Options Broker Madness: And the Winner Is....
Congratulations to Tastyworks
From the beginning, it was clear that Tastyworks would not go gentle into that good night. The Tastyworks nation is a vocal and passionate one, bringing their broker to a decisive victory against last year's winner, Lightspeed Trading. A huge thanks goes out to all the brokers who were a part of the madness, and to all the listeners and readers who voted and participated. This wouldn't be any fun without you.
The winners of this year's fabulous prizes are:Â
- First Place: Amazon Echo Dot goes to DivinityBanc
- Second Place: Amazon Gift Card goes to Bobby Matos
- Third Place: Exclusive Options Insider Gear goes to R Ray
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Upcoming Economic Reports A preview of what may move the market this week
| TIME (ET) | REPORT | PERIOD | FORECAST | PREVIOUS | | MONDAY, APRIL 9 | | Â | None scheduled | Â | Â | Â | | TUESDAY, APRIL 10 | | 6:00 AM | NFIB small business index | March | -- | 107.6 | | 8:30 AM | Producer price index | March | 0.10% | 0.20% | | 10:00 AM | Wholesale inventories | Feb. | -- | 0.80% | | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11 | | 8:30 AM | Consumer price index | March | 0.00% | 0.20% | | 8:30 AM | Core CPI | March | 0.20% | 0.20% | | 2:00 PM | Federal budget | March | Â | -$176 bln | | 2:00 PM | FOMC minutes | Â | Â | Â | | THURSDAY, APRIL 12 | | 8:30 AM | Weekly jobless claims | 7-Apr | 230,000 | 242,000 | | 8:30 AM | Import price index | March | -- | 0.40% | | FRIDAY, APRIL 13 | | 10:00 AM | Job openings | Feb. | -- | 6.3 mln | | 10:00 AM | Consumer sentiment index | April | 101 | 101.4 |
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Options Insider Radio Network Episodes you may have missed from Options Insider Radio last week
Option Block 705: The Bulls Strike Back Posted April 6th, 2018 Trading Block: TSLA - up $50 in a few days. FB up over $7 since yesterday. SPOT options start on April 9. Dropbox has a big launch day with nearly 10k contracts. OCC cleared contract volume up 15% in March. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50"Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA), weekly call-palooza in GameStop Corp. (GME), crazy call spread in Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP), and call love in Array Biopharma Inc. (ARRY). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses selling a spread vs buying a spread. Mail Block: Options Broker Madness - The battle is over - there can only be one. Congratulations to the 2018 #Options #BrokerMadness champions @TheTastyWorks! Thanks to all who participated.
Listener questions and comments: - Question from Jilian - The whole inverse volatility thing has me spooked about other inverse ETFs like SQQQ (3X short nasdaq 100), UVXY and SDS (2X short S&P 500). Should I be worried that these can be wiped out next?
Around the Block/Economic Reports: - Apr 4: Jobless Claims, International Trade
- Apr 5: Unemployment
 Options Insider Radio Interviews: Talking Technical Analysis with Prognos Analytics Posted April 5th, 2018 In this episode, Mark is joined by Tony Kolton, Founder and CEO of Prognos Analytics. They discuss: - Tony's background in the options industry
- Surviving the crash of '87
- The genesis of his research methodology
- Options Geiger counter
- Determining what the "smart" money is doing
- WYNN, TSLA
- Crypto, crypto, crypto
- What is the purest asset class?
- How to learn more about Prognos
 Options Playbook Radio 203: Short-Term UNH Butterfly Posted April 5th, 2018 We are back in the saddle discussing options strategies. As we are a few days away from earnings, let's look at something that is not driven by earnings. While we're waiting for volatility to slow down, let's look at a short-term butterfly in UNH. You can find more in The Options Playbook, which is always available on OptionsPlaybook.com, or on the Amazon Kindle edition. Specifically: - UNH announces earnings on 4/16
- Doing a very short-term butterfly to not contain earnings
- What are we hoping to happen?
- What is the implied volatility?
- Selecting strikes
- Setting up the trade
- What is the maximum risk? Reward?
- What about time decay?
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 704: The Streets Run With Blood Posted April 3rd, 2018 Trading Block: OCC Cleared contract volume up 15% in March. Highest first quarter volume and highest first quarter for equity options on record. Cleared futures average daily volume for quarter up six percent from Q1 2017. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA); put-palooza in SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI), call-palooza in GameStop Corp. (GME), and rolling puts in The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG). Mail Block: It's the finals! - TastyWorks vs Lightspeed!
- Comment from MarkClydeBrant1 -Got free options from Robin Hood and very impressed! Super-fast but only cash secured trades for now. Ideal for newbies because everything is explained simply at every step. Pros will love the speed! App trading is the best! Remember SS futures? Ha-ha
- Comment from KToddMorgan - WNSSS, while a cool new name, haven't fared much better lately. I'm betting that changes, but as of yet, they're getting whacked too.
Around the Block: What are we looking at for the rest of the week? Â
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 3pm Central
Thursday:
Option Block LIVE at 3pm Central
Friday:
Volatility Views LIVE at 12pm Central This Week in Futures Options LIVE at 1:30 Central. As always, you can join in the fun at http://mixlr.com/options-insider/
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