Friday, April 19, 2024
One of the more intriguing aspects of 2021 has been the relatively high levels of expected volatility in the equities markets. The VIX, a widely-used barometer of broad market volatility, has been consistently higher throughout the year compared to its long-term median. Despite the high levels of anticipated volatility, the market hasn’t yet seen that […]
Looking at block trades and unusual options volume can be very enlightening. For instance, a big trade in US Global Jets ETF (JETS) can possibly give us clues towards what to expect for the airline industry in November. By looking closely at what trades hit the tape, you can often determine if a strategist is bullish or […]
Options order flow, particular large or unusual block trades, can potentially help traders predict where a big market move may occur. Large traders will often use options on ETFs in order to take a directional position on a major asset class or industry. For example, using the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF […]
We recently saw a significant amount of action in Global X Uranium ETF (URA). Uranium has become a popular commodity to trade this year as energy prices in fossil fuels have soared. Uranium is often considered a potential stopgap between fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. URA is up nearly 90% this year and at least […]
One of the most popular ETFs to trade is the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). The widely-used ETF tracks small cap stocks and is one of the most heavily traded index ETFs in the world. Recently, a trader made a large covered call trade on IWM using at-the-money options. The strategy, with options expiring next […]
Last week, we saw a substantial amount of options activity in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Bond ETF (HYG). HYG is a very popular ETF used for tracking junk bonds (aka high yield bonds). The ETF normally has about 220,000 options contacts that trade per day on average, but on a busy day last […]
It’s never a bad idea to know how to minimize your equity exposure, especially right now, as the market is showing some cracks in its armor lately. The S&P 500 was down roughly 5% in September, the first down month in 2021 since January, and the largest since the pandemic hit in March 2020. Granted, […]
There’s been a lot of unusual action in United States Natural Gas (UNG) recently. The natural gas ETF was down 6.5% one day last week, but has gained over 100% for the year due to global supply shortages. On the big down day, 58% of the 46,000 options traded were calls, which suggests some traders […]
For the last decade or so around this time of year, investors and technology enthusiasts have anxiously awaited the launch of brand-new Apple (AAPL) products. Ever since the iPhone became the most popular product in the world, each new iteration of it (and other Apple products) has drawn significant interest. From an investor standpoint, Apple […]
We saw some unusually heavy option volume in Snap (SNAP) last week, with nearly 2x the average amount trading on a big up day in the stock. SNAP is the owner of Snapchat, a very popular social media platform. Some negative news on Facebook sent that social media stock down, and SNAP may have been […]
