In a market that had a decidedly risk-off feel today, there was some large apparently directional options trading that might have fit that theme: GDX: the etf that tracks gold miners saw heavy call volume, 2x average daily volume …
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Biowreck Check – IBB, XBI
Biotech stocks have been a disaster so far in 2016, with Nasdaq Biotech etf IBB down 20% ytd, and down 34% from its all time highs (in August 2015), and S&P Biotech etf XBI down …
Continue readingMorningWord 10/17/16: Crank Up the Crazy and Rip Off the Knob
It’s been my view for some time that on top of the large list of risks to an already fragile U.S. economy (if we entered a prolonged recession, it would result in a sustained period of …
Continue readingBig Printin’ GS, JBLU, XBI, XLB
The S&P 500 (SPX) clawed back a good bit of its early 1% losses by days end. One noticeable theme in today’s trading was options traders rolling existing positions: GS: bank stocks under-performed the broad market most of the day, with …
Continue readingMorningWord 10/10/16: Electioneering
As unpredictable the first half of 2016 were in financial markets, the back half is proving to be stranger. The 12% peak to trough decline in January & February caught most off-sides, and then again with the post …
Continue readingMorningWord 10/3/16: I SPY With My Little Eye
In this weekend’s Barron’s Striking Price column, long time columnist Steve Sears, (who I am a big fan of) had Steve Sosnick of Timber Hill fill in to discuss hedging ones portfolio into the Nov 8th …
Continue readingSPY – Back in the Straddle
I concluded today’s MorningWord (Wake Me Up When September Ends) with a comment that events in the next few weeks might spark some market volatility (one way or the other) and how the options market …
Continue readingMorningWord 9/30/16: Wake Me Up When September Ends.
It’s been a newsy week in financial markets. Monday saw continuation of takeover speculation for Twitter (TWTR) and the stock has been able actually build on last Friday’s 21% gains, despite no news, and famed venture …
Continue readingMorningWord 9/8/16: Vol Shook Up
Last night on CNBC’s Fast Money, Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan’s global head of derivative strategy made the case for an uptick in volatility, and the strong potential for a pullback in U.S. stocks nearing 5% between now …
Continue readingMorningWord 9/7/16: High (Low) Times
Being wrong about the direction of a stock, or a market is part of this business. What I have found in my nearly two decades trading in financial markets is that embracing the fact that …
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