The Option Block 819: A Benevolent Dictatorship

Today on The Option Block Mark, Uncle Mike, The Rock Lobster and the Last Emperor discuss:

The Trading Block

• Fidelity's Most Actives
• Options Market Most Actives
• Option Pit Stock of the Day:  Discussing back spreads in Weight Watchers - ticker WW

Odd Block

• CROX Call Love
• CHWY Earnings Calls
• TAL Earnings Puts

The Strategy Block

• The importance of liquidity in your strategy and underlying selections

Around the Block

• Fed, Fed and More Fed

TRADING BLOCK

We got a little bit of insight into the trade war - no new tariffs.

North Korea stole all the trade war thunder over the last weekend.

S&P had best June performance since 1955.

MU up around 6%

Financial (XLF) and China (FXI) ETF’s up on trade news and bank stock buyback announcements.

NVDA, MU, AMD, (Chip makers and trade talks) AMZN,& AAPL - no surprises, often on the list of most traded.

Most active indices - VIX: 366k, SPY: 1.7M, SPX, 720k

Most active equity options - AAPL, BABA, MU, TSLA, AMD, BAC, FB, NVDA, T, MSFT

ODD BLOCK

Covered calls in Element Solutions Inc (ESI)

Put love in Domtar Corp (UFS)

Call love in (BP)

MAIL BLOCK

Question from Fidelity Customer - I bought some puts for a hedge and now they’ve lost 90% of their value, should I just close them out?

Question from Jigs - What is the coolest tool that Fidelity offers for options traders?

Question from WAWL - I like when you guys talk old-school WWE on the show. I know the stock was one of the best performers of last year but is now about 30% off its high. How are the options shaping up these days? Also when are the mini metals making a comeback?

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week in the Market:

Jul 1 - Construction Spending

Jul 3 - International Trade, Jobless Claims, Factory Orders

Jul 5 - Unemployment, Fed Balance Sheet

TRADING BLOCK

BA, GBTC, AMD, BYND, MU and more

Most active indices: VIX - 246k, SPY - 849k, SPX - 448M

Most active equity options: AAPL, AMD, MU, BAC, BABA, TSLA, NVDA, FB, BA, INTC

Earnings:

Tuesday - FedEx, Lennar

Wednesday - General Mills, KB Home, Paychex, Rite Aid

Thursday - Nike, Walgreens Boots Alliance

Friday - Constellation Brands

ODD BLOCK

Call love in Vistra Energy Corp (VST)

Lits puts in Kroger Co (KR) - from May 20

Put love in Conagra Brands Inc (CAG)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses selling a short put spread vs. selling a levered OTM put

MAIL BLOCK

Question from Fidelity Customers - Everyone has implied volatility skew on the brain these days.

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week in the Market:

Jun 27 - Jobless Claims, GDP

Jun 28 - Personal Income, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

Market up and Vol up again too.

VIX - 15.5, VVIX - 82.5

Most active indices: VIX - 157k, SPY - 840k, SPX: 519k

Earnings:

Tuesday - FedEx, Lennar

Wednesday - General Mills, KB Home, Paychex, Rite Aid

Thursday - Nike, Walgreens Boots Alliance

Friday - Constellation Brands

ODD BLOCK

Covered calls in Caesars Entertainment Corporation (CZR) Long-term call love in Mallinckrodt PLC (MNK)

Call love in Laureate Education Inc (LAUR)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses box spreads

MAIL BLOCK

#QuestionoftheWeek: Let's play a guessing game. Which of the following names has the highest 30-day REALIZED volatility? No cheating. What does your gut tell you?

• 38% - $TSLA
• 30% - #BITCOIN
• 28% - #WTI #CRUDE OIL
• 4% - $QQQ

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week in the Market:

Jun 25 - New Home Sales, Consumer Confidence

Jun 26 - Durable Goods, International Trade

Jun 27 - Jobless Claims, GDP

Jun 28 - Personal Income, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

VIX -  14.3, 1-point lower than last show

VVIX - 82.8, Unchanged from last week

Most active indices - VIX: 310k, SPY: 2.5M, SPX: 1.1M

Most active equity options - GE, AAPL, TSLA, AMD, BAC, FB, BABA, ORCL, AMZN, MSFT

Just a reminder - SPY goes ex-div June 21

Earnings:

Tuesday - Adobe

Wednesday - Oracle, Barnes & Noble

Thursday - Kroger, Darden Restaurants (Yard House, Capital Grill, Seasons 52, Longhorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden)

Friday - Carmax

ODD BLOCK

July covered calls in Iqvia Holdings Inc (IQV)

Call love in Pure Storage Inc (PSTG)

Crushing puts below bid in Sea Ltd (SE) - from 4/22

MAIL BLOCK

#QuestionoftheWeek: Let's play a guessing game. Which of the following names has the highest 30-day REALIZED volatility? No cheating. What does your gut tell you? $TSLA #BITCOIN #CRUDEOIL #NASDAQ $QQQ #WTI

- $TSLA

- #BITCOIN

- #WTI #CRUDE OIL

- $QQQ

AROUND THE BLOCK

TRADING BLOCK

Most active indices: VIX - 287k, SPY - 846k, SPX - 446k

Most active equity options: FB, TSLA, DIS, AMD, AAPL, BYND, NFLX, BABA, CNX, AMZN

SPY goes ex-div on June 21

Option Pit Stock of the Week: Target

Earnings:

Tuesday - Adobe

Wednesday - Oracle, Barnes & Noble

Thursday - Kroger, Darden Restaurants

Friday - Carmax

ODD BLOCK

Lits puts in Enerplus Corp (ERF)

Call love in Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ)

Long-term puts in Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Konstantin discusses trading back spreads in a low volatility environment

MAIL BLOCK

#QuestionoftheWeek: Let's play a guessing game. Which of the following names has the highest 30-day REALIZED volatility? No cheating. What does your gut tell you?

- $TSLA

- #BITCOIN

- #WTI #CRUDE OIL

- $QQQ

AROUND THE BLOCK

TRADING BLOCK

VIX - 15.80, Still locked near the 16 handle

Most active indices - VIX - 240k, SPY - 804k, SPX - 333K,

Most active equity options: DIS, AAPL, AMD, TSLA, FB, LULU, GE, NFLX, AMZN, BABA 

SPY goes ex-div on June 21

Earnings:

Tuesday - Dave & Busters

Wednesday - Lululemon

Thursday - Broadcom

ODD BLOCK

Call love in Tellurian Inc (TELL)

Call love in EQT Corporation (EQT)

MAIL BLOCK

#Options #QuestionoftheWeek - #Bitcoin $BTC is hovering around $8500 right now. If you had to make a 1-month #options trade expiring 6/31 - would you rather...

- Buy $9000 Call

- Buy $8000 Put

- Sell $8000 Put

- Other - reply/dm w/strat

The hilarious story of /u/1R0NYMAN and Robin Hood.

SirSoliloquy - What's hilarious is that, with the way robinhood is set up, /u/1R0NYMAN was somehow able to cash out $10,000 of robinhood's money before everything disappeared. So robinhood lost hundreds of thousands, but /u/1RONYMAN gained thousands

TheRealOneTwo - Basically Robin hood screwed up. They were giving people leverage without margin. Basically saying you are good for $200k in trades though you only had $1k in the account. No agreement for a loan (margin). Trader was shortboxing and lost. The actual risk to him was nothing since he did not agree to a loan (will be determined by the SEC). Robin hood is on the hook for his losses. RH has since blocked shortboxing.

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week in the Market:

Jun 13 - Jobless Claims, Import and Export Prices

Jun 14 - Retail Sales, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

VIX : 16.2 

BYND has better than expected quarterly earnings

Most active indices: VIX - 312k, SPY - 1.35M, SPX - 547k

Most active equity options: AMD, AAPL, TSLA, FB, BABA, AMZN, MSFT, BAC, BYND, NFLX

Earnings:

Tuesday - Dave & Busters

Wednesday - Lululemon

Thursday - Broadcom

ODD BLOCK

Calls trade in QuinStreet Inc (QNST)

OTM puts in Coupa Software Inc (COUP)

Calls trade in Shutterfly, Inc (SFLY)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Colin Songer from Fidelity discusses selling box spreads.

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week in the Market:

Jun 10 - JOLTS

Jun 11 - PPI

Jun 12 - CPI, Treasury Budget

Jun 13 - Jobless Claims, Import and Export Prices

Jun 14 - Retail Sales, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

Option Pit Summit review

Most active indices: VIX - 242k, SPY - 3.27M, SPX - 1.28M

Most active equity options: AAPL, BAC, TSLA, AMD, NVDA, FB, BABA, PEP, ROKU, BIDU

OCC May volume up 13.1%

Earnings:

Thursday - Beyond Meat, Ciena

ODD BLOCK

Puts trade in Tesla Inc (TSLA)

Call love in Public Storage (PSA)

Call palooza in PG& E Corporation (PCG)

MAIL BLOCK

Live questions from the fans!

Question from Bertim3r - If I register for the archive of the option pit summit will the meatball send me a Gibson’s steak in the mail?

Question from Ali - What's the best time zone to buy protection on a stock?

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week in the Market:

Jun 6 - Productivity and Costs

Jun 7 - Unemployment

TRADING BLOCK

VIX : 17.5, VVIX: 92

Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Monday, June 3:  

1. Risk aversion escalates amid trade threats

2. Global manufacturing in contraction ahead of U.S. ISM

3. Apple preps for WWDC

4. Boeing warns of defective parts

5. Google slumps after network congestion caused outage

Earnings

Monday - Box

Tuesday - GameStop, salesforce

Wednesday - Stitch Fix, Campbell Soup Company, Vera Bradley, ABM

Thursday - Beyond Meat, Ciena

ODD BLOCK

Puts list in (GES)

Call love in (DOCU)

Below bid puts in Tallgrass Energy Lp (TGE)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Trey discusses lower cost alternatives when hedging

AROUND THE BLOCK