Wednesday, December 25, 2024
The banking sector can be challenging to trade when interest rates are near zero. On the one hand, banks tend to earn more profits when interest rates are higher. On the other hand, if low interest rates lead to economic improvement, that’s good news for banks. The reason ultra-low interest rates are typically not the […]
The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) is a very popular product that tracks the performance of small cap stocks. While it trades over 500,000 contracts on average per day, there are some interesting block trades that hit the tape now and then in IWM options. In this case, a 26,000 block of March covered calls […]
Throughout history, gold has been the asset to which investors flocked in times of economic uncertainty. Although gold’s direct impact on currencies has diminished over the last century, the precious metal is still a very important asset. Undoubtedly, gold remains relevant as a safe-haven asset. Gold has served as a hedge against just about every […]
Last week, for a brief period, there was some extreme options action in Cboe Global Markets (CBOE). The options traded 12x the normal volume, with 91% of the volume in calls. That many calls trading tends to be a bullish signal. In this case, the action was due to a rumor that CME had made […]
Covered calls are popular and powerful trading strategies for many reasons. Above all else, an overwriting system can work in just about any type of market. There aren’t many strategies that offer a benefit in most market environments. As a reminder, investors make covered calls when they buy a stock (in blocks of 100 shares) […]
Two of the big COVID vaccine producers, Moderna (MRNA) and Pfizer (PFE), saw a significant amount of options activity last week. On one day, with MRNA down nearly 6%, its options traded 4x the normal volume. Most of the activity was still on the call side of things though, which tends to be a bullish […]
Covered call trading is a commonly used strategy to generate cash flow and help normalize equity returns. A multitude of research suggests a basic covered call trading plan, from a risk-adjusted standpoint, outperforms long equities. However, covered call trading can be used situationally as well. There are times when short-term overwriting can be a powerful […]
On the day of the FOMC meeting results last week, there was quite a bit of unusual options activity in Financial Select Sectors SPDR Fund (XLF). XLF, the most heavily traded financial sector ETF, traded about 2.5x its normal options volume. 67% of the activity was in calls, which is generally a bullish signal. The […]
Options can make even the most mundane trade more exciting. The flexibility of options, especially when using spreads (combinations of buying or selling calls and puts), can allow for all kinds of creativity when designing strategies. Plus, the leverage inherent in options can quickly make the return (or loss) potential of a trading strategy a […]
There was a significant amount of unusual options action this past week in Pfizer (PFE). The pharmaceutical giant posted earnings during the week, which resulted in over 12x the numbers of average options traded on the day of the release. More impressively, 94% of the action was in calls, which is generally a very bullish […]
