Option Block 153: Facebook Faceplant Trading Block: The market had no real direction. The Euro got crushed and bonds had the only give back of the day. Sebastian looks at the correlation between TLT and VIX. Commodities rundown featuring gold, crude oil and natural gas. Xpress Block: Going over the tumultuous week/weekend of Facebook. What was the environment like over at OX? The financial media had a field day with the Facebook IPO. Going over the valuation of Facebook and the upcoming options on the 29th. Around the Block: Breaking news: On May 31st, the CBOE will extend the listings of their PM settled, SPX end of week options to include the following expirations: June 8th, June 22nd and July 6th. Keeping an eye on the crude inventories report. A long three-day weekend coming up.

Option Block 152: Facebook: Buy, Sell, or Wait for Options? Trading Block: Not a great day on the market, NASDAQ down significantly. The big grind toward summer begins, almost an exact replay on last year. OTM premium looks like a good buy. A rundown of commodities - gold is still getting whipped. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Elan Pharmaceuticals, and Clean Energy (CLNE). Strategy Block: Facebook’s official price is $38, buy or sell? How high could this stock possibly go? Around the Block: Looking at Sears trading tomorrow after earnings today. The TLT may likely continue to go higher. More uneasiness in Greece. May we hit a temporary bottom tomorrow?

Option Block 151: The After-Hours Trading Debate Trading Block: Groupon earnings after the close, up by just a dollar. Red throughout most of the commodities today. Zynga had a little pop on the heels of the Facebook IPO news. Much like GRPN, a lot of legging opportunities. Ford re-tracing some of it lows in the recent months. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Groupon, Inc. (GRPN), Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. (DLTR), and Chico’s FAS, Inc. (CHS). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes the OX hot seat and discusses Facebook - options on Facebook will be available about 2-5 days after the IPO. Mail Block: Email question from Todd Dusaign: “I saw the article in FT this morning with Mark discussing the need for an after-hours order book for retail options traders. I also saw that the guy from CBOE thought that such a thing would require market makers to maintain tight markets, but doesn’t that miss Mark’s entire point? Couldn’t this be done just with a basic limit order book like in the stock market or am I missing something?” Around the Block: GRPN rallied a bit up to $13.25. Still keeping an eye on Greece. UN summit on its way to Chicago.

Option Block 150: I'm a Trader, Not a Miracle Worker

Trading Block: Cisco moving to the downside again after disappointing earnings. Priceline brought in a lot of calls to OX after they missed their earnings mark. New tools, provided by CME, are planned to help traders spot arb opportunities between ETF options and futures options. CBOE looking at creating an Apple VIX product. Activision posts modest earnings - stock relatively unchanged.

Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Cisco (CSCO): Bulls piling into risk reversals. TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX): Sizable short put spread. And an April 19 activity review: A burst of call buying on CBS Corp. Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses the importance of futures and last trading day. Have a plan, and be prepared. Strategy Block: The baton gets passed to Mr. Lobster, Andrew Giovannazi, to discuss buying options and spreads before earnings.

Around the Block: Nvidia before the bell tomorrow morning. Groupon 5/14-- Lots of interest in this one. Vol is high, attracting premium sellers en masse.

Option Block 149: Beignets, Chicory Coffee, and Facebook Trading Block: Markets marginally changed. Thoughts on the Bloomberg article comparing it to the Markit CDX North America High Yield Index. The European issues continue. Post-elections reactions. Keeping an eye on EA after hours. Odd Block: Interesting and unusual activity in iStar Financial Inc. (SFI). Xpress Block: John Grigus discusses the grains contracts. There's been quite a hubbub between ICE and the CME. Plus, the Facebook IPO. Listener Mail: Twitter question from Jon Weitzel - What do you think about playing Jun 16 Calls with EA through their earnings? ATM straddle = $1.60. Also, the Facebook IPO coming out soon. Around the Block: Loads of earnings on the horizon: Groupon 5/14, Disney 5/8, Activision & Cisco 5/9, Nvidia 5/11, and Tesla Motors 5/9.

Option Block 148: Bizarro Day Trading Block: Preparing for Non-farms tomorrow. Now is a great time to get out of any short premium, if it's for a small price, and moving into long VIX calls. Gold got smacked out today. Natural gas up while oil and coal and both down. Odd Block: Interesting and usual activity in Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), Green Mountain Coffee Roaster (GMCR), and earnings plays in LinkedIn (LNKD) and First Solar (FSLR). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses the broker as a tool. Know what you're getting into, have your information prepared, as most important of all, listen to your broker. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw tells a story involving the Simulated Index Concept. Moral "Is the risk justified in the decision that you're making, with the trade you're making." Around the Block: A very short block today. Looking forward to Non-Farm payrolls.

Option Block 147: Is ZYNGA the Synthetic Facebook? Trading Block: Most of the bleeding in the NASDAQ came from Apple, down again, and having trouble holding its highs. Denny's earning after the bell. Odd Block: Interesting and usual activity in Manitowoc Company, Inc. (MTW), and Warner Chilcott LTD (WCRX). Xpress Block: John Grigus discusses the integration of Charles Schwab and optionsXpress and the new “money move" feature. They’re also getting some calls about Facebook, ie., when does the IPO go public? What might its opening price be on its first day of trading? Around the Block: TLT and its reaction to Europe. An update on Denny's. Non-farm payrolls on Friday. OIC in New Orleans this week.

Option Block 146: The Art of Position Management Trading Block: Apple, Apple, Apple! Off to the upside post earnings after getting beaten up last week. Waiting for Zenga and Amazon earnings after the bell. Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Skullcandy, Inc. (SKUL), Aetna (AET), and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike discusses his recent moves and strategy with Apple within the last week. Around the Block: Earnings Update: Amazon off to the races, Zenga unchanged. Ford before the bell tomorrow. Eastman/Kodak earnings too, but it’s trading at $0.28.

Option Block 145: What’s the Point of Open Interest? Trading Block: The term structure of the VIX was today's worst enemy. Netflix, the widowmaker, reporting after the bell, and exhibiting its typical bad behavior. Apple seems stuck in the $570 range going into earnings. Revisiting a question from last week, what account size do you need to really trade Apple effectively? Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM), IAC Interactive Corp. (IACI), and Old Fields Ltd (GFI). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses earnings and some of the things you may want to be concerned about when trading options going into earnings. Mail Block: Email question from Dan Tolefi, Vancouver, BC. I know that you guys regularly disdain buying premium ahead of earnings. But what are some scenarios where you would actually consider going long options going into earning. Bear in mind that I don't have the capital, or really the sophistication to delta hedge my positions. So I'm not going to be able to lock in "cheap" Vol. So I'm really looking for scenarios that would be suitable for the active retail audience. Via the Options Insider forum from Delta Trader. What is the point of open interest? Mark and Andrew were pretty dismissive of using open interest to inform your options trading on a recent episode of The Option Block. My question is if you're not supposed to use OI to inform your options trading, then what is it good for? Around the Block: The big news is Apple earnings tomorrow. Will the continued decline in Apple have a continued affect across the broad market? Andrew's favorite, Zenga, reports earnings on 4/26. Also, Amazon 4/26, Ford 4/27, AMZN 4/26, and F 4/27.

Option Block 144: Walking into the Bandsaw of Theta Trading Block: Tosaw's run with Apple may be on its last legs. Loads of earnings after the close: NOT AAPL, but AMD, Bank of America (BOA), and Microsoft (MSFT). Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity inPandora Media, Inc. (P), CBS Corp. (CBS), and EXCO Resources, Inc. (XCO). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi discusses being prepared for expiration and keeping an eye on your position during price swing movements. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses how to get back into a stock once you have been called out of it. Around the Block: More earnings coming up.