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THE WEEK AHEAD: AAL, TSLA, SNAP, NFLX EARNINGS; XOP, GDXJ, SLVEARNINGS: Got a bunch of potentially worthwhile, earnings announcement volatility contraction plays on tap this coming week. Here there are, ordered by "bang for your buck": AAL (29/99/19.7%), announcing Thursday before market open: Due to its size, I would probably go short straddle or iron fly, with the November 20th 12 short straddle paying 2.46 (19.7% as a function of stock price), and the November 20th 8/12/12/16 four-wide iron fly, paying 2.00 even. TSLA (29/79/19.1%), announcing on Wednesday after market close. Pictured here is a 10-wide iron condor, with the short option legs set up at the 20 delta. Markets are showing wide in the after hours, but would adjust strikes as necessary to get at least one-third the width of your wings in credit (i.e., 3.33 for a 10 wide, 1.67 for a five, etc.). SNAP (35/97/17.2%), announcing Tuesday after market close. The November 20th 19 delta 24/35 short strangle was paying 1.35 at the mid price, with the defined risk 22/25/33/36 iron condor paying 1.11. NFLX (43/62/14.3%), announcing on Tuesday after market close. The November 20th 455/465/635/645 was paying 3.91 at the mid price as of Friday close. As with the TSLA defined risk play, look to adjust strikes as necessary to get at least one-third the width of your wings in credit. EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS, RANKED BY PERCENTAGE OF STOCK PRICE THE NOVEMBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING AND SCREENED FOR THOSE PAYING GREATER THAN 10%: XOP (14/55/13.1%) GDXJ (18/49/12.6%) SLV (39/50/11.2%) XLE (26/45/10.2%) EWZ (15/42/10.0%) BROAD MARKET: QQQ (33/35/8.0%) IWM (29/33/7.2%) SPY (23/27/5.8%) EFA (18/22/4.6%) IRA DIVIDEND EARNERS, RANKED BY PERCENTAGE OF STOCK PRICE THE NOVEMBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING AND SCREENED FOR THOSE PAYING GREATER THAN 10%: SLV (39/40/11.2%)* XLE (26/45/10.2%) KRE (24/43/10.1%) EWZ (15/42/10.1%) MUSINGS: 16 days left until the general election. Out of an abundance of caution, I'm not adding anything here, but may do some "window dressing" rolls of my IWM and QQQ shorts puts I have on in the November 20th expiry just to lock in realized profit, and I'll do an educational post as to what that would entail. Handsitting, thumb twiddling while the markets do their thing is the hardest part ... . * -- Neither SLV nor GLD pay a dividend.
NASDAQ:TSLA
by NaughtyPines
5
Will the miners offer one more dip?I am wildly bullish on the miners and precious metals over the longer term but I suspect another corrective leg down. GDX has been forming a giant ascending wedge from 2013-2020 and just broke out of that pattern this year. The drop in March was just a small piece of that puzzle that flushed a lot of new & experienced traders out of the trade. I pointed out several times that it was potentially an extremely good buying opportunity. That turned out to be true and the miners have been one of my best trades this year. I'm not an expert on Elliott Wave Theory but I'm seeing what looks like 5 waves up that completed in August. Perhaps now price is still stuck in some type of correction before a much larger move takes place. Take note of the red flag on my lower indicator. There's clearly a trend there and price has not dropped enough to complete another touch. There's no rule that says it must but it's just something to watch. Be patient. Be smart. Do YOUR OWN homework. Follow price. Ignore emotion... and get ready!
AMEX:GDX
by gghsusa
THE WEEK AHEAD: DAL, CCL EARNINGS; GDXJ/GDX, SLV, KREEARNINGS: CCL (28/88/25.9%) and DAL (18/77/22.1%)* announce earnings on Thursday. The DAL November 20th 21 delta, 2 x expected move 26/41 short strangle is paying 2.41 or 7.6% as a function of stock price (1.20 at 50% max; 3.8% as a function of stock price). I've pictured a short put here as the simplest play to get in on a sector that has been hammered by the pandemic, assuming you don't mind potentially being assigned at that price to work a longer-term play (i.e., covered calls). CCL is small enough to play via short straddle, with the November 20th 15 short straddle paying 3.92 or 25.9% as a function of stock price (.98 at 25% max; 6.5% as a function of stock price). Alternatively, the > 2 x expected move 10/20 short strangle is paying .93 (.46 at 50% max; 3.0% as a function of stock price). EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS WITH >35% 30-DAY IMPLIED RANKED BY PERCENTAGE THE NOVEMBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING AS A FUNCTION OF STOCK PRICE: TQQQ (41/103/30.2%) XOP (19/60/17.3%) USO (10/55/146%) GDXJ (20/50/15.1%) SLV (39/48/13.5%) EWZ (21/46/14.1%) XLE (30/44/131%) XBI (36/45/13.0%) GDX (19/42/12.7%) SMH (27/47/11.2%) QQQ (35/35/10.5%) BROAD MARKET: QQQ (35/35/10.5%) IWM (32/34/9.8%) EFA (25/22/9.0%) SPY (21/26/8.0%) IRA DIVIDEND EARNERS/PREMIUM SELLING: KRE (28/47/13.6%) (Current Yield: 3.83%) SLV (39/48/13.5%) (No Yield; Precious Metals Position) EWZ (21/46/14.1%) (Current Yield: 3.80%) XLE (30/44/13.1%) (Current Yield: 7.52%) XBI (36/45/13.0%) (Current Yield: .35%; Premium Selling Play) SMH (27/47/11.2%) (Current Yield: 0.00%; Premium Selling Play) QQQ (35/35/10.5%) (0.60% Yield; Premium Selling Play) MUSINGS: With the general elections now 29 days away, I'm not doing much here in terms of adding new positions. With the margin account in particular, I'm looking at going completely flat at or near October opex and then watching the show from the sidelines. On the IRA/retirement account front, I'm already in most of the underlyings at the top of the implied volatility ladder, so don't anticipate doing much here anyway. I will naturally look at delta on a portfolio-wide basis to see whether I need additional delta one way or the other to make myself less directional running into the elections. We could, after all, conceivably see one of a variety of things depending on how things play out (i.e., relief rally, sell-off, "sideways nothing burger"). With Friday's sell-off, however, I'm tempted to add a smidge more of QQQ in the November cycle for my weekly 16 delta, 45 days 'til expiry broad market short put (the November 20th 16 delta 237 short put was paying 3.73 at the mid as of Friday close; 1.60% ROC as a function of notional risk). * -- The first metric is where 30-day implied volatility is relative to where it's been over the past 52 weeks; the second, 30-day implied volatility; and the third, the percentage the November at-the-money short straddle is paying as a function of stock price.
NYSE:DAL
by NaughtyPines
Junior Gold Miners - set your watch to bullish continuationThanks for viewing, This won't be a long one. It won't be full of analysis. My case is just this: These small speculative, under-capitalised, marginally profitable gold miners are now extracting a commodity that has surpassed 2011 highs - and looks assured of heading much higher. So, it seems safe to conclude that these exploration and mining companies look set to head for new all-time highs as well. These are small market cap Companies so they are more volatile (also I note that they had already started down from all-time highs before gold peaked in 2011 - to the gold to GDXJ correlation isn't perfect). That also means that big institutional players cannot pile in without spiking the market (they would then have to work out how to exit as well - which wouldn't be easy) which means this market had remained depressed for now. This lag suits me fine. A small increase in the price of a mined commodity is normally translated into a much greater percentage increase in profit margin (for profitable mines anyway - or much smaller losses I guess). So holding an equity linked to the commodity will effectively "leverage" any commodity price gains. The EW retracement (shallow) from current levels and the extension of that move to new highs are speculative, but I'm just mapping it out so that I can picture how it may broadly unfold. Maybe you think gold is going to crash in a highly uncertain world with ballooning debt, currency devaluation, the Fed seeking to stoke inflation, and treasury yields that will set below inflation for at least the next 3 years and possibly longer. Yeah maybe, but I don't think so. If the ETF only reaches previous highs that will mean an 220% price rise. So join me and go long on political turmoil and out of control currency printing. I will only consider a relatively small position in any ETF and if you decide to add the underlying base metal to your portfolio - please avoid ETFs. Protect those funds
AMEX:GDXJLong
by flyinkiwi10
3
THE WEEK AHEAD: MU, BBBY EARNINGS; XOP, GDXJ, SLV, EWZ, KRE, XLEEARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT VOLATILITY CONTRACTION PLAYS: MU (27/57/10.8%)*, announces Tuesday after market close. BBBY (32/105/20.2%), announcement Thursday before market open. Pictured here is an MU October 16th 44/55 short strangle, paying 1.52 as of Friday's close (.76 at 50% max). For those of a defined risk bent: the MU October 16th 40/45/52.5/57.5 iron condor was paying 1.74 at the mid as of Friday's close, (.87 at 50% max). For BBBY, I'd probably go short straddle, skinny short strangle, or skinny iron condor with the October 16th 14/15 skinny short strangle paying 2.46 as of Friday's close (.62 at 25% max), and the October 16th 10/14/15/19 4-wide paying 2.02 (.51 at 25% max) with risk one to make one metrics. OPTIONS LIQUID EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS SCREENED FOR >35% 30-DAY IMPLIED AND RANKED BY PERCENTAGE THE NOVEMBER (56 DAY'S) AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING AS A FUNCTION OF STOCK PRICE: XOP (16/54/17.8%) GDX (22/54/17.0%) SLV (39/48/14.4%) EWZ (19/44/14.1%) GDX (21/43/14.1%) XLE (26/41/13.5%) SMH (24/40/11.3%) BROAD MARKET: QQQ (33/34/10.9%) IWM (31/34/10.6%) SPY (21/26/8.3%) EFA (22/24/7.1%) DIVIDEND GENERATORS FOR THE IRA SCREENED FOR THOSE WHERE THE NOVEMBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING >10% OF STOCK PRICE: SLV (39/48/14.4%)** EWZ (19/44/14.1%) KRE (27/44/14.2%) XLE (26/41/13.5%) MUSINGS: With the major binary event of the year approaching (U.S. general elections), I'll be attempting to resist the urge to trade in the margin account and will flatten that completely running into the October monthly expiry. The intent was to wind that account up prior to year end, so now is as good a time as any. With retirement approaching, my medium to long-term focus will be turning to IRA trades in a cash secured environment, with the focus on exchange-traded-funds with dividends and the general go-to strategy being short put, acquisition, and covering, resorting to highly liquid single name only in the event that sector and broad market volatility totally dry up. I'll continue to grind on those broad market/exchange-traded fund trades through the election as long as volatility hangs in there, naturally keeping some powder dry in the event that a high volatility event presents itself. This basic approach has worked well over the years, and I see no particular reason to change it now, even though it has zero sexiness and can be slow going, particularly if you're not the patient type. My current stock positions are in SPY (covered call), TLT (covered call), IYR (covered call), and EFA (covered call). In addition, I've got short puts or short put ladders deployed in QQQ, IWM, SPY, SLV, EWZ, KRE, XLE, GLD, and HYG. Previously, I was hesitant to dump my stock positions or allow them to be called away due to their paying dividends, but may change my tune, particularly with SPY, where the dividend is a paltry 1.76% relative to what the 30-day 2 x expected move short put is paying currently. Naturally, what a given option will pay will depend on where the implied volatility is at the given moment, but here the 2 x expected move short put nearest 30 days is the October 26th 305, paying 2.60 or .86% ROC at max (10.32% annualized). The basic question is whether it's generally worth it to hang out in shares when you don't have to, even if you're getting a little extra something something if you've covered.*** Short puts, after all, make money regardless of whether the stock goes up or sideways and can even make money if the market goes down, assuming that your break even isn't broken; stock only makes money if it goes up. Short puts can be rolled to reduce cost basis further; once you're in stock, you're married to the position. I guess I'm trying to talk myself into allowing my shares to be called away ... . :-) * -- The first metric is the implied volatility rank (i.e., where 30-day implied is relative to where it's been over the past 52 weeks); the second, 30-day implied volatility; and the third, the percentage the October at-the-money short straddle is paying as a function of stock price. ** -- Neither SLV nor GLD pay a dividend. *** -- The 2 x expected move short call nearest 30 days is the October 26th 346, paying 1.56 or 18.72 annualized, which also far exceeds what you'll receive in SPY dividends on an annual basis (currently 5.681/share or $568.10 per year for a one lot).
NASDAQ:MU
by NaughtyPines
THE WEEK AHEAD: COST, GDXJ/GDX, XOP, SLV, EWZA late "Week Ahead" post after a short road trip ... . EARNINGS: There aren't many options liquid underlying volatility contraction plays on tap this week. COST (35/38/6.8% (October)-10.1% (November) announces on Thursday after market close, but the volatility metrics aren't the greatest for a contraction play with 30-day at 38, the October monthly at expiry-specific 37.8%, and the November monthly at 34.8%. My general cut-off to pull the trigger on something is a 30-day greater than 50%, so I'm likely to pass on this one. EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS WITH 30-DAY GREATER THAN 35% AND RANKED BY PERCENTAGE OF STOCK PRICE THE NOVEMBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING: TQQQ (42/103/33.7%) GDXJ (23/58/18.3%) XOP (17/55/17.8%) GDX (24/49/15.0%) SLV (45/48/15.2%) EWZ (20/48/15.1%) XLE (27/44/14.0%) SMH (25/40/12.2%) QQQ (36/37/11.6%) IWM (33/35/11.0%) Pictured here is a GDXJ November 20th 45/65 short strangle with the short options camped out at around the 20 delta that's paying 2.95 at the mid price. Although it's a little early for the November cycle (58 days until expiry) if like to keep things in that 45 day wheelhouse, this is the best bang for your buck as a function of stock price on the board, followed by XOP, GDX, and XLV. BROAD MARKET: QQQ (36/37/11.6%) IWM (33/35/11.0%) SPY (23/29/9.0%) EFA (23/24/7.5%) I've been engaging in programmatic 45 days until expiry, 16-delta short put selling in broad market in the highest 30-day implied instrument on the board. Here, it would be QQQ. However, there are only an October 30th (37 days) or a November 20th (58 days) expiry available, where the 16 delta strikes are paying 3.27 (the October 30th 235) and 4.22 (the November 20th 226). I've already got an October 30th short put hanging out there, so may just wait until next week when an early November weekly becomes available. IRA DIVIDEND-GENERATORS WITH 30-DAY GREATER THAN 35% AND RANKED BY PERCENTAGE OF STOCK PRICE THE NOVEMBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE IS PAYING: SLV (45/48/15.2%) EWZ (20/48/15.1%) KRE (26/44/14.5%)
AMEX:GDXJ
by NaughtyPines
2
Miners...Ready, steady, go!A new leg is on the march.... Based on the same Main Channel from the previous one, this one could last until the end of October. If took more time to start...but that is nobody can foresee So now, it is too early, and it's just a game, just a draft based on past performance (the last leg). So past pattern is The Best to use as guide, because it´s more probable that market GDXJ behavior remains similar as market participants should be the same...or should have not changed too much. Let see how it goes. From Sweden....The Radio Dept (what a great band) www.youtube.com
AMEX:GDXJLong
by JAY_c5velm
1
THE WEEK AHEAD: GDXJ, XOP, KRE, EWZ, QQQEARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT VOLATILITY CONTRACTION PLAYS: Currently, no options highly liquid underlyings announcing earnings next week with high rank/implied. EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS SCREENED FOR 30-DAY IMPLIED > 35%: GDXJ (16/54/12.0%)* XOP (16/51/12.1%) SLV (34/47/10.7%) EWZ (17/45/10.7%) GDX (18/43/10.2%) BROAD MARKET: QQQ (32/35/8.2%) IWM (27/32/7.3%) SPY (22/26/5.6%) EFA (16/21/4.6%) DIVIDEND-GENERATING EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS: EWZ (17/45/10.7%) SLV (34/47/10.7%)** KRE (24/45/10.4%) XLE (23/41/9.3%) EWA (26/27/6.7%) SPY (22/26/5.8%) IYR (19/26/5.6%) XLU (17/23/5.2%) EFA (16/21/4.6%) GLD (24/20/4.4%) TLT (9/16/3.5%) HYG (15/14/2.6%) EMB (14/22/2.5%) Pictured here is a two-rung short put ladder in KRE (Current Yield 3.70%) intended for a retirement account environment. It was paying 1.83 at the mid as of the Friday close, but it's bid 1.43/ask 2.18 in the off hours, so will have to price that out during the New York session. I've already got some EWZ on (See Post, below), but may consider adding some SLV for precious metal exposure in addition to my GLD due to its higher volatility and scalability (which I probably should have thought about before throwing a three lot GLD ladder out there) (See, GLD Post, below). I've also added XLE to the list due to its current yield of 6.81%. GENERAL THOUGHTS: With the U.S. general elections occurring on Tuesday, November 3rd, I'll be looking to lighten up margin account positions running into the October monthly expiry (now 33 days 'til expiry). I will consider just flattening out completely, and then reestablishing positions thereafter. If you recall the last general election in 2016, it was limit down in /ES during the Asian session, all of which evaporated by New York open, leaving minimal volatility to take advantage of in its wake. I could see playing /ES in the overnight to capitalize on a potential volatility contraction that may occur in /ES from the overnight to the New York session, but it will depend to a certain extent on how much volatility expands running into the election. I'll try to post a potential trade set-up, but I can say it's likely to take one of two forms: (a) an at-the-money long call vertical to take advantage of skew and with risk one to make one metrics; or (b) an out-of-the-money short put vertical -- both defined risk. I lean toward the credit side (short put vertical) due to having more room to be wrong, but will have to price things out in the moment to compare and contrast the two setups for buying power effect, profit potential, and probability of profit. In the IRA, I'm going to keep on grinding on things as long as I can find decent premium to sell without going totally crazy; I want to keep a decent amount of buying power free in the event that we do get a big volatility event that shouldn't be passed up. * -- The first number is the implied volatility rank (where 30-day implied is relative to where it's been over the past 52 weeks); the second, the 30-day implied volatility; and the third, the percentage of stock price the at-the-money short straddle is paying in the October monthly. ** -- Neither GLD nor SLV pay a dividend, but I have a GLD position on to give me some exposure to precious metals.
AMEX:KRE
by NaughtyPines
2
THE WEEK AHEAD: M, CLDR, CRWD EARNINGS; GDXJ/GDX, SLV, QQQTHE WEEK AHEAD: EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT VOLATILITY CONTRACTION PLAYS: M (41/103/September 18.7%): Announces Wednesday before market open. Potential Plays: September 18th 13 short straddle, paying 1.30 as of Friday close, .33 at 25% max. September 18th 5/7/7/9 iron fly, paying 1.07 as of Friday close, .27 at 25% max. Look to take profit at 25% max. CLDR (68/116/September 20.1%): Announces Wednesday after market close. Potential Plays: September 18th 13 short straddle, paying 2.60 as of Friday close, .65 at 25% max. September 18th 9/13/13/17 iron fly, paying 2.13 as of Friday close, .53 at 25% max. Look to take profit at 25% max. CRWD (32/74/September 15.0%): Announces Wednesday after market close. Potential Plays: September 18th 101/145 short strangle, paying 4.03 as of Friday close, 2.01 at 50% max. September 18th 100/105/140/145. Markets are showing wide in the off hours, but look to put on a setup that pays at least one-third the width of the wings in credit. Comments: Not a ton is shaking next week for options liquid underlyings, but here are what appear to me to be the best candidates for volatility contraction plays. Naturally, I'm just preliminarily pricing these out to see whether they're potentially worthwhile, and actual strikes are likely to change somewhat running into earnings as price moves. EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS SCREENED FOR >35% 30-DAY IMPLIED/OCTOBER AT-THE-MONEY SHORT STRADDLE PAYING >10% OF STOCK PRICE: SLV (45/56/15.2%) XLE (24/39/11.2%) GDX (22/47/13.3%) GDXJ (21/58/15.7%) EWZ (17/44/12.3%) XOP (13/50/14.1%) GDXJ is paying the most as a function of stock price (15.7%), followed by SLV (15.2%), XOP (14.1%), and GDX (13.3%). WHAT THE SHORT STRANGLES NEAREST 16 DELTA ARE PAYING: The GDXJ October 16th 15/75 short strangle: 2.15, 3.6% as a function of stock price, The SLV October 16th 22/32 short strangle: .97, 3.6% as a function of stock price. The XOP October 16th 45/63 short strangle: 1.84, 3.5% as a function of stock price. The GDX October 16th 38/47 short strangle: .84, 2.0% as a function of stock price. Comments: I've already got a miners play on, so am likely to avoid getting into another closely correlated underlying here. BROAD MARKET: QQQ (29/32/8.8%) IWM (22/28/7.6%) EFA (17/20/5.6%) SPY (12/22/5.3%) WHAT THE SHORT STRANGLES NEAREST 16 DELTA ARE PAYING: The QQQ October 16th 257/320 short strangle is paying 6.51, 2.2% as a function of stock price. The IWM October 16th 140/170 short strangle, 2.93, 1.9%. The EFA October 16th 60/69 short strangle, .93, 1.4%. The SPY October 16th 317/391 short strangle, 4.95, 1.4%. Comments: In the IRA, I've been mechanically selling 45 days 'til expiry puts at the two times expected move strike (basically, the 16 delta) and will pretty much continue to do so until 30-day drops below 20%. There's always hesitancy to continue to do this at successive all-time-highs, and, yes, it is likely I will be assigned shares at some point in a >2 times expected move sell-off, after which I'll proceed to cover. That being said, I've got an inordinate amount of undeployed buying power after all the acquisitional short put ladders I put on in the sell-off have come off; I'd rather take some risk here to earn "something," all while keeping a reasonable amount of dry powder free to take advantage if we get another one of those bodice rippers we had in mid-March. This week, I'll follow the implied volatility, and as of Friday close, that was in the QQQ's. DIVIDEND EARNERS: XLU (21/23/7.1%) EWA (20/24/7.0%) TLT (18/19/4.8%) EFA (17/20/5.6%) EWZ (17/44/12.3%) IYR (17/24/6.5%) HYG (17/14/2.8%) SPY (16/22/5.3%) EMB (11/11/2.7%) The Brazilian exchange-traded fund leads the pack for the umpteenth week in a row, with XLU and EWA in distant second and third places. I'm fine with continuing to hit EWZ via acquisitional short put over and over again if that's where the implied volatility leads, but, yes, it's kind of getting old. For what it's worth: The 2 times expected move EWZ October 16th 28 short put is paying .36 per contract as of Friday close (1.2% as a function of stock price). Key: The first number in parentheses is the implied volatility rank or percentile (i.e., where implied volatility is relative to where it's been over the past 52 weeks); the second, 30-day implied volatility; and the third, the percentage of stock price that the specified monthly expiry at-the-money short straddle is paying.
C
by NaughtyPines
IS THE DOLLAR ABOUT TO BOTTOM?You need to be paying close attention to the Dollar. We have some history written right on the chart if we'll just take a moment to interpret it. My interpretation might be different than yours but that's why we share our ideas.. and it would be a boring world if we all thought the same way. I don't watch the Dollar very often but I see very obvious price cycles on multiple levels going on here. There appears to be a potential larger cycle low that will begin pulling down on the Dollar over the next 7-8 years. However, the Dollar could be bottoming in the near term on a smaller cycle. I think it has the potential to rally back up to the upper trend (just like 1999-2002) before the long drop. Notice the symmetrical triangle and where the measured move is pointing to- I can't say if that target has been reached yet or if it's even valid but the measured move is near that upper trend. It'll be interesting to see if the Dollar can make that climb one more time (107-111?) before the likely descent. It'll also be interesting to see how precious metals respond if the Dollar does manage to rally again.. I would be thrilled to see another discount in the metals but there's a chance that the best discount is now.. There's no promise of lower prices in Gold & Silver again with what we're witnessing today.
TVC:DXY
by gghsusa
3