The Options Desk

The morning after the midterms: futures whipsawed down then sharply higher as Democrats were projected to take both chambers, AMD and Arista ripped after hours on record quarters, and Qualcomm, Arm and AppLovin report after today's close — a pre-market desk built around tonight's prints, defined risk first.

Setups: QCOM Nov 6 iron condor 145/135 put wing + 185/195 call wing into AMC earnings (implied ±9.5%); ARM Nov 6 iron condor 170/155 + 225/240; AMD Nov 20 520/560 bull call debit spread post-beat; SPY Nov 20 745/730 bear put hedge. Explainer: expected-move math — turning a straddle price into a strike map.

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.

Election Day pre-market edition: AMD reports after the close priced for a move of roughly 9 percent, Apple slides after beating its quarter on a margin warning, Palantir falls after a 96 percent revenue beat, and futures are mixed into the midterms, JOLTS and factory orders at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Setups: AMD Nov 6 iron condor 405/420 put wing and 520/535 call wing; AAPL Nov 20 325/305 bear put debit spread; PLTR Nov 20 170/195 bull call debit spread; SPY Nov 20 745/730 bear put election hedge. Plus the unusual-flow watchlist and the strategy explainer on volatility crush.

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.

Futures bounce after Friday's selloff into the heaviest week of the quarter: ISM manufacturing at 10 a.m., Apple and Palantir after the close, the midterms tomorrow and payrolls Friday. The desk works an Apple iron condor into its print, a Palantir bull call spread that respects its habit of outrunning the implied move, a SPY hedge held to November 20th, and an Exxon call spread following the call-heavy flow — plus the explainer on reading the implied move from the straddle and building a condor beyond it.

Setups: AAPL Nov 6 iron condor 330/320 puts + 365/375 calls · PLTR Nov 13 185/210 bull call spread · SPY Nov 20 750/735 bear put spread · XOM Nov 20 190/205 bull call spread · Explainer: the implied move and the condor beyond it.

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.

Sunday's Monday-eve edition: after Friday's selloff left the Nasdaq 100 flirting with correction territory, the desk sets up the heaviest week of the quarter — Palantir and Apple report Monday, the midterms land Tuesday, and the October jobs report closes the week on Friday.

Setups: PLTR Nov 6 iron condor (sell 160 put / buy 145 put, sell 210 call / buy 225 call) · AAPL Nov 13 350/370 bull call debit spread · SPY Nov 20 750/735 bear put debit spread · AMD Nov 6 500/470 bear put debit spread · QCOM on watch for Wednesday. Flow: QQQ Jun 2027 $680 puts ($123.4M) and Monday-expiry event positioning. Explainer: the long straddle and the volatility crush.

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.

Saturday week-ahead edition after Friday's rout, with the Nasdaq down 2.86 percent and Intel plunging 28.58 percent: four defined-risk setups for the week of November 2nd, Friday's unusual flow, and an iron condor explainer built on Palantir's Monday report.

Setups: AAPL Nov 6 350/365 bull call debit spread · SPY Nov 13 750/740 bear put debit spread · AMD Nov 6 490/460 bear put debit spread · QCOM Nov 13 170/185 bull call debit spread · Explainer: the iron condor, properly.

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.

The launch edition of The Options Desk: Thursday was a rotation day — tech sold off hard after Alphabet's worst day ever while health care, real estate, and energy held up — and the desk lines up defined-risk structures for Friday's open: Exxon Mobil's Nov 6 185/195 bull call debit spread into its before-the-bell earnings, Amazon's Nov 6 230/215 bear put debit spread on the post-earnings gap down, a SPY Nov 6 770/760 put debit spread as a priced hedge into a catalyst-stacked weekend, AbbVie's Nov 6 295/310 bull call debit spread into its print, and Intel on the watchlist with a conditional Nov 20 80/90 call spread — plus the unusual flow in CrowdStrike, Innodata, Xerox, and Insmed, and a full explainer on the vertical debit spread.

Setups: XOM Nov 6 185/195 call debit spread — AMZN Nov 6 230/215 put debit spread — SPY Nov 6 770/760 put debit spread hedge — ABBV Nov 6 295/310 call debit spread — INTC Nov 20 80/90 call debit spread (watchlist) — Flow: CRWD, INOD, XRX, INSM — Explainer: the vertical debit spread

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.

Tech gaps down on Amazon and Intel while energy takes the bid. Exxon Mobil and Chevron both beat before the bell, AbbVie jumps in the premarket, and the 8:30 a.m. Employment Cost Index hangs over every structure. Four defined-risk setups, the unusual-flow watchlist, and a full explainer on the bear put debit spread.

Setups: XOM Nov 13 185/195 bull call spread · CVX Nov 13 235/250 bull call spread · SPY Nov 6 760/750 bear put spread hedge · AMZN Nov 13 225/210 bear put spread. Explainer: the bear put debit spread, properly.

Education, not financial advice.

Part of the Curious & Creative network. Back tomorrow morning.