Options
Silver on a Roll as Commodities Gain and Green Energy Takes Off

Silver on a Roll as Commodities Gain and Green Energy Takes Off

Silver is in the midst of its longest winning streak in three years as several potentially bullish forces line up. Silver futures (@SI) are rising for the fifth straight week, their longest rally since early 2017. Volume and open interest have increased at the same...

Options Trader Looking for Happy New Year With Fast Moving Energy Stock

Options Trader Looking for Happy New Year With Fast Moving Energy Stock

Someone's looking for Marathon Petroleum to keep running into the New Year. Options volume spiked to triple the monthly average in the oil refiner yesterday as a trader rolled a bullish position: About 32,000 January 70 calls were sold for $3.72.A matching number of...

Guess What? The Yield Curve Is Steepening

Guess What? The Yield Curve Is Steepening

The yield curve flattened over the summer as fear swept the market. But now as it goes the other way, sentiment may improve in major banking stocks. The yield curve is the relationship between the two-year and 10-year Treasury notes. People buy 10-year notes when...

Massive Options Trade Looks for Bounce in Ailing Sector

Massive Options Trade Looks for Bounce in Ailing Sector

Health-care stocks have been lagging all year, but yesterday an options trader looked for quick a bounce. Check out the huge call spread in the SPDR Health Care ETF (XLV): 100,000 25-October 91 calls were purchased for $0.42.100,000 25-October 92 calls were sold for...

Key Lessons From TradeStation’s Latest Options Training Session

Key Lessons From TradeStation’s Latest Options Training Session

Last weekend, TradeStation's education team hosted a knowledge-packed training event on options. It was a great opportunity for someone like me, a perennial stock trader, to learn more about calls and puts. In case you missed it, I took notes. Here are some of the key...

Yesterday’s Selloff Had Some Important Lessons For Traders

Yesterday’s Selloff Had Some Important Lessons For Traders

Stocks fell again yesterday, illustrating three important lessons for traders. The first lesson is that activity focuses on indexes and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) when the market crashes. For example, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) traded more than 6.1 million...

Can Financials Hold? Huge Options Trade Targets Key Level

Can Financials Hold? Huge Options Trade Targets Key Level

Financial stocks got hammered yesterday, and someone's watching a key level. Check out this giant put spread in the SPDR Financial ETF (XLF), which holds key names like Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM): 72,540 November 26 puts were bought for...

What Options Traders Need to Know About ‘Greeks’ Like Delta and Gamma

What Options Traders Need to Know About ‘Greeks’ Like Delta and Gamma

Options are definitely more complicated than stocks. Their prices don't just go up and down. They also fluctuate based on things like time, implied volatility and underlying stock movements. You may need a system to keep all the moving pieces straight. Options Greeks...

Call Buyers Look for a Heavily Traded Chip Stock to Start Running

Call Buyers Look for a Heavily Traded Chip Stock to Start Running

Some options traders seem to think one of the market's most active stocks is ready for a rally. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has barely moved for the last month, but a surge of volume yesterday looked for a rally by the end of this week. Traders amassed more than...