Trading Block featuring Matt "Tubby" Benson.

• VIX back in the 12 handle - is Fire and Fury over?
• Sept future down from 15.20 to 13.20
• FIZZ and the Cook County soda tax

Odd Block: Puts trade in Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN), risk reversal in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HPE), calls trade in Teradyne Inc. (TER).

Mail Block/Question of the Week:

Taking a break from #FireandFury & $VIX to talk #Earnings. Which #Options are you looking forward to trading this week?

• CSCO
• BABA
• HD
• WMT

Volatility Flash Poll:

$VIX Hit 16.17 Thursday. Is this the end of low #Volatility? Or a temporary blip? Which level will $VIX hit first?

• 51% - Serious Vol >20
• 28% - Sindle Digits
• 21% - Heck with it - I'm in Cash

Last Week's Question of the Week:

Which #Options Exchange or group has carved out the largest piece of the #Options market so far in 2017?

• 72% - CBOE/BATS
• 17% - NASDAQ
• 3% - NYSE
• 8% - MIAX & BOX

Listener Questions:

• Question from Richard D - Often on segments like the odd block or similar segments on your other shows you talk about someone going bullish or bearish on certain contracts. For example lets take the Tesla way OTM puts you have mentioned. You talk about someone wanting to be long those catastrophic Tesla puts, but for each trade there is some party taking the other side. Since there is always another party in these trades why isn't it the inverse analysis - in this case for example that someone really wants to sell way OTM TSLA puts? Thanks!
• Question from JDiggs - Is the convention for quoting spreads ITM strike then OTM strike? What about time spreads?

Around the Block: Earnings! Investigating Trump. North Korea. China.