Medallion Financial (MFIN) is a credit services company that made its name through taxi medallion financing in New York City. It has since diversified its businesses as ride sharing has become mainstream, and the stock has done well so far in 2023. However, a large trader or fund bought thousands of March 5 puts last […]

 A large options block trade in iShares Silver Trust (SLV) made last week could be what is known as a collar trade. SLV is the most popular ETF for trading silver and is generally very active when it comes to options. Two very large blocks of puts and calls traded tied to stock (expiring in […]

Earnings season is upon us, so there tends to be a lot of big options trades as strategists position themselves for the results. 2022 was a rough year for many tech stocks, including Alphabet Class C Shares (GOOG).  However, what appears to be a large bullish call spread traded recently in GOOG options. The call […]

Although Peloton (PTON) has struggled since the pandemic, the embattled exercise company may have some bullish prospects in the coming months. A massive diagonal call spread traded last week in PTON options, which looks to be moderately bullish on the stock for 2023-2024 (and possibly into 2025). A diagonal spread is a combination of a […]

The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) is a popular asset allocation ETF for those wanting exposure to corporate bonds. Many asset allocators have at least a portion of their portfolio in corporate bonds (non high-yield variety), so LQD sees a lot of options action. Last week, a strategist bought over 40,000 […]

While it’s been a rough year for the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), a large options trade may suggest a brighter 2023.  A strategist purchased what appears to be a 30,000-lot of covered calls on ARK that expire in February. The covered calls allow for over 10% upside potential in share appreciation before capping out, while […]

It’s always interesting to see a very large spread trade occur in a stock that doesn’t have a very active options chain. Dlocal Limited (DLO) offers a payment system for emerging markets and generally trades about 5,000 options per day. On one day last week, one spread accounted for 30,000 contracts. It appears to be […]

When a stock is trading in a range, sometimes a covered call strategy can be a good way to take advantage of the situation.  Sunpower (SPWR) has been range-bound for most of the year and is trading somewhere near the middle of its range. A trader is attempting to capitalize off the situation by making […]

While trading tends to slow down during Thanksgiving week, the weather doesn’t always comply. Freezing temperatures have caused a surge in natural gas prices, and trading has become brisk in the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG). UNG is the most popular pure play ETF for natural gas. A sophisticated trader recently placed what looks […]

Bond prices have rallied lately with the expectations that interest rates won’t go quite as high as originally expected. (Bond prices move opposite of yields.)  This includes government bonds, corporate bonds, and high yield bonds as well. A very large bullish call spread in iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) suggests there […]