Now it's tempting to want to own options. Volatility is as low as anyone remembers (providing you can't recall anything since last September), and is now relatively close to realized volatility. You can even get earnings thrown in for *free*, like in AAPL. In addition, I show August as a decent ... Read more

It's expiration day today in the VIX July Options! And the verdict is.....ZZZZZZ. The July's will settle on the opening *print*, so expect to see 4 kajillion SPX OTM puts trade on the open. But don't expect it do all that much (barring a big market gap) as the July futures closed with a small pre ... Read more

OK, so for the first time since forever, bought a little pre-earnings gamma. Sort of. I shorted some August strangles in AAPL and bought a greater quantity of October strangles. Octs were 33 volatility which is actually 10% lower than a normalized 30 day option has traded in at least a year. An ... Read more

Barrick Gold (ABX) is down 29 cents to $35.30 after gold gave up early gains and is now off 30 cents to $948.50. The top trades in ABX Monday included 2,750 Oct 40 calls and 2,70 Oct 31 puts, which appear to be part of a “collar”, as a block of 228K ABX shares traded for $35.50 at about the ... Read more

So AAPL reports tonight. And the public is so nervous about what St. Stephen might say that the options trade at about a 52 week low in volatility terms. Yes that's correct, 52 week lows ahead of news. You don't see that too often unless you look at something like KO. Now we have a few t ... R ... Read more

As we face another day that may have an up VIX and up SPX, it's time for a weekly reminder that these are strange times in VIX-land. Despite the early strength, the VIX remains over 4 points below August futures. This disparity has persisted for a while as the VIX churns around 25 while Augus ... Read more

Some bullish action in EWJ, via optionMONSTER. optionMONSTER's tracking systems detected the purchase of 50,000 September 10 calls in the iShares MSCI Japan Index for $0.10. It was matched against the sale of 25,000 September 9 puts for $0.20, resulting in neither a credit nor a debit. Volum ... Read more

When last we checked, the SEC was examining whether UNG could issue new shares to meet the demand for .....well, new shares. So far nothing. But the options still trade. Quite actively Steven (not Stephen) Sears takes a look in Barron Striking Price. UNG's number of outstanding options ... Read more

So what do Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart have in common? Well, they each have taken some wood to Goldman in the week. Here's Beck. And then there's Stewart. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Pyramid Economy www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Po ... Read th ... Read more

Yes, she's 31 today. Below is a video I suspect many of you will enjoy. I don't speak a word of French, so I have no idea wtf they are saying. It truly doesn't matter. ... Read the full post ... Read more