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Weekend Review
Options Action – The guys started out discussing the overall market and the bearish sentiment on Wall Street and the focus on Europe and how things will work out for Greece. The guys continue to...
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IBM – Watching for an Entry Point
Once a stock gets active many traders will ask me if it’s too late to get involved in it. I will then take a look at my daily or weekly chart and see if we have met key targets in the stock or not...
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IBM Setting Up To Leg Up
The earnings report in IBM yesterday actually supported the bigger picture bullish setup in this stock. I still have higher targets in this stock. Target 1 remains at the 219 handle. What I am...
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Blogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 4.19.13
Volatility as an asset class VIX methodology for iShares Silver Trust (VXSLV) closed at 32.75; above its 50-day moving average of 26.23. CBOE VIX methodology for Market Vectors Gold Miners Fund (VXGDX)...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Mid-Day Update 4.30.13
Volatility as an asset class: Best Buy (BBY) is up $2.05 to $26.26 after selling its stake in a European business to Carphone Warehouse for $775M. Call option implied volatility is at 47, June is at...
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Weekend Review – 5/5/2013
Barron’s – Apple (AAPL – 449.98) got a lot of love in Barron’s this weekend being named number one in a list of America’s top five hundred companies. Also, the Striking Price column was devoted to...
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Blogging Options: CBOE Mid-Day Update
Volatility as an asset class Blackberry (BBRY) is up $0.26 to $9.81 after CEO Thorsten Heins says he will explore ‘every opportunity’ to create shareholder value. July weekly call option implied...
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Blogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 7.18.13
Volatility as an asset class IBM (IBM) is up $3.71 to $198.26 in the premarket on Q2 profit falling 29%, beating analyst expectations. July call option implied volatility is at 34, August is at 27,...
View ArticleIBM Short-Term Bullish Directional Play
Today the SPX is down 13 points to $1680, down almost 1%. IBM is down almost $1 or about 1/2 of a percent. IBM is trading at $184 as it moves south with the market today. The 12 month low is a...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 10.17.13
Yesterday, the volume in SPX options approached 1.2 million contracts and VIX option volume was a shade under 1.25 million contracts. IBM (IBM) is down $12.91 to $173.82 in the premarket after...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Closing Bell 10.17.13
A busy day on the CBOE floor as almost 7 million contracts traded. Over 1.3 million SPX and 800k VIX contracts led the index complex. Over 600k SPY contracts traded in Chicago as well. Total listed...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Mid-day Update 10.29.13
Volatility as an asset class Cummins (CMI) is recently down $11.70 to $123.21 after the supplier of engines for heavy-duty trucks reported weak Q3 results and a guidance shortfall. December and January...
View ArticleWarren Buffett…Tech Investor?
One of the projects I had the honor of being part of in 2013 was creating a study guide that accompanies the recently released 3rd edition of The Warren Buffett Way. Like most market observers I had...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Mid-Day Update 1.2.14
S&P 100 Options (OEX) is down 7.00 to $816.78 on first trading day of the year. Seven stocks in DJIA off more than $1. AAPL off $7 on downgrade by major research firm. ISM showed a slight...
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Next Week in Weeklys – 1/20/2014
We only have four working market days this coming week, but all that does is compress a lot of earnings releases into a short week. More than thirty stocks report their earnings this coming week and...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 1.22.14
January VIX Settlement later this morning. IBM earnings beat but revenues were short again. 10-year 2.85%, overseas markets mixed to higher. Sears closing it’s downtown Chicago location....
View ArticleIncome Opportunity in Sale of IBM Cash Secured Put?
International Business Machines (IBM $174.46, up $1.17) is still in the low end of the range over the last year. The 1 year range is around $172 to $215. If you like IBM at these levels for the next...
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This Week in Weeklys – 4/14/2014
Whoever said better late than never was late to something. That would be me this week with the Weeklys preview. With all the hub bub around here about VXST, traveling, and hosting college students...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 4.17.14
Expiration Thursday. Weekly jobless Claims better than expected. GS misses on earnings but bullish comments push shares higher. No news in Ukraine is good news for markets. IBM (IBM) is down $8.10...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 7.16.14
Time Warner (TWX) the talk of trading desks as Fox reportedly bid ~$86. per share in cash and stock for Time Warner. Time’s Board reportedly rejected the bid. TWX is higher by $11 on 11 million shares...
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CBOE Mid-Day Update 8.18.14
Volatility as an asset class Google (GOOG) is recently up $10.65 to $584.20 after acquiring digital photo analysis startup Jetpac. VIX methodology for Google (VXGOG) up 2.1% to 17.25; compared to its...
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CBOE Mid-Day Update 8.25.14
Volatility as an asset class VIX methodology for IBM (VXIBM) up $1.21 to 14.79; below its 50-day moving average of 18.04. cboe.com/VXIBM VIX methodology for Goldman Sachs (VXGS) up 50c to 18.15; below...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 10.20.14
Asian shares looked to lead US markets higher this morning, until disappointing guidance from Big Blue this morning (and earnings of $3.68 versus consensus estimates of ~$4.25). European shares...
View ArticleCBOE Mid-Day Update 10.20.14
Volatility as an asset class IBM (IBM) is recently down $12.25 to $169.80 after reporting a 4% decrease in quarterly revenue and no longer expects ‘at least’ $20 operating EPS in 2015. October weekly...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 10.21.14
Several earnings reports at the opening. MCD is off $0.75 after missing, VZ lower by $0.50, KO down $2.00. Oil & Gold higher. US markets open slightly higher. Ed Tilly welcomed students from...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 1.21.15
State of The Union with no surprises last night. US Housing in the news this morning with Dec. Starts rising 4% but Permits dropping 1.9%. Overseas markets mixed with NIKKEI off 0.5%, FTSE up 0.6% and...
View ArticleBlogging Options: CBOE Morning Update 4.21.15
Markets look to add to yesterdays gains and Q1 earnings reports continue to flood in. Overseas markets mostly higher, traders watching events overseas as a Chinese-owned company defaulted overnight...
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Strategy: Skip Strike Butterfly Spread
Let’s look at SPX, IBM and FB to determine which one is the best candidate for a skip strike butterfly. SPX is trading at 2083.56, IBM at 156.32and FB at 95.12. A normal long call butterfly combines a...
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Earnings Week of 1/19 – 1/22
It is a holiday shortened week next week, but there’s plenty going on in the world of earnings as we start to move into the heavier part of earnings season. The numbers below represent three years of...
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Analysis of an IBM Earnings Trade
Students from CBOE classes often keep in close touch with us long after they have visited the Options Institute. I heard from one OI alumnus on Monday who noticed that IBM was set to report earnings...
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Earnings Week of Oct 17 – Oct 21
With a couple of exceptions (AAL, PYPL) the data below represents twelve quarters of earnings history. As always the data below is based on the last three years of earnings results unless the ticker...
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