Featured Interview Options Insider Radio Interviews: What Options Traders Can Expect from E*Trade Posted May 7th, 2018 In this episode, Mark is live at the 2018 Options Industry Conference where he caught up with Chris Larkin, Senior Vice President of Trading Product at E*Trade. They discuss: - The acquisition and integration of Options House and E*Trade platforms
- Rebuilding the platform from the ground up
- Lowering the barrier to entry for new options traders
- What percentage of trades happen on mobile devices?
- Increasing the community offering
- Addressing the liquidity issue
- What about after hours options trading?
- And more.
Upcoming Economic Reports A preview of what may move the market this week
| TIME (ET) | REPORT | PERIOD | FORECAST | PREVIOUS | | MONDAY, DEC. 10 | | 10:00 AM | Job openings | Oct. | -- | 7.0 mln | | TUESDAY, DEC. 11 | | 8:30 AM | Producer price index | Nov. | 0.00% | 0.60% | | WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12 | | 8:30 AM | Consumer price index | Nov. | 0.00% | 0.30% | | 8:30 AM | Core CPI | Nov. | 0.20% | 0.20% | | 2:00 PM | Federal budget | Â Nov. | -- | -$139bln | | THURSDAY, DEC. 13 | | 8:30 AM | Weekly jobless claims | 8-Dec | 225,000 | 231,000 | | 8:30 AM | Import price index | Nov. | -- | 0.50% | | FRIDAY, DEC. 14 | | 8:30 AM | Retail sales | Nov. | 0.10% | 0.80% | | 8:30 AM | Retail sales ex-autos | Nov. | 0.20% | 0.70% | | 9:15 AM | Industrial production | Nov. | 0.40% | 0.10% | | 9:15 AM | Capacity utilization | Nov. | 78.60% | 78.40% | | 10:00 AM | Business inventories | Oct. | -- | 0.30% |
Options Insider Radio Network Episodes you may have missed from Options Insider Radio last week
Option Block 765: Tariff Man Brings Back Volatility Dec 7, 2018 Trading Block: A look back at the week in trading - Tariff Man spooks the market…again.
- Exchanges were closed on Wednesday, December 5 in observance of a National Day of Mourning for the late George HW Bush.
- Netflix blew $100M on Friends reruns for one year!
Most active this week: - SPY - 3.01M (ADV 1.43M)
- VIX - 476K
Earnings Highlights: - Tuesday - Dollar General, HP
- Wednesday - Five Below
- Thursday - The Kroger Co., Broadcom, Michaels, Ulta
- Friday - Big Lots
Odd Block: Tesla put summary, opening Dec put love in Signet Jewelers Ltd. (SIG), opening Jan put love in Teradyne, Inc. (TER), and opening Feb call love in Lennar Corporation (LEN) Mail Block: Listener questions and comments - Question from Daleon - Hey! I'm something of an options noob but I'm learning from listening to you guys. Still haven't pulled the trigger on my first trade. My question - what's the best and easiest starting point for noobs? I mostly have SPY in my portfolio right now. Is it selling calls on SPY? Am I correct that those calls would be considered covered? Fun show. Also liking the playbook program.
Around the Block/This Week in the Markets: - Dec 7 - Unemployment, Consumer Sentiment
 This Week in Futures Options 129: Futures Options as a Strategic Investment Dec 7, 2018 Today's special guest co-host is Russell Rhoads, Formerly Dr. VIX and current Head of Derivatives Research at the Tabb Group. Topics this week include: - Crude Oil/WTI
- Nat Gas
- Equities
- Metals/Gold/Copper
- Ags/Soybeans
Futures Options Feedback: Listeners take the reins - Question from Elleneals - Given the skew setup in equities with calls being cheaper than puts from a vol perspective why would you ever buy a collar? Why doesn't everyone always sell the skew and use bullish risk reversals? The market seems to be set up for it.
 Options Playbook Radio 237: Time Bomb Butterfly in S&P 500 Dec 6, 2018 When the market conditions are right, it can be a good time to trade a butterfly in the S&P 500. Now is the time. You can find more in The Options Playbook, which is always available on OptionsPlaybook.com, in on the Amazon Kindle edition. Specifically: - Where is the S&P 500 index right now?
- Buying a December 7 butterfly
- Selecting strikes
- What is the total risk?
- What do we want to happen?
- What's the maximum upside?
- What is the market forecast?
- What to do if the market moves against us?
- Capital requirements
- And more...
Do you have a question that you want answered on a future episode? Send them to Brian at theoptionsguy@invest.ally.com, or to the Options Insider at questions@theoptionsinsider.com.  Option Block 764: Trade War, GE Palooza, Risk Management and More Dec 4, 2018 Trading Block: Exchanges closed on Wednesday, December 5 in observance of a National Day of Mourning for the late George HW Bush. Earnings Highlights: - Tuesday - Dollar General, HP
- Wednesday - Five Below
- Thursday - The Kroger Co., Broadcom, Michaels, Ulta
- Friday - Big Lots
Also: - Oil selling off - WTI Crude back in the $40 handle.
- Bitcoin crushed - BTC threatening 4000.
Odd Block: Tesla put summary, possible opening call sale in (GPOR), put love in (PVG), and put love in (BEL). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses purchasing long delta in options. Mail Block: Options question of the week AAPL continues to take a beating - recently dropping below $175. We know many of you LOVE to trade $AAPL and this selloff creates opportunities. Looking ahead to Jan 2019 expiration- which trade would you prefer to make in AAPL right now? - Sell Jan 150P for $1.65
- Buy Jan 150P for $1.65
- Sell Jan 200C for $1
- Buy Jan 200C for $1
Listener questions and comments: - Comment from Mark Brant: Bot a million DOGE because it was cheaper than BTC. Spikes off lows take about 60 days to show up. For free on Robinhood! Short put spreads USO OIH came in nicely! Andrew and Mark miss a lot of VIX trades because their bias is down. My bias is up. Always looking at the 16 delta Calls! NG RR is on fire! Eurodollar HV much lower than IV as per usual.
Around the Block/This Week in the Markets - Dec 3: Construction Spending
- Dec 5: Productivity and Costs, Beige Book
- Dec 6: Jobless Claims, Factory Orders
- Dec 7: Unemployment, Consumer Sentiment
 Volatility Views 331: The Winners of the Great Crystal Ball Contest Dec 3, 2018 Volatility Review: A look back at the week from a volatility perspective. - VIX Cash - 19.4, almost unchanged from two week ago
- VIX - 94, 12-points lower than last show
- VIX Options - ADV: 546k, Total 6.77m (4.81m Calls, 1.95m Puts)
- VXX - 35.5, 1-point lower than last show
- Crypto crushed below $4k recently
Volatility Voicemail: Options question of the week: AAPL continues to take a beating - recently dropping below $175. We know many of you LOVE to trade $AAPL and this selloff creates opportunities. Looking ahead to Jan 2019 expiration- which trade would you prefer to make in $AAPL right now? - Sell Jan 150P for $1.65
- Buy Jan 150P for $1.65
- Sell Jan 200C for $1
- Buy Jan 200C for $1
Listener questions and comments - Comment from Pete Yarbro - I'd sell this strangle.
- Question from EELC5 - What's the lowest volatility can get in the SPX?
- Comment from Nilai - I like Mark's idea for an erosionator in VXX. Would be something interesting to watch. Kind of like a smog report or tide report but for VXX.
Crystal Ball: Wild and reckless prognostication. Two weeks ago we asked people to guess where VIX would close on 11/30 by the end of the show. Answer: 18.80 - Mark L.: 18.15
- Mark S.: 15.25
- R Ray: 19.70 -.9
- Richie Rich: 17.1
- Alex P: 17.50
- William Valentine: I'm going with 16-ish. (I'll define the margin of -ish next Friday).
- Ophir Gottlieb: 19.23 - Vol is too cheap for a number of names and buying one-two day straddles is printing money. This is one of the best trading environments for vol in 5 years.
- MRTOPTICK: 19.87
- Neil Wales: 18.1 - .7
- ConTango: 15.09
- Andrew Giovinazzi: 15.91
- David Lincoln: 16.50
- Jim Carroll: I'll take 14.90 cuz bears will take a break before they try again...Just wanted to take the under! Come at me!!!!!!
- Matt Thompson, CFA: 18.71056
- Cmcapone: Kind of late, but for the 11/30 prognostication contest, put me down for 18.80.
This week: - Mark L. - 17.15
- Mark S. - 16.35
 Options Insider Radio Interviews: Are You Ready to Trade Tokens? Dec 3, 2018 In this episode, Mark is joined by Thomas McInerney, Chief Product Officer at Open Finance Network. They discuss: - Focusing on a subset of tokenized securities
- Tokenizing illiquid securities
- Blockchain transfer of tokens
- What is Open Finance?
- Who are early users of the platform?
- What else do they offer?
- Getting liquidity providers on board
- Regulatory worries
- And more...
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Where to Find Options Insider Radio? Do you know all the ways you can access Options Insider Radio              Â
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/
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