The Option Block

Option Block 133: One Thing Sebastian Won't Do Trading Block: With Greek deadline looming, will we get a vol pop or further vol implosion? CBOE is being investigated by the SEC, and its Chief Regulatory Officer put "on leave." TVIX is starting to couple back again, and volume in UVXY has helped alleviate that of TVIX. The new iPad is not exactly setting the market on fire or the hottest thing sinc...

Option Block 132: Has No One Heard of a Dutch Auction? Trading Block: China lowers annual growth target by half a percent, enough to send the bears into an uproar. Apple sells-off. Yelp has quite the surge to the upside, following the launch of its IPO. Metals/commodity rundown. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Pandora (P) and Baker Hughes, Inc. (BHI). Xpress Block: John Grigus talks about the Apple...

Option Block 130: Nothing Short of Titillating Trading Block: The VIX cash limbo strikes again - how low can it go? Greek deal in place since the last show. A lot of movement has continued in oil over the past few sessions. Sears posts huge Q4 loss, yet stock up 20% on news of spinning off assets. Tons of activity in SHLD options -- 23k ADV vs over 100k today. Odd Block: Unusual activity for Odd B...

Option Block 129: How Do You Know When You're Being Stupid? Trading Block: Markets up, VIX down. Interesting activity in the VIX futures. Massive retail growth in weeklys. The Michael Myers market. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Morgan Stanley (MS) and Kellogg (K). Listener Mail: A listener has a college-age son with $10,000 to invest. They want to know if they're foolish to think if they can make...

Option Block 128: Funky Backspread Trading Block: A decent selloff in VIX cash, but is the unknown still lurking? Greece stumbling toward salvation, but the worst is not over yet. Apple over 500 — up 2%. What's been causing this move to the upside? A few earnings after the bell: LPSN, SGEN. Odd Block: Unusual activity in NetApp, Inc. (NTAP), Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (LYV), and Seattle Genet...

Option Block 127: Predicting Facebook’s First Day Closing Price Trading Block: Apple is back to the races following the Nortel patent news -- up 10% post earnings and vol popping to the upside. Groupon down 14% - AGAIN. Cisco earnings were decent, but is the worst over? CBOE announces record volume numbers - stock shrugs in response. Activision out after the bell - now trading close to $13. Linked...

Option Block 126: VIX: You Don't Have To Go Home, but You Can't Stay Here Trading Block: VIX creeping up off concerns of Greek debt weighing on the market again. Greece reportedly eliminating 15,000 jobs. NYSE/Deutsche Boerse deal was killed last week by the EU – there will be no mega combination of three different options exchanges. Odd Block: Unusual activity in: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), and S...

Option Block 125: When Squishy Becomes a Technical Term Trading Block: Is it too risky to actively short volatility in this environment? Andrew thinks that, from a volatility point of view, all things are pointing in the same direction. Earnings plays. What's the deal with Amazon? Chipotle, or stealth Apple, is nothing but classy. Andrew gives taqueria recommendations in San Francisco. All is righ...

Option Block 124: Confessions of a Juice Buying Junkie Trading Block: It was a calm day in volatility, given that it has been beaten up recently. What effect does Greece's financial woes has on our market anymore? The precious Metals market pulls back, affected by China. The yellow Wiggle is out: Australia is in turmoil! The biggest kids brand is in the toilet, sold Wiggles sold!!! Scalping tech V...

Option Block 123: Like a Virgin Trading Block: Apple blows the doors off earnings again – long premium going into earnings was the way to play it. JC Penney up $6.50 today, but is it best to still keep a short position? Netflix on the comeback trail? Odd Block: Unusual activity in Deutsche Bank AG (DB) and DeVry Inc. (DV). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi breaks down the recent activity at OX. Have the re...

Option Block 122: Option Block After Dark     Trading Block: Greek debt swap is keeping the market in neutral. S&P and VIX both up today, but overall a slow trading day. Natural gas and Google are both gathering interest among traders. It is an interesting time to looking at long premium.    Odd Block: Usual activity in Melco Entertainment (MPEL), Alexza Pharmaceuticals (ALXA), and Ingersoll Rand...

Option Block 121: Degenerate Options Traders Trading Block : Ho hum day on the street, but VIX makes it below 20 after much dancing in the area. Looking at a sleepy creep up of the general markets and for a dedicated selling of volatility. Uncle Mike’s patience has paid off in Ford.  Mark rolls in the Wheel of Fun.  The gang fixes the issues with weeklys, but are the exchanges listening?   Playing...

Option Block 120: Doin' Stuff Trading Block: Another mild day on the market. Metals/Commodities rundown - GLD up a bit, but not much. Premium on the VIX futures is getting crushed. Corn and grains limit down after a USDA report this morning rocked the market. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. (NWL) and Research in Motion (RIMM). Xpress Block: Rob Kurzatkowski commands the OX d...

Option Block 119: The Fanboy Piggyback Trading Block: Another mild day on the street. Apple hits a new high ahead of earnings, riding high on iPad 3 rumors. Apple's new high comes in spite of the fact that Android finally eclipsed IOS in the mobile market over the holidays. Netflix was up 14% today despite opting out of ultraviolet program. Is the widowmaker back? Nuance, perhaps a stealth play go...

Option Block 118: Buying Cheapy Premium Trading Block: Market mostly unchanged today. Vol off modestly - a decent day for gamma scalping in the VIX. Jobless claims modestly lower - the market shrugged it off. A Metals/Commodities rundown. Apple on a little bit of a tear which has rallied since mid-December, augmented by a lot of attention with the CES next week. A quick discussion of butterfly and...

Option Block 117: 2011 Year in Review Trading Trends Rocky year for volatility The ups and downs of AAPL NFLX: aka the Widowmaker Weeklys Metals Migration into other products Headlines: SPXpm OX + Schwab Deutsche Borse + NYSE MF Global fallout Social media IPOs The Year Ahead: Andrew puts it all on the line re: VIX Mark makes an over/under prediction on SPX What you can expect to see from KYO, OX,...

Option Block 116: Holiday Volatility Sale Trading Block: A weak rally going into the holiday -- not too much going down on the street except for the continued annihilation of volatility. GLD and GVX ended the year down. Not much movement otherwise given the time of year.  Odd Block: A look back at some usual activity from the past, including GLD and Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI).  Xpress Block: R...

Option Block 115: Scooping Cheap Volatility Trading Block: A volatility/VIX rundown -- it's up, it's down, it's in lockstep with the market, it does its own thing. It's VIX madness. Zenga, a new tech name to hit the market -- can it follow in the footsteps of Linkedin, Groupon, Angie's List or the other 2011 tech bubble names? A Metals/commodity rundown. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Norfolk Sout...

Option Block 114: No Straddles Without Gamma Scalping Trading Block: SPY and other expirations on ETFs--close out your shorts! More put buyers are rolling into VIX - even the Journal is starting to pick up on it. Given this erratic movement, how risky is hedging the VIX? GLD put options, a relatively inexpensive option if you still need to hedge you're GLD downside. A Reuters article debating and...

Option Block 113: The Great VIX Implosion Trading Block: It's been quite the roller coaster ride for VIX as of late, a lot of people picked up their insurance and are sitting fully hedged, just riding out the storm. Over at KYO, Dollar General and GNC stocks continue an upward climb. Gold down today, as well as crude oil, bonds may be next. Plus, Netflix, aka the widow-maker, makes a return cameo....

Option Block 112: VIX Resistance Trading Block: VIX cash back above 30, how long can it last? MF Global disaster continues to get worse, with no clue as to where customer money is. Customers are making additional margin payments because their funds at MF Global are frozen. This disaster may have ramifications for years to come. Metals/commodity rundown -- volatile gold and silver. Ford brought the...

Option Block 111: The Waffle and Egg Indicator Trading Block: VIX was all over the map today. Stocks opened strong but rumors of an S&P downgrade warning to Germany killed some of the optimism. The ups and downs of trading Groupon. Trading the wheel of fun: keeping an eye on Dollar General and GNC. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Angie’s List - (ANGI), Darden Restaurants, Inc. - (DRI), and American...

Option Block 110: Worthless December Lottery Tickets Trading Block: A massive explosion to the upside, what was the impetus for the 400 point rally? The S&P 500 has climbed 3% or more in a day 36 times in the past three years compared with 27 times for the nine years before, according to Bloomberg. EU battling to hold itself together. The first of the month means “Options Numbers Day.” Odd Block:...

Option Block 109: Danger is in the Air Trading Block: A strong move to the upside after the holiday weekend. VIX at 30 yet again – is this becoming the new norm? Strong Black Friday sales compelling market. Metals/commodity rundown. Odd Block: Unusual activity in MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG); BlackRock, Inc. (BLK), and Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW). Plus, an update on Guiled (GLID) from last week. Xp...

Option Block 108: Super Committee VIX Spreads Trading Block: Dow back in the red for the year. Debt cutting debate concerns hit the market -- reminiscent of the debt debate from August, only you don't see everyone loading up on VIX puts this time. Did they learn their lesson? Could more DC gridlock trigger another debt downgrade? Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in: Gilead Sciences Inc....