Tuesday, December 24, 2024
The market may have been selling off last week, but it didn’t stop gold miners from catching a bid. In fact, VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) was up over 7% one day last week when one of its major component companies posted better than expected earnings. GDX traded over 300,000 options that day, with 76% […]
Tech stocks have the started the new year with elevated volatility and quite a bit of selling pressure. The most popular tech index, Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), is down 5% for the year and has seen a handful of large percentage moves already. One strategist is looking to take advantage of the volatility by using […]
With earnings season coming up, we’re seeing some unusual action in big bank options. The expected rate increases from the Fed in 2022 mean that banks could see greater profitability from their interest rate spreads. This is leading to expectations of strong guidance from banks during earnings season. One strategist is using a covered call […]
Although normally an active options stock, there was significantly more volume than usual in Intel (INTC). The semiconductor giant saw almost 500,000 options trade on a big day last week, with 72% of the action on the call side. One interesting trade from the day was a very bullish three-legged spread where a put was […]
Cisco Systems (CSCO) is a blue chip networking giant that has become more of an income stock than a growth stock in recent years. The company currently pays a 2.3% dividend. The cash flow from owning CSCO can be significantly enhanced by using a covered call strategy. A strategist recently sold 7,500 January 2023 CSCO […]
While the markets were slow for the holiday season, it didn’t stop options in FuelCell Energy (FCEL) from trading quite briskly. The hydrogen fuel cell company released earnings last week and reported a wider than expected loss on lower revenues. The share price fell nearly 14% on the day with over 200,000 options trading. The […]
Corporate bonds are near all-time highs as yield seekers are looking to improve on low yields from government bonds. The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) is one of the most popular vehicles for getting exposure to high quality corporate bonds. However, the dividend yield is only 2.3% for LQD, and the […]
Unusual options activity was not quite as brisk this past week with the short holiday week, but Alcoa (AA) did trade over twice the options volume over what it normally trades. The aluminum giant has climbed from $45 to $60 this month after a number of positive news items came out, including the stock being […]
Covered calls can be an excellent way to improve returns while holding ETFs or other index products. For instance, a trader recently place a large covered call trade in the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). The trader purchased one million shares of IWM while simultaneously selling 10,000 calls that expire in two weeks. This strategy […]
The popular Cathie Wood ETF, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), continued its run in unusual options trading territory last week. ARKK is a popular speculative stock ETF that holds a lot of the buzzworthy names in the tech world such as TSLA, ZM, and COIN. One interesting trade from the week was a very large call […]
