Options Trading
What Can We Learn From Options Action In Altera $ALTR?
What Can We Learn From Options Action in $ALTR? As regular readers know, I spend a lot of time discussing large and unusual options trades. Generally speaking, you can gain quite a bit of insight based on what the smart money is doing in options. But what about options activity in general? Can overall options […]
Big TLT Options Trade Suggests Rates Are Going To Stay Low
Big TLT Options Trade Suggests Rates Are Going To Stay Low Large and unusual options trades don’t just give us clues on the possible direction of individual equities. The same theory can be applied on a macro level. For instance, a big options trade in a sector or country ETF may give us valuable information […]
How Is The VIX Reacting To The Fed Meeting?
How Is The VIX Reacting To The Fed Meeting? As an options trader, you can’t understate the importance of volatility. You don’t necessarily have to master the concept to be a good options trader. But, the more you know about the topic, the better off you tend to be. As you know, overall market volatility […]
Trading VXX Can Be Very Profitable
Trading VXX Can Be Very Profitable There are good reasons why trading iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) is extremely popular. With an average volume of nearly 50 million shares a day, both retail and institutional traders must be active in this ETN. As a quick refresher, VXX is a way to get […]
Buying A Call Option On First Solar (FSLR)
Buying A Call Option On First Solar (FSLR) Solar power can be an intriguing industry for investors. In some ways, it’s investing in technology. In other ways, it’s like buying a utility. The main thing to realize is we’re well past the days where solar power is developmental. For the most part, the small players […]
Using The Option Straddle
Using The Option Straddle Every earnings season I get questions about what option strategy to use. I hear things like, “What’s the best strategy to use to play earnings?” or “How do I use options to make money on earnings?” With options, there are always several right answers. However, for new traders, I usually recommend […]
Should You Be Trading VXX?
Should You Be Trading VXX? One of the primary themes I like to discuss on this site is volatility. After all, you shouldn’t be trading options if you don’t at least have a basic understanding of why volatility is important to the financial markets. So why is volatility important? In a nutshell, volatility is significant […]
What’s This Big VXX Trade Telling Us?
What’s This Big VXX Trade Telling Us? If you’re a regular reader of this site, you know I like to talk about VXX. VXX, or the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN, is one of the most popular exchange-traded products out there. As I’ve mentioned before, the average volume for VXX over the last […]
Buying A Call Option On Tesla (TSLA)
Buying A Call Option On Tesla Motors (TSLA) As we kick off 2015, I’m going to start by talking about one of the most successful and popular stocks of 2014. Of course, I’m talking about Tesla Motors (TSLA). If you aren’t familiar with TSLA, well, you’re probably living under a rock. By now, most of […]
Trading Options Outside The Box
Part of the challenge in making money trading options (or just in the financial markets in general) is the zero-sum game factor. That is, for every winning trade, there’s someone on the other side losing money. The problem is retail traders have to go up against huge trading firms and banks with endless resources. The […]
