Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Last week, there was some unusually large options activity in Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF). XLF tracks financial stocks such as banks and asset management companies in the S&P 500. On a particularly brisk day for options trading, XLF had about 2x more options volume than normal. A large chunk of the volume came in […]
In investing, history can be a useful guide to what to expect moving forward. However, its usefulness only goes so far. There’s always something new and surprising in the financial markets that investors have never seen before. Last year it was negative oil prices. This year, it’s the stock squeezes occurring with names like GameStop […]
American Airlines (AAL) saw plenty of options action last week, along with several other stocks that have been heavily shorted. Airlines have struggled with the ongoing pandemic so they’ve attracted plenty of short-sellers. However, traders have been targeted these down and out stocks for heavy out-of-the-money call buying in an effort to squeeze the stock […]
There have been several big movers in the stock market already in 2021. As expected, many of the highfliers from 2020—including stocks related to cryptocurrencies, electric vehicles, fuel cell technology, biotech, and others—continue to experience plenty of action. As anyone who’s traded in the market long enough knows, there’s almost always a hot investment. Maybe […]
Mobile video game maker Zynga (ZNGA) saw significant options activity last week. On a big volume day, ZNGA options traded 9x the normal options volume. 96% of the options action was in calls, which is generally a bullish sign. ZNGA has earnings on February 10th, and this could be a bet that the company is […]
As popular as gold is as an investment, it’s not necessarily easy to pinpoint what type of investment gold is. Is it a safe-haven asset? A hedge against inflation? A currency? A store of value? Maybe it’s all of the above… The thing is, the type of investment gold is depends on the market environment […]
Virgin Galactic (SPCE) has been a popular stock this past year, but it got a huge boost this past week. SPCE jumped 20% on news that ARK Invest will be creating a new space ETF. ARK ETFs are quite heavily traded, so being added to any of the ETFs is generally a boon for the […]
2021 is off to a bewildering start. While the world is mostly focused on what’s going on in Washington, the stock market has also been charting its own tortuous course. Stocks tend to be forward-looking, but it’s always interesting when there seems to be a major disconnect between what happens in the financial markets and […]
Bitcoin has been on a huge run, nearly doubling its all-time high in recent weeks to $40,000 per BTC. Of course, this action has sparked plenty of unusual options activity in blockchain related stocks like Riot Blockchain (RIOT). Over 400,000 options traded in RIOT on a big up day for BTC last week. About 70% […]
2020 is in the rearview mirror, and I think we can all agree that it’s a good thing. While last year was certainly interesting for investors, I don’t think anyone wants to relive the other parts of 2020. The year is, of course, marked by the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But let’s not forget […]
