In this episode of Volatility Views, hosts Mark Longo, Russell Rhoads, and Mark Sebastian discuss the unusual market behavior of a Friday sell-off after a week of bullish momentum. They analyze the reasons behind the market's sudden shift to the red, including a surprising reaction to recent Fed commentary and pre-holiday weekend risk management. The show delves into the VIX and VIX futures curve, highlighting unusual calendar spreads and a large-volume trade in out-of-the-money October calls. The hosts also review volatility ETPs like SVIX, UVIX, and UVXY, noting the "air pocket" between futures and cash that benefits inverse volatility products. The show concludes with their "Crystal Ball" predictions for the following week's VIX level.

• 2:02: The Volatility Review

• 2:15: Market sell-off and VIX pop

• 3:50: Mark Sebastian's market commentary

• 7:46: Russell Rhoads market commentary

• 11:59: VIX futures curve analysis

• 13:58: Russell Rhoads analysis of the back end of the curve

• 16:30: VIX options trading

• 18:50: Russell's Weekly Rundown of specific trades

• 22:56: Discussion of the "I Can't Drive 55" trades (wild out-of-the-money calls)

• 24:28: Most active VIX options for the week

• 30:57: Mark Sebastian's key takeaways from VIX options activity

• 32:00: Inverse Volatility ETFs (SVIX and VYLD)

• 34:55: UVIX and UVXY analysis

• 37:25: The Crystal Ball segment (VIX predictions)

• 40:50: Russell and Mark's final thoughts

On this midday Friday, August 29th edition of the Hot Options Report, the hosts cover a day of market sell-offs across the major indices. The VIX is up, reflecting increased volatility, with significant activity in its October 31 calls. The show breaks down the top tickers seeing explosive options action, with a notable theme being the aggressive buying of out-of-the-money calls in major tech names like TSLA and NVDA, despite the overall market downtrend. The top 10 single-name stocks are dominated by companies with recent earnings reports, including Marvell (MRVL) and Baba (BABA). The episode wraps up by noting the need for a significant market reversal in the second half of the day for many of these bullish bets to pay off.

Time Stamp

• 2:30: VIX 

• 3:46: SPY 

• 4:57: SPX 

• 6:05: IWM 

• 7:12: Q's (QQQ) 

• 8:20: Top 10 Single Names

• 8:55: Marvell (MRVL) - #10 

• 10:00: Weebull (BULL) - #9 

• 11:27: MicroStrategy (MSTR) - #8 

• 12:52: Palantir (PLTR) - #7 

• 14:14: AMD - #6 

• 15:15: Apple (AAPL) - #5 

• 16:03: Open (OPEN) - #4 

• 17:34: Baba (BABA) - #3 

• 18:55: Tesla (TSLA) - #2 

• 20:25: Nvidia (NVDA) - #1 

• 22:00: Closing 

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All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Options trading entails significant risk and is not appropriate for all investors.  Customers must read and understand the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before considering any options strategy.  Options investors can rapidly lose the value of their investment in a short period of time and incur permanent loss by expiration date. Certain complex options strategies carry additional risk, including the potential for losses that may exceed the original investment amount, and are only available for qualified customers.  Index options have special features and fees that should be carefully considered, including settlement, exercise, expiration, tax, and cost characteristics.  See Fee Schedule for all options trading fees. There are additional costs associated with option strategies that call for multiple purchases and sales of options, such as spreads, straddles, among others, as compared with a single option trade. Rebate rates vary monthly from $0.06-$0.18 and depend on the particular security, whether the trade was placed via API, as well as your current and prior month’s options trading volume. Review Options Rebate Terms here. Rates are subject to change. Go to public.com/optionsbrief to learn more.

This episode of "This Week in Futures Options" (TWIFO) focuses on the week's top movers in the futures options market. Mark Longo breaks down the Movers and Shakers report, highlighting a week with a slight bias toward green, but with the largest percentage moves on the dark side. The show also takes a deep dive into the volatility of various markets and discusses the trading activity in natural gas, nicknamed "the widowmaker." The episode concludes with a discussion about the future of crypto derivatives and the debate between cash-settled and physically settled contracts.

Time Stamps

4:16 Movers & Shakers this Week

10:37 Volatility Report (CVOL)

14:38 Featured Segment: Nat Gas - "The Widowmaker"

22:38 Listener Question: Is Physical Settlement Dead

A respectable, but not explosive day in the options market, with volumes generally a bit below their average daily volume (ADV). The market is still in the "dog days of summer," which can often lead to lighter trading. Today's action was influenced by NVIDIA's earnings report, a known market-moving event.

Time Stamps

• 0:00 - Welcome and Introduction

• 1:46 - VIX

• 2:50 - SPY

• 3:32 - SPX

• 4:22 - Small Caps (IWM)

• 5:08 - The Qs (QQQ)

• 6:07 - Single Names

• 6:50 - #10 - Amazon (AMZN)

• 7:57 - #9 - Alphabet (GOOGL)

• 8:48 - #8 - Barrick Gold (B)

• 10:33 - #7 - Snowflake (SNOW)

• 11:51 - #6 - AMD

• 12:50 - #5 - SoFi (OPEN)

• 13:58 - #4 - Palantir (PLTR)

• 14:49 - #3 - Apple (AAPL)

• 15:43 - #2 - Tesla (TSLA)

• 16:51 - #1 - NVIDIA (NVDA)

• 18:18 - Conclusion

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All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Options trading entails significant risk and is not appropriate for all investors.  Customers must read and understand the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before considering any options strategy.  Options investors can rapidly lose the value of their investment in a short period of time and incur permanent loss by expiration date. Certain complex options strategies carry additional risk, including the potential for losses that may exceed the original investment amount, and are only available for qualified customers.  Index options have special features and fees that should be carefully considered, including settlement, exercise, expiration, tax, and cost characteristics.  See Fee Schedule for all options trading fees. There are additional costs associated with option strategies that call for multiple purchases and sales of options, such as spreads, straddles, among others, as compared with a single option trade. Rebate rates vary monthly from $0.06-$0.18 and depend on the particular security, whether the trade was placed via API, as well as your current and prior month’s options trading volume. Review Options Rebate Terms here. Rates are subject to change. Go to public.com/optionsbrief to learn more.

On this episode of The Option Block, Mark Longo is joined by Uncle Mike Tosaw from St. Charles Wealth Management and Henry "The Flowmaster" Schwartz from Cboe. They discuss the unexpected and muted reaction to Nvidia's earnings, the current state of the market, and the ideal trading conditions for investors. The panel also breaks down unusual options activity in a few unique single names and dives into a lively Mail Block discussion about the VIX and crypto derivatives.

(04:54) - The Trading Block

• The panel discusses the surprising lack of volatility following Nvidia's earnings, despite high expectations and a large straddle pricing.

• The S&P 500 is up over 10% year-to-date, but the market feels subdued with low volatility and a steady, upward "trudge". Uncle Mike notes this is his "ideal market": boring and making new all-time highs.

• Technology and energy are the only sectors showing significant movement, with many others "taking the day off."

• The VIX is "hunching" at 14.25, with respectable options volume. SPY and SPX also have decent, though not record-breaking, paper on the tape.

• The hosts review the most active single names, including Snowflake's (SNOW) earnings pop, Retti (RETI), and Palantir (PLTR), which continues its pattern of aggressive early-session sell-offs followed by a late-session rebound.

• A quick recap of earnings moves in names like Best Buy, Burlington, Five Below, and Dell, with many straddles underpricing the actual moves.

(22:38) - The Odd Block

• Onas Holdings (ONDS)

• Braze, Inc. (BRZE)

• Westrock PLC (SW)

(35:54) - The Mail Block

• Audience Polls: Mark shares the results of recent listener polls, revealing that most listeners were not comfortable buying the S&P at its current level and that a large majority would prefer to buy rather than sell the VIX December 15 puts.

• VIX Debate: The show's central question: which level will the VIX hit first, 12 or 20? Both Uncle Mike and the Flowmaster believe the VIX will touch 12 first, driven by the ongoing bull market and low realized volatility, but they both note the high potential for a sudden, unexpected spike.

• Crypto Derivatives: A discussion on the future of crypto contracts, with a poll showing an overwhelming preference for cash-settled contracts over physically settled ones, due to simplicity and a desire to avoid dealing with the underlying assets.

(44:54) - Around the Block 

• What to Watch: The hosts share what they'll be watching until the next episode, including the S&P 500's attempt to break 6,500, the post-earnings action in Nvidia and Dell, and the overall macroeconomic picture as traders return from summer vacations.

On this episode, Mark is joined by 

• Abhishek Fatehpuria, VP of Product Management - Robinhood

They discuss Robinhood's new offerings for active options traders and explore whether the firm is ready to take on high-end options clients?

Welcome to The Futures Rundown, the show where we break down all the action in the futures markets. In this episode, we're giving you a special early edition to catch up on all the week's biggest moves. We’ll analyze the top movers to the upside and downside, reveal the most actively traded contracts, and dive deep into a crypto futures product that surprised even our hosts.

Timestamps

• 2:05 The Trading Pit: A rundown of this week's top movers.
• 2:26 Winners of the week
• 3:27 Losers of the week
• 4:28 Most Active Contracts
• 7:22 Year-to-Date trends: The biggest losers of the year
• 8:20 Year-to-Date trends: The biggest winners of the year
• 10:18 Answering a listener question about XRP futures.

In this episode, our hosts Mark Longo and Dan Passarelli dive into listener questions and hot topics shaping the options market. They break down a recent VIX trade, discuss the fascinating and volatile world of a popular new options stock, and answer a question about the increasing prevalence of exotic "event markets" on brokerage platforms.

Timestamps

• 4:21 Mailbag: A review of a recent VIX flash poll. 
• 5:34 The final outcome of the VIX 25 calls.
• 7:18 OPEN stock volatility and listener trades.
• 9:53 Results of a flash poll on trading OPEN.
• 11:00 The question of the week: Are you comfortable buying and holding the SPX right now?
• 13:41 Market Taker Question of the Week: How special cash dividends can lead to strike price adjustments, using an example from Pilgrim's Pride.
• 16:47 Listener question on the possibility of exotic options on major brokerage platforms.
• 21:48 Listener question about the rise of "event markets" (football binaries) on brokerage platforms.

Brian Overby is back with a great NVDA options play.

Welcome to the Hot Options Report for Wednesday, August 27th. In this special midday report, we dive into the day's most active options, analyzing the top tickers and notable trends. The broad market is in a modest rally, but volatility and specific stocks are showing interesting activity. Today's show covers the highlights in VIX, SPY, SPX, and the top 10 most active stocks, including the highly anticipated action in Nvidia ahead of its earnings report.

Timestamps

• 1:17 VIX Market Activity
• 2:07 SPY Market Activity
• 2:54 SPX Market Activity
• 3:35 Small Caps Market Activity
• 4:15 QQQ Market Activity
• 5:10 Top 10 Options Overview
• 5:50 SoFi (#10)
• 6:45 Robinhood (#9)
• 7:42 Intel (#8)
• 8:20 AMD (#7)
• 9:03 Apple (#6)
• 10:04 Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) (#5)
• 11:06 Open (#4)
• 11:58 Palantir (#3)
• 12:51 Tesla (#2)
• 13:38 Nvidia (#1)

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All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Options trading entails significant risk and is not appropriate for all investors.  Customers must read and understand the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before considering any options strategy.  Options investors can rapidly lose the value of their investment in a short period of time and incur permanent loss by expiration date. Certain complex options strategies carry additional risk, including the potential for losses that may exceed the original investment amount, and are only available for qualified customers.  Index options have special features and fees that should be carefully considered, including settlement, exercise, expiration, tax, and cost characteristics.  See Fee Schedule for all options trading fees. There are additional costs associated with option strategies that call for multiple purchases and sales of options, such as spreads, straddles, among others, as compared with a single option trade. Rebate rates vary monthly from $0.06-$0.18 and depend on the particular security, whether the trade was placed via API, as well as your current and prior month’s options trading volume. Review Options Rebate Terms here. Rates are subject to change. Go to public.com/optionsbrief to learn more.