134: The Day the Market Moved Trading Block: A lot of excitement on the trading desk today following the largest move of the year so far. What factors contributed to this swing in to the upside? What was the rise in Vol that we show intraday? The Fed has hinted that it may start raising interest rates starting in 2014 - what effects might we see in the housing market? Xpress Block: Jo...