The Option Block

Best Of The Option Block: Back To The Beginning

The markets are closed for President's day so the All-Star Panel gets a day off. But that doesn't mean you don't get a show! Join us for a trip down memory lane to the very first "sneak preview" episode of The Option Block from September 2010. Enjoy!

TRADING BLOCK

Another mixed day of the street.

EA bouncing back after Fortnite crash and Apex rally.

Earning Highlights this Week:

Monday - Aurora Cannabis (ACB)

Tuesday - Activision Blizzard

Wednesday - Cisco

Thursday - Nvidia, The Coca-Cola Company, CME Group, Cannabis Growth (CGC), Applied Materials

Friday - PepsiCo

ODD BLOCK

Near-term ITM call love in Electronic Arts Inc (EA)

Call love in CBS Corporation Common Stock (CBS)

More paper trading in Centurylink Inc (CTL)

MAIL BLOCK #QOTW - $VXX is dead! Long Live $VXXB! There's a (somewhat) new kid on the #Volatility trading block. Are you trading $VXXB #options yet? If not, how are you getting your #Volatility fix these days? $VIX $TVIX $SVXY

- Yes: Jumped into $VXXB

- No: Spreads are too wide

- No: Prefer $TVIX, etc

- No: Prefer $VIX #options

Question from Dave B. - Hi, I have a question about what is the best strategy to use for my trading system. I typically am only right on about three or four trades out of every 10 with long stock. The trades that I am wrong on, I take a small loss - somewhere between 5 to 10% but only 1-2% of the total capital as I typically take 10% positions. The trades that I am right on, I typically make 50% up to 200% over a 3 to 12 month period. I want to find an options strategy to increase returns via leverage, but keep total portfolio risk per trade about the same. Would DITM calls or spreads make sense to you? Or is there another strategy I could (should) consider. Thank you! Dave B. Sent from my iPhone

Question from LLAZ - What do you think of call verticals in $USO here? Maybe 3-month 5 or 10% otm? Worth financing with a put?

Question from DaQuinta - I've been lured in by the ongoing selloff in crude oil and I'm thinking about setting up a longer-term stock replacement strategy in the USO ETF. I have a couple of questions:

A.) With $USO dropping below $11 is it even worth doing or should I just buy the shares instead? Is there a certain threshold where stock replacement stops making sense?

B.) My proposed construction is an almost six-month strategy with July 8 Calls for $3.10. So my outlay for 100 shares is $3100 versus $10,800.

C. Is it even worth selling a Jan 11.5 call and limiting all of my upside just to collect $.15 or should I keep it open from here?

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week's Economic Reports

Feb 15: Import and Export Prices, Industrial Production, Business Inventories, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

Earnings Highlights this Week:

Monday - Aurora Cannabis (ACB)

Tuesday - Activision Blizzard

Wednesday - Cisco

Thursday - Nvidia, The Coca-Cola Company, CME Group, Cannabis Growth (CGC), Applied Materials

Friday - PepsiCo

Pot, soda and videogame earnings are on Wall Street's to-do list - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/weed-soda-and-videogames-are-on-wall-streets-to-do-list-2019-02-09

ODD BLOCK

Size paper trading in SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explore & Prod. (XOP)

Put palooza in Centurylink Inc (CTL)

Call palooza in Sangamo Therapeutics Inc (SGMO)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses the dangers of over trading.

MAIL BLOCK #QOTW - $VXX is dead! Long Live $VXXB! There's a (somewhat) new kid on the #Volatility trading block. Are you trading $VXXB #options yet? If not, how are you getting your #Volatility fix these days? $VIX $TVIX $SVXY

- Yes. Jumped into $VXXB

- No. Spreads are too wide

- No. Prefer $TVIX, etc

- No. Prefer $VIX #options

Question from JVacx - Whatever happened to the $TSLA 50 put holders? Did they close out? Did they roll? Are they still slinging puts?

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week's Economic Reports

Feb 12: JOLTS

Feb 13: CPI

Feb 14: PPI, Jobless Claims

Feb 15: Retail Sales, Import and Export Prices, Industrial Production, Business Inventories, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

More Earnings Highlights This Week:

Monday - Clorox, Sysco

Tuesday - Walt Disney Company, Snap Inc., BP, TakeTwo, Electronic Arts, Viacom,

Wednesday - GM, Lilly, Spotify

Thursday - Twitter, WWE, Mattel, Grubhub

Friday - Cboe, Exelon, Hasbro

ODD BLOCK

Upside calls in Mohawk Industries, Inc. (MHK)

Calls trade in QuinStreet Inc (QNST)

Puts trade in KAR Auction Services Inc (KAR)

MAIL BLOCK #QOTW - With everyone still shaking off #SuperBowl haze, let's start the week by applying your trading mindset to next season. If you had to buy a call on one team to make it into next year's big game - which team are you buying? Feeling another team - let us know below.

- Patriots

- Rams

- Bears (legally obligated)

- Saints

Question from T Mal - Thoughts on the best options trading platform if most don't do it right?

AROUND THE BLOCK

TRADING BLOCK

Are we out of correction? You betcha!

OCC January volume down 11.9% after record-breaking 2018

Earnings Highlights this week:

Monday - Clorox, Sysco

Tuesday - Walt Disney Company, Snap Inc., BP, ADM, Electronic Arts, Viacom,

Wednesday - GM, Lilly, Spotify

Thursday - Twitter, WWE, Mattel

Friday - Cboe, Exelon, Hasbro

ODD BLOCK

Harvesting the risk premium in Plains GP Holdings LP (PAGP)

Call palooza in Mattel, Inc. (MAT)

Harvesting more risk premium in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses adjustments to a bullish butterfly and "line-in-the-sand" trades.

MAIL BLOCK #QOTW - With everyone still shaking off #SuperBowl haze, let's start the week by applying your trading mindset to next season. If you had to buy a call on one team to make it into next year's big game - which team are you buying? Feeling another team - let us know below.

- Patriots - Rams - Bears (legally obligated) - Saints

AROUND THE BLOCK

TRADING BLOCK

Apple earnings: Did they do the right thing by pre-announcing the bad earnings? Earnings Highlights:

Monday - Caterpillar (before bell), Whirlpool (after bell)

Tuesday - AMD, Apple, eBay, Harley-Davidson, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Verizon, 3M

Wednesday - Alibaba, AT&T, Boeing, Facebook, McDonalds, Microsoft, PayPal, Tesla, Visa

Thursday - Amazon, GE, MasterCard, Sprint, UPS

Friday - Chevron, ExxonMobil, Honeywell, Sony

ODD BLOCK

Opening call love in Dropbox Inc (DBX)

Opening line-in-the-sand puts in General Electric Company (GE)

Below bid puts in Tallgrass Energy LP (TGE)

MAIL BLOCK

#QOTW: It's that time again - #EarningsSeason! This week is a hot one! Which of the big #Tech names reporting are you most excited to trade in your #options account? Did we leave out your favorite? Let us know below.

- $AMZN

- $FB

- $AAPL

- $MSFT Question from Jarryd Smith - I have a question for the podcast that, as a long-suffering Bills fan, I hope a long-suffering Bill can answer. I wouldn't turn down the greasy meatball, though. What is meant by 'the tent'? For example, stop the trade when it exits 'the tent'. Let's use an ATM Butterfly. Is it the ending 'tent', when at the end of the trade it would a max-loss? Or the end of the trade that would still be a profit? Or something else? For example, if I had a 100/150/200 ATM Butterfly on for $25, would I exit if it hit 100 or 200? Or 125/175? Or something else? Thanks!

Comment from David Lincoln - $NVDA and although it is not a tech stock I am still on that $TLRY kick.... Comment from FContangotrader - Check out $AAPL OI 215 and 210 put strikes

Comment from J3dingle - I'm going to leave a bad review for your pronunciation (Vale)!

Question from AllOrNothingRookieJan - $FB bought 2700 shares yesterday before ER......do I hold or lock in some profit guys?????...I'm thinking of moving it all over to amazon and seeing if I'm still lucky….I wish I could do Options but I don't know enough and heard I can lose all my money?

AROUND THE BLOCK

Economic Reports This Week -

Feb 1: Unemployment, Construction Spending, Consumer Sentiment

TRADING BLOCK

Caterpillar missed its market expectations

NVDA off 15% VALE S.A. estimated to report earnings on Feb 26

Earnings Highlights:

Tuesday - AMD, Apple, eBay, Harley-Davidson, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Verizon, 3M

Wednesday - Alibaba, AT&T, Boeing, Facebook, McDonalds, Microsoft, PayPal, Tesla, Visa

Thursday - Amazon, GE, MasterCard, Sprint, UPS

Friday - Chevron, ExxonMobil, Honeywell, Sony

ODD BLOCK

Put love in Digital RLTY (DLR)

Harvesting premium in Yum China Holdings Inc (YUMC)

Harvesting 1-year premium in Iron Mountain Inc (IRM)

STRATEGY BLOCK

Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses options buying power

MAIL BLOCK

#QOTW: It's that time again - #EarningsSeason! This week is a hot one! Which of the big #Tech names reporting are you most excited to trade in your #options account? Did we leave out your favorite? Let us know below. $AMZN $FB $AAPL $MSFT

- $AMZN

- $FB

- $AAPL

- $MSFT

AROUND THE BLOCK

This Week's Economic Reports

Jan 29: International Trade, Consumer Confidence

Jan 30: GDP, FOMC Meeting

Jan 31: Jobless Claims

Feb 1: Unemployment, Construction Spending, Consumer Sentiment

In this episode, Mark, Uncle Mike and the Rock Lobster discuss:

Trading Block

• LUV, JBLU, XLNX, INTC Earnings
• VIX
• AAPL
• Today's most active options
• and more..

Odd Block

Unusual options activity in

• PAH
• AVP
• SPWR

Strategy Block

Uncle Mike talks stock replacement strategies.

Mail Block

Your 5,4 and 1 star Itunes reviews.

Around the Block

Anything but macro...

The Option Block 774: Time to Dance Once again

• HOST: MARK LONGO, THE OPTIONS INSIDER
• CO-HOST: ANDREW GIOVINAZZI/MARK SEBASTIAN, OPTION PIT
• CO-HOST: MIKE TOSAW, ST. CHARLES WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Trading Block

• We discuss AAPL, VIX, SPY and more

Odd Block

Today's tickers:

• TRU
• SIG
• KEY

Strategy Block

• How to manage a covered call portfolio.

Mail Block

• You guys have puts and stocks on the brain this week.

Around the Block

• Looking ahead to earnings in GS, BAC, BNY, JPM, NFLX and more...

The Option Block 773: Getting Gossipy Live With The Rock Lobster

In this episode Mark is joined live in the studio by the Greasy Meatball AND the Rock Lobster (along with Uncle Mike beaming in from St. Charles). Gossipy madness ensues...