On the day of the FOMC meeting results last week, there was quite a bit of unusual options activity in Financial Select Sectors SPDR Fund (XLF). XLF, the most heavily traded financial sector ETF, traded about 2.5x its normal options volume. 67% of the activity was in calls, which is generally a bullish signal. The […]
Author: Jay Soloff
An Energy Sector Trade with The Potential for 1,100% Returns
Options can make even the most mundane trade more exciting. The flexibility of options, especially when using spreads (combinations of buying or selling calls and puts), can allow for all kinds of creativity when designing strategies. Plus, the leverage inherent in options can quickly make the return (or loss) potential of a trading strategy a […]
Trade of the Week: PFE
There was a significant amount of unusual options action this past week in Pfizer (PFE). The pharmaceutical giant posted earnings during the week, which resulted in over 12x the numbers of average options traded on the day of the release. More impressively, 94% of the action was in calls, which is generally a very bullish […]
Using Options To Juice Your Fixed Income Returns
The Federal Reserve’s ultra-low interest rate policy and quantitative easing programs are regularly debated among economists, armchair analysts, and everyone in between. Monetary policy can be pretty complex, with hundreds of variables to consider. So, it’s not a huge surprise that there’s so much disagreement on policy. Most studies have shown that the Fed’s increasingly […]
Trade of the Week: CCL
This past week, there was 3x the Carnival (CCL) normal options volume, the cruise line giant. Cruise line stocks have been very active during the pandemic, but CCL got a big boost last week when it announced that it would be ramping up capacity through the end of the year. What’s more, the company is […]
A Uranium Trade That Could Generate 233% Returns
Most investors tend to think about solar, wind, and hydrogen fuel when it comes to green energy investing. It tends to come as a surprise that nuclear energy is also green. This is because nuclear power essentially produces zero emissions. And in the era of serious concerns over climate change, “zero emissions” is a huge […]
Trade of the Week: AAPL
Apple (AAPL) traded a massive amount of options last week as the stock climbed to all-time highs. AAPL options trade on average 1.4 million a day, which is already a huge number. However, on one day last week, nearly 3.4 million options contracts traded. 78% of the contracts were calls and that tends to be […]
Getting Dividends From Ford When It’s Not Officially Paying Dividends
When investors hear the term “meme stock,” the first thing to come to mind is typically something like AMC, GME, or the Robinhood investing app. Meme stocks are the ones that get popular on Reddit forums like Wall Street Bets. They can have huge daily swings and are often traded on Robinhood. But with all […]
Trade of the Week: COIN
Last week, we saw quite a bit of options action in Coinbase (COIN). The company runs a popular exchange for trading cryptocurrencies and has recently had an IPO. On a day when the stock was up about 7%, 68% of the options volume was in calls. When significantly more calls than puts trade, it tends […]
Trade of the Week: AMD
This past week, we saw an unusually large amount of options action in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The chipmaker saw over 1 million options contracts trade, which is 2.6x the normal amount. Almost 80% of the volume was in calls, which tends to be a bullish signal. AMC is up sharply after news that competitor […]