Your Inside Source for Options Information

August 6, 2018

Featured Interview

Equity options volume up 20 percent in July

In July, overall exchange-listed options volume reached 367,568,020 contracts, up 17 percent from July 2017. Equity options volume reached a total of 333,216,875 contracts, a 20 percent increase from July 2017. This includes cleared ETF options volume of 126,246,601 contracts last month, an 11 percent increase compared to July 2017 volume of 113,596,199 contracts. Index options volume was down six percent with 34,351,145 contracts in July.

Here are the market share statistics (Source: OCC)

 

 

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

Option Block 735: The AAPL, TSLA, VIX Trifecta

Posted August 3rd, 2018

Trading Block: A review of the week from a trading perspective.

• APPL (earnings were on Tuesday)
• Apple makes history by becoming first U.S. company to reach $1 trillion market value

Earnings:

• Thursday - Activision/Blizzard, Shake Shack, Blue Apron, Go Pro
• Friday - CBOE

Odd Block: WMB Call-palooza and GRPN Pre-Earnings Call 1x2.

Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses the possible outcome of more rate hikes.

Mail Block: Listener questions and comments

Question of the week: Earnings Season is still in full swing. Which names will dominate your #Options trading this week?

• Apple - $AAPL
• Tesla- $TSLA
• GoPro - $GPRO
• CBOE - $CBOE

Listners weigh in:

• Question from Andrew Lane - I tried searching for options on the major advisor news sources including Pensions & Investments and Financial Advisors magazine and came up blank. Why do these mainstream outlets ignore this space? Where should I go to learn more about options for advisors?

Around the Block: What's coming up of interest?

 

This Week in Futures Options 113: Blu Breaks Down Oil, Ags, Equities and Crypto

Posted August 3rd, 2018

Our featured guest in this episode is Blu Putnam, Chief Economist at CME Group.

Topics this week include:

• Crude/Brent/WTI
• Equities/Russell
• Ags/SoybeansGold/Metals
  • Question form Robinar - La nina or el nino? Which one is good for U.S. Ags? I always forget.
• Bitcoin/Crypto

 

Options Playbook Radio 219: GOOGL Options Trades Post-Earnings

Posted August 2nd, 2018

We are in the heart of earnings season, and next week a lot of the FANG stocks will announce. Two weeks ago, we did a diagonal spread in GOOGL. Let's follow up on how that went, and look at a skip-strike butterfly, as well. You can find more in The Options Playbook, which is always available on OptionsPlaybook.com, in on the Amazon Kindle edition.

Specifically:

• How was the diagonal spread set up?
• What happened to GOOGL since the paper trade was established?
• What are we doing now?
• Setting up the skip strike butterfly
• Selecting strikes and expiration date
• What is the cost?
• Remember implied volatilities!
• What happens if we are wrong? Right?
• 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.

 

OIC 2018 Panel - Options and the Institutional Investor

Posted August 2nd, 2018

Options and the Institutional Investor
Richard Johnson, from Greenwich Associates, presents findings from their Institutional Participant research study, followed by a conversation with industry panelists.

 

Option Block 734: Talking AAPL, TSLA, VIX and More

Posted July 31st, 2018

Trading Block: The week in trading (so far)

• Social media tech stocks are taking a bath

Earnings:

• Tuesday - Apple
• Wednesday - Tesla
• Thursday - Activision/Blizzard, Shake Shack, Blue Apron, Go Pro
• Friday - CBOE

Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 puts in Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), line-in-the-sand puts in Adient PLC (ADNT), and put sweeps in AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS).

Mail Block: Options question of the week

Earnings Season is still in full swing. Which names will dominate your options trading this week?

• Apple, $AAPL
• Tesla, $TSLA
• GoPro, $GPRO
• CBOE, $CBOE

Listener comments:

• Comment from Value Dissenter -Tesla. Yay puts.
• Question from Ellen - When would you buy those $TSLA Jan 50 puts?
• Question from LOO7 -I think the market is top heavy here. What should I be looking at in terms of options trades? I mostly own spy in my portfolio. Straight 5% OTM puts or something else?

Around the Block: What's on the radar for the rest of the week?

 

Advisors Option 69: Trading Options During Earnings Season

Posted July 31st, 2018

The Buzz: What do busy financial advisors need to know?

• Coffee with Cott from the Options Industry Conference.
• Earning Season and Options Trading
• ORATS Earnings Volatility Analysis

Options question of the week: Trading options during earnings season can be challenging. Some live for it while others avoid it. Do you hold options positions through earnings announcements? If so, what is your approach? Or do you prefer to trade just before/after the event? Or is it all too risky?

• 28% - Yes, Short Premium
• 20% - Yes, Long Premium
• 25% - No, Too Risky
• 27% - I trade around the event

OIC'S Annual Summit on Fundamental and Technical Analysis

• OIC recently hosted its annual Summit on Fundamental and Technical Analysis.
• How did that go?
• What was the reception for your panel?
• What is an important takeaway?

Office Hours: Listener questions and comments

• Question from Options Knight - Loving the AO show. Great stuff as usual from OI network. Was surprised to hear a whole episode about calendar spreads. Are there a lot of advisors out there doing calendars for their clients? Or is that more of an educational piece for the bleeding edge of the advisor space who are looking for something a little more compelling for their high-end clients? Either way I loved the episode and think more advisors should be doing this stuff. Just wondered what you boots-on-the-ground guys thought about the actual reach of the strategy.
• Question from FlyGuy - Hey what do you guys do with your long calendar spreads? Do you close out the short leg if the stock doesn't move then keep the long leg or just close the whole spread out?
• Comment from DaLegit - Great show on calendars. I'm still working up to that level. Not sure I'm ready yet but when I am you guys will be the first to know.
• Question from Teal C. - Can you do a show on short calendars? Why use? Pros/cons vs. long calendars? Maybe a cool backtest or two?

 

Volatility Views 315: VIX Worm Turns, Plus FB, AMZN and More

Posted July 30th, 2018

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

• Trump threatens $500B more tariffs, the market still shrugs.
• VIX Cash - 12.14
• VVIX - 91, nine points lower than last week.
• VIX Options - ADV: 460k, VIX call/put: 3.1/1, Total 6.44m (4.79m Calls, 1.64m Puts)
• VXX - 30.5, ADV: 248k, Total 2.49m (1.20m Calls, 1.30m Puts)

Earnings:

• Monday - Google
• Tuesday - AT&T, Verizon
• Wednesday - UPS, Boeing, Coca Cola, GM, FB, PayPal, Qualcomm
• Thursday - Amazon, McDonalds, Comcast, Starbucks, Nokia
• Friday - Twitter, Merck

Volatility Voicemail: Listener questions and comments?

• Question from Vizinator - Are there $VXX equivalents for Nasdaq, Dow and Russell?
• Comment from Paul F. - Andrew should change his VIX zones to go negative to indicate when VIX is in drawdown mode. Also, shame on him for nickeling Longo on Crystal Ball. He should lose just for that.
• Question from Dawiz - Gun to head, best VIX options strategy? No dawdling. Top of your head.

Crystal Ball: Your prognostication headquarters

Last week's guesses:

• Mark L. - 12.23
• Andrew - 12.22

This week's guesses:

• Mark L. - 12.45
• Andrew - 13.25

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 3pm Central

Thursday:

This Week in Futures Options LIVE at 1:30 Central (NEW DAY, SAME TIME)
Option Block LIVE at 3pm Central

Friday:

Volatility Views LIVE at 12pm Central

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