Friday, October 18, 2024
The iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Market Bond ETF (EMB) is an asset allocation fund for those wanting exposure to emerging market government bonds. The ETF pays a reasonable dividend but it doesn’t generally move all that much. A well-capitalized trader is likely trying to boost returns on the low-volatility product by utilizing a covered […]
Using covered calls on index ETFs is a popular way to produce additional cash flow from holding stocks. For instance, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is not only the most heavily traded ETF in the world, but it’s also commonly used for covered call trades. A large block of covered calls seemingly traded last […]
The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) is a very popular stock ETF which tracks companies in emerging market countries. The ETF is commonly used for asset allocation purposes in portfolios to gain exposure to the emerging markets asset class. Last week, a very large block trade occurred, which was likely a covered call trade. […]
Block trades can be useful in determining what smart money sentiment is on certain stocks. For example, a large put spread traded last week in Chewy (CHWY). The pet supplier site has seen its share price rebound off the lows in recent weeks. However, this recent put spread suggests there could be further downside ahead. […]
There was quite a bit of unusual options action in the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) last week. Energy has been in the spotlight with the price of crude oil plunging in recent days. However, a large ratio call spread in XLE suggests that energy stocks may have more room to rise this year. […]
A massive options trade occurred last week in iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG). HYG is a massively popular high yield bond fund that also has a very active options chain. A put spread was recently sold on HYG with over 150,000 contracts per leg. This trade is likely meant to boost “yield” […]
Once you are able to determine where unusual options activity is occurring, the next step is looking at the time and sales list. This is the granular trade information, where you can sort the list and look at what the biggest trades have been, and what caused the underlying instrument to show up on your […]
When searching for and analyzing unusual options activity, it’s important to understand all the data being presented. Key variables include volume, relative volume, bearish versus bullish activity, and upcoming earnings/event dates. Having a grasp of these data points will help traders better grasp why unusual activity may be occurring.
Chinese stocks saw a significant amount of options activity last week when Chinese regulators appeared to ease up on some restrictive practices. Chinese internet giant Alibaba (BABA) was up 15% in a day, while trading over 1 million options. It looks like some of the biggest block trades were bullish call purchases in September and […]
Electric vehicle stocks haven’t been nearly as active as they were during the heart of the Covid crisis. However, Nikoka (NKLA) options traded over 200,000 contracts on a busy day last week, which is 4x the regular amount. In this case, it appears that a large institutional position was either rolled to July or closed […]
