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 […]
Author: Jay Soloff
Using Options To Boost Your Returns From Small Caps
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 […]
Trade of Week: ARKK
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 […]
How High Is Apple Going to Climb?
Apple (AAPL) shares have been on fire lately, as the company is nearing the $3 trillion market cap level. It would be the first company to reach such a lofty valuation. The stock has been popular lately as investors have been in something of a flight-to-quality mode. What’s more, investors appear to be excited about […]
Trade of the Week: TIP
Last week, a highly unusual amount of options action occurred in iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP). TIP is a popular ETF for investing in TIPS bonds, which are treasury bonds that are indexed to inflation. In other words, as inflation goes up, these bonds go up. While the ETF has $38 billion in assets, it […]
How To Generate Cash Flow From Holding Volatile Small Caps
Market volatility has been at its highest since February. Small cap stocks have been particularly volatile lately. Keep in mind, small caps tend to get sold early when there is a flight to quality. The popular small cap stock ETF, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) dropped from a 52-week high near $245 all the way […]
Trade of the Week: TWTR
Market volatility is back and it has resulted in quite a bit of options action. One options chain that has been very active lately is Twitter (TWTR). The popular microblogging site has seen its stock drop substantially since the latest earnings release. Just this week, current CEO Jack Dorsey announced he is stepping down to […]
How To Get Paid While Owning Silver
Precious metals have been active in recent weeks with inflation and interest rates frequently making headlines. A popular method for trading silver is through iShares Silver Trust (SLV), an ETF which tracks physical silver. One strategist feels that SLV will remain in the low $20 level through April of next year. In order to create […]
Trade of the Week: SBUX
Retails stocks have seen a lot of options action lately including Starbucks (SBUX). The coffee giant normally trades about 55,000 options a day, but saw nearly double that on a day last week when the stock was up about 2%. Over 80% of the action was in calls, which tends to be a bullish sign. […]
One Way To Trade CSCO After It Missed Earnings
Networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO) dropped 5% the day after earnings were released last week. The company’s’ guidance was disappointing to investors and revenues were lower than expected. However, one trader used this opportunity to enter a covered call trade. The trader purchased 1.35 million shares of CSCO (at $51.77) while selling 13,500 calls that […]