Stats of the Week - July 11-15

• VIX Cash Range: 12.27 - 13.93
• S&P Cash Range: 2131.72 - 2169.05
• S&P Skew Index
  • 07/11/2015  125.03
  • 07/12/2015  126.10
  • 07/13/2015  127.29
  • 07/14/2015  128.28
  • 07/15/2016  129.76

That's So Unusual

The week in unusual activity

Near-Term Put Buyers Jump in DD: 1063 DD Jul 62 puts went up in 1 block on the PHLX through auto ex. 

BX Risk Reversals Trade: 28000/14000 BX Sep 26 calls over Sep 22 puts went up in 2 large blocks on the PHLX. 

Big Put Selling in IILG: On the day paper sold over 18,000 IILG Jan 2017 16 puts.

Buying GE Calls into Earnings: On the day over 104,000 GE Oct 33 calls have traded hands most on one print of just under 88,000 with an additional 10,000 printing on another trade.

Big KGC Call Sale: Paper sold 23,300 KGC Aug 5 calls at .76, which is likely closing a nice win from when they bought 37,000  Aug 5 calls on May 31 for .30.

Big Sep Upside Calls Trade in KKR: 14000 KKR Sep 14 calls went up in 1 block on the AMEX marked price variation. 

October Calls Trade in AUY: 4807 AUY Oct 7 calls went up in 1 block on the CBOE marked price variation. 

Big Ratio Call Spreads in CNX: 10000/20000 CNX Aug 17/19 call spreads went up in 1 large blocks on the PHLX

YHOO Call Roll: This is a close and roll trade where a long call holder was repositioning their deltas.

Huge Tiny Put Trading in TAP: This appears to be the classic 'tiny put' sale where the customer is selling a far out of the money put, in this case over 40% in order to collect a small premium that is highly likely to land in his or her pocket. 

MRO Put 1-by-3: Paper bought 5k MRO Aug 15 puts & sold 15k Aug 14 puts for a credit of .85 per spread.

Strategy 101: Brought to you by TradeKing

TWTR Iron Condor

In Options Playbook Radio 98: TWTR Iron Condor, which was recorded on February 11th, 2016, we looked at an iron condor going into earnings. This is on page 126 of The Options Playbook, or you can always find it on OptionsPlaybook.com.

Specifically:

• Looking at a TWTR paper trade going into earnings (which, at the time of this recording, was going to be in 17 minutes)
• TWTR is at the highest IV it has ever been before earnings
• The long straddle is implying at least an 18% move in TWTR after earnings (non-directional)
• Setting up the trade
• Picking strikes
• Selecting the right expiration
• What is the net cost?
• What is the risk? Reward?
• What do we want to happen?

If you want to hear it for yourself, you can download it now.