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 hit for Google. Commodity/vol rundown. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in Green Mountain C...
Jun 12, 2012•56 min
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 lending rate for the first time in about 4 years. VIX drifting toward the lower end of its rece...
Jun 08, 2012•1 hr 4 min
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 interesting activity in Research in Motion, Ltd. (RIMM), HollyFrontier Corp. (HFC), and Hansen Medical, In...
Jun 05, 2012•55 min
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 silver rundown. Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes the OX seat and talks first about the Corzine Rule bein...
Jun 01, 2012•36 min
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), and Owens-Illinois, Inc. (OI). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes a seat in Xpress Block chair and di...
May 25, 2012•1 hr
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 had a field day with the Facebook IPO. Going over the valuation of Facebook and the upcoming options ...
May 23, 2012•51 min
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, and Clean Energy (CLNE). Strategy Block: Facebook’s official price is $38, buy or sell? How high co...
May 18, 2012•41 min
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), Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. (DLTR), and Chico’s FAS, Inc. (CHS). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes the OX ho...
May 15, 2012•1 hr 4 min
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 modest earnings - stock relatively unchanged. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Cisco (CS...
May 11, 2012•1 hr 3 min
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 the grains contracts. There's been quite a hubbub between ICE and the CME. Plus, the Facebook IPO. Lis...
May 08, 2012•57 min
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 LinkedIn (LNKD) and First Solar (FSLR). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses the broker as a tool. Know wha...
May 04, 2012•48 min
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 the new “money move" feature. They’re also getting some calls about Facebook, ie., when does the IPO...
May 01, 2012•58 min
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 within the last week. Around the Block: Earnings Update: Amazon off to the races, Zenga unchanged. Fo...
Apr 27, 2012•51 min
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 interesting activity in Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM), IAC Interactive Corp. (IACI), and Old Fields Ltd (...
Apr 24, 2012•1 hr 1 min
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 and keeping an eye on your position during price swing movements. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw di...
Apr 20, 2012•58 min
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: John Grigus sits down in the OX hot seat and discusses earnings, Citi and OX's parent company,...
Apr 17, 2012•58 min
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 and discusses the announcement of ICE launching a cash settled grain futures contracts. Strategy Bloc...
Apr 13, 2012•55 min
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 Block: John Grigus sits down at the OX desk and discusses the possibility of mini-stocks (1/10th siz...
Apr 10, 2012•1 hr 1 min
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 (CCL). Unusual activity today in: Wellcare Health Plans Inc. (WCG). Xpress Block: Newcomer Anitra DuPart...
Apr 06, 2012•49 min
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 ways to improve the market, including regulation, margin, managing risk, and doing stuff. Odd Block: Un...
Apr 03, 2012•1 hr 5 min
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 developer for $180M plus $30M retention bonuses. Odd Block: Wednesday activity review: Groupon, ...
Mar 30, 2012•1 hr 4 min
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 continues -- it is bound to reverse split. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Red Hat, Inc. (RHT). Xpress Blo...
Mar 27, 2012•53 min
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. (LULU). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi holds down the OX seat in today’s show and discusses TVIX and the recen...
Mar 23, 2012•1 hr 12 min
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. VIX call calendars as a market hedge. A rundown from FIA Boca: Blame is still being tossed about ...
Mar 21, 2012•1 hr 3 min
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: John Grigus discusses Barron's 17th annual ranking of online brokers. OX received the 2nd highest scor...
Mar 14, 2012•44 min
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 since sliced bread? Where is Apple vol in the wake of this announcement? Odd Block: Usual activity in St...
Mar 09, 2012•57 min
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 sell-off. A lot of calls in silver recently. Around the Block: Non-Farms. Pandora earnings tomorrow...
Mar 06, 2012•1 hr 1 min
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 Block newcomer TRW Automotive Holdings (TRW) Listener Mail: U.S. Index Options I am looking to short ...
Feb 24, 2012•53 min
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 money over time, and possibly even beat the S&P? Strategy Block: Uncle Mike asks, "How do you k...
Feb 17, 2012•1 hr 3 min
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 Genetics, Inc. (SGEN). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi helps to explain "Estimated Commisions" when closing out ...
Feb 14, 2012•1 hr 3 min
