Your Inside Source for Options Information

November 26, 2018

Featured Interview

Options Insider Radio Interviews: Talking Options with Fidelity

In this episode, Mark is joined by Greg Stevens, Vice President of Product Development for Options at Fidelity.

They discuss:

• Greg's winding path through the derivatives space
• Fidelity's performance in Options Broker Madness
• Fidelity is so much more than just 401k
• Three ways to play: mobile, web, and Active Trader Pro
• Trader tools, including back-testers
• Commissions, margins, and price improvement
• Excelling at customer service
• Does Fidelity offer a virtual trading platform?
• The resurgence of back-testing
• More tools for happy options traders
• Idea generation/trade recommendations
• Investing in the mobile experience
• Charging to close shorts?
• Price improvement: the voodoo of order routing?
• The decline in options volume
• What happened to minis?
• Auctions: yea or nay?

Upcoming Economic Reports

A preview of what may move the market this week

 

Options Insider Radio Network 

Episodes you may have missed from Options Insider Radio last week

Best of Volatility Views: The Birth of Modern Volatility Skew

Volatility Review: A look back at the week from a volatility perspective. Black Monday. Happy 30th Birthday to Volatility Skew! The numbers:

• VIX - 93.33
• CBOE Skew Index - 146
• VXN - 14.64

Russell's Weekly Rundown:

• VIX ADV - 876k
• VIX call/put - 4.1
• VXX - 34.39
• XIV - 105.87

Volatility Voicemail: Options question of the week Earnings Season is here! Which name do you plan to trade most actively this cycle?

• 27% - Tesla - $TSLA
• 34% - Amazon - $AMZN
• 23% - Apple - $AAPL
• 16% - Alphabet - $GOOGL

Listener questions and comments: Comment form MoneyEngine X3.5 - Buying CVS calls.

Crystal Ball: Wild and reckless prognostication

Last week:

• Mark L. - 9.55
• Mark S. - 10.25
• Ghost of Russell - 28
• Kevin - 10

This week:

• Mark L. - 9.65
• Mark S. - 10.16
• Russell - 9.87

Talking Options with Trading Technologies

In this episode, Mark is joined by Bernie Schwartz, the Trading Technologies Options Product Manager. They discuss:

• Options functionality at TT
• TT's enhanced strategy creation capabilities
• How easy is it to execute delta-neutral trade?
• What's TT's secret sauce?
• The TradeStation partnership
• Any other partnerships?
• Cryptocurrency options
• New listings
• Crypto selloff and impact on interest
• And more...

 

Talking Data with Euromoney Tradedata

In this episode, Mark is joined by Mark Woolfenden, Managing Director at Euromoney Tradedata. They discuss:

• What is Euromoney Tradedata?
• What is MIFID 2?
• Doing the heavy lifting with regulators
• Dealing with the evolution of Dodd-Frank
• What about Brexit?
• What else is happening at Euromoney Tradedata?
• Has an API offering opened more doors?
• And more

 

Best of Option Block: 2017 Year-End Palooza - All Smoke, No Fire

Trading Block: Review of the last trading day of the year. VIX barely holding on to double digits. Big meh into the end of the year. Silver is on a tear. The highs and lows of Bitcoin. Cboe announces six Bitcoin ETFs. Uncle Mike creates a new product...Fitcoin. 2017 Year-in Review: The good, the bad, and the inexplicable.

Final Options Question of the Week for 2017: What is your enduring market memory/event/trend/etc. of 2017? Have a suggestion of your own? We encourage you to choose "Other" and send in your thoughts.

• Death of Volatility/VIX
• Rise of Bitcoin
• The Unstoppable Bull

Other: Reply/DM w/ ideas

• Comment from OptionsAlliance: The surprise resurgence of #options volume in 2017.
• Comment from OliveWanaBroker: The oats bull market. Very important.
• Uncle Mike's silver collar was not, in fact, the second coming of AAPL.
• All smoke, no fire
• Crypto fever

Odd Block: Crazy paper from the year

• TSLA options tracker: The explosion of interest in TSLA catastrophe puts. OI exploded in 2017. Interest also expanded to Jan 2020 50 puts.
• The 250,000 contract VIX three-way, rolled thrice
• Extended Stay America - giving up the ghost
• The way-out-of-the-money gold trade with a further out-of-the-money kicker.

Strategy Block: Uncle Mike waxes poetic about his trading strategy from 2017 Around the Block: Will the outlier trends continue? Andrew brings us down with debt talk. What would it take for volatility to return to normal?

Options Playbook Radio 235: Thanksgiving Huddle Edition

Huddle up, traders! For your listening pleasure, Mark and Brian answer your burning options trading questions, including:

• Question from Barry Brown - Good morning. Have the show archives been withdrawn or are they still available? Question: If we put on a poor man's covered call position and the price moves up the short call, when do you recommend rolling, etc? Thank you. Your stuff is great. Really enjoy all you efforts. Thank you.
• Question from Douglas Tilley - Hello! Regarding long stock substitution: 1. With call options, are deltas additive? I.e. why are (2) 40-delta calls so much cheaper than (1) 80-delta call? This seems like buying equivalent total delta for about half the cost. 2. For more accurate stock substitution, do you ever use the technique of buying an ATM call while selling an ATM put? (Vs. buying calls for a desired total delta). What are the pros and cons (or nuances) of the 2 methods? I do notice that the 2nd method definitely requires more buying power, due to the short put. Thanks for all the education - D Tilley, DDS
• Question from Splitsville - Why is long put/covered call a "collar" while short put/long call is a "risk reversal." Never understood that one.

Option Block 761: Apple Wreck, Nat Gas Blowout and More

Trading Block: Apple woes hitting the market again. Plus earnings.

• Target
• Best Buy
• Lowe's
• Kohl's

And growth in US corporate earnings expectations remains strong. Odd Block: Tesla put summary; call love in JD.Com Inc. (JD); line in the sand puts in Mattel, Inc. (MAT); put love in ENSCO PLC (ESV).

Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses premium selling

Mail Block: Options question of the week You guys did great on last week's crystal ball so we've upped the ante. Where will VIX be at the end of Volatility Views in TWO WEEKS - aka Fri 11/30? Closest (within 1 pt) wins signed book from Option Pit Good Luck!

• Here: 18.5-20.99
• Higher: 21-23.5
• Lower: 16-18.49
• Crazy: Above 23.5

Listener questions and comments:

• Question from Steve Giannakopoulos - Seems right that you can write 1 put option when you already own 100 shares of the underlying stock. Brokerage can lock and keep the 100 shares as collateral instead of holding cash as collateral. It doesn't happen though. Why? You could have your long 100 shares forced sell at the put option strike price if it's ITM and you get assigned. I read you said I just don't understand it. Thank you.
• Question from Matthew Grabarczyk - First of all thank you for the programming and knowledge! Coming from the technical side of equities trading I need some help and I could not really find a direct answer in the archives. A trade I'm in went long at 149.05 with a target of 152.75. At 150.90 (midway) I legged into a diagonal spread long the Jan 151 calls, short the weekly 152.50 trying to optimize skew. It is currently at 152.20 and gamma is kicking my ass. If I wanted to be out completely by 152.75, how would you suggest adjusting this trade?

Around the Block/This Week in the Markets

• Nov 20: Housing Starts
• Nov 21: Jobless Claims, Durable Goods, Consumer Sentiment, Existing Home Sales
• Nov 23: Fed Balance Sheet

Volatility Views 330: Mega Crystal Ball Palooza

Volatility Review: A look back at the week from a volatility perspective

• Sell-offs appear to be slowing down
• Tech earnings weighing things down
• Facebook: did they or didn't they?
• Are we in a trade war?
• VIX cash: 19.17
• VVIX: 106 - up from last show
• VIX futures keeping pace or outpacing the index
• Blow out in nat gas options
• NVDA, AMAT earnings

Volatility Voicemail: Listeners take over

• Comment from Ninny - I think VIX will touch your kids.
• Question from LLAX: How come you guys don't talk $SVXY or $TVIX on your show?
• Question From TAX8T: New listener and first time writer. Awesome program. Love the vol trading breakdowns and the fun guests. Is there any way you can include a rundown of large OTC var and volatility prints on your show each week. Keep 'em coming.

Crystal Ball: Really reckless prognostication Last week:

• Mark L. - 17.65
• Mark S. - 16.49

Two weeks from now:

• Mark L. - 18.15
• Mark S. - 15.25

Options Insider Radio Interviews: Talking Blockchain ETFs with BKCM

In this episode, Mark is joined by Brian Kelly, Portfolio Manager, BKC ETF and BKCM Digital Assets Fund They discuss:

• How did he become interested in crypto and blockchain
• BKC ETF - a blockchain ETF
• Not holding the underlying in the fund
• What's the secret sauce to this portfolio allocation?
• The relationship with REX Shares
• How has the response been?
• Can blockchain be more impactful than the internet?
• Volume and interest to-date
• Volatility and portfolio performance
• To correlate or not correlate?
• Will there be options?
• And more

 

Exploring the Volatility Spikes with T3 and MIAX

In this episode, Mark is joined by Shelly Brown, Executive of Vice President of MIAX, and Simon Ho, CEO of T3 Index. They discuss:

• What is T3?
• The Spikes Index
• Multi-listed SPY options
• How does it compare with VIX movement?
• Removing the abstraction between the index and the derivatives
• Does it include skew?
• Taking steps to avoid allegations of price manipulation
• When will they start trading?
• Getting regulatory approval
• Market maker response
• The T3-MIAX partnership
• The MIAX-OIC advisor education conference

Where to Find Options Insider Radio?

Do you know all the ways you can access Options Insider Radio

          

Options Insider Radio Network Live Recordings

Do you want to be a part of the fun?

This is when you can access the LIVE shows this week:

Monday:

Option Block LIVE at 12pm Central

Thursday:

Option Block LIVE at 12pm Central
This Week in Futures Options LIVE at 1:30 Central

Friday:

Volatility Views LIVE at 12pm Central

As always, you can join in the fun at http://mixlr.com/options-insider/