I was perusing the market for cheap options in case the European financial contagion continues to worsen, and I found my trade in the most unlikely of places: Canada. My first job as a trader was … [Read more...]
2nd Trade Update OXY: Closing Put Spread for $2.70 Gain
12:39 pm EDT - May 31, 2012 By Enis
Trade Update, May 31st at 12:45 pm: OXY is retesting its recent lows again today with crude selling off, and it bounced at the important $78 level for the second time, so I am going to take this … [Read more...]
What’s the Story? Data
9:12 am EDT - May 31, 2012 By CC
Bloomberg The U.S. economy grew more slowly in the first quarter than previously estimated, reflecting smaller gains in inventories and bigger government cutbacks. Gross domestic product climbed … [Read more...]
Chart of the Day – Summer 2008 Remix
7:32 am EDT - May 31, 2012 By Enis
The past month feels eerily similar to mid-summer 2008. But it's a bit of a remix. Back then, I remember quite vividly, many investors acknowledged that the U.S. banking system and housing market … [Read more...]
New Trade MS- Black Swan Edition: 10 to 1 Risk/Reward Ratio Spread
1:59 pm EDT - May 30, 2012 By Enis
I will be talking about MS on Talking Numbers between 3:20 and 3:30 pm on the Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo. Putting all the other fundamentals in MS aside (Facebook fiasco, JPM whale causing … [Read more...]
Trade Update – TLT Call Spread, Selling Half for Close to a Double
9:14 am EDT - May 30, 2012 By Enis
Trade Update 09:37 AM EDT - MAY 30, 2012 TLT finally broke to all-time highs today, as it had tested that level a few times in the past couple weeks, but today is the clean breakout above 125. … [Read more...]
MorningWord 5/30/12: One Hand Has to Wash the Other
9:12 am EDT - May 30, 2012 By Dan
MorningWord: 5/30/12: I like technicians, I really do, I have some good friends who made great careers gleaning things from squiggly lines that strategists, analysts, pm's and traders are unable … [Read more...]
What’s the Story? Eurotrashed
8:50 am EDT - May 30, 2012 By CC
WSJ European markets pared some losses but remained broadly lower as Spain's banking crisis intensified. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.6%, but had been down 1.5% earlier in the … [Read more...]
Chart of the Day – Spanish Inquisition
6:58 am EDT - May 30, 2012 By Enis
I generally try to avoid joining the media frenzy around a particular market topic because the media tends to distract me from the "real" story in many cases. Today I am making an exception. The … [Read more...]
New Trade (FB): We Wouldn’t Buy Facebook Stock, But We Bought This Ratio Call Spread
12:12 pm EDT - May 29, 2012 By Dan
Options on Facebook started trading this morning and the action so far has been fairly brisk. As of noon, over 135,000 total options contracts have traded (58.5k calls & 77.5k puts), while the … [Read more...]
MorningWord 5/29/12: While the Cat’s Away, the Mouse Will Play
9:15 am EDT - May 29, 2012 By Dan
MorningWord: 5/29/12: It was a relatively quiet weekend, with the most market moving news coming out of Greece (shocker), as multiple polls showing the New Democracy party back in front (ahead of … [Read more...]
What’s the Story? Spain, China.
8:43 am EDT - May 29, 2012 By CC
Reuters Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, indicating a rally in equities may continue after their first weekly gain since April, on hopes China may unleash more spending measures and Greek … [Read more...]
Chart of the Day – Beware Options Time Decay
7:38 am EDT - May 29, 2012 By Enis
My focus in the last week has been internally debating what to do with my many long June options. I have expressed a variety of views through June premium (the largest position in my personal … [Read more...]
Ask Us Anything
12:45 am EDT - May 29, 2012 By CC
May 19: I'm looking for a move in gold and I am thinking about a 160/170 or a 170/180 call spead. I was wondering if you could look at the option chain and see if anything jumps out at you. -TL The … [Read more...]
MorningWord 5/31/12: May We Remember
MorningWord: 5/31/12: May 2012 started off with the increasingly familiar question asked by many market pundits heading into the guts of the second quarter, "Sell in May and go Away?" For the last … [Read more...]