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We recently closed an October Short Strangle in the Energy ETF $XLE at our profit target. The timing was pretty fortuitous, considering the wild ride all stocks have been on since the latest Federal Reserve interest rates announcement.
With volatility ticking backup up quite noticeably, $XLE has climbed back up near the top of my implied volatility list of ETFs, and the November options are priced in such a way that we can sell some pretty far out-of-the-money strikes increasing our odds of success.
I know this might be breaking news to some of you, but there are often great opportunities to be had in international stocks. And the All Star Charts International Hall of Famers report regularly serves up the best setups out there.
Today's trade comes directly from the most recent report, so let's board the airplane and head abroad!
Every week, the team publishes the Follow The Flow report which surfaces unusual options activity. This is a report I reference often, not because I want to do the same trades that surface in the scan, but when I can find a technical setup that I like that is supported by the options flow, this can often lead to a bit of alpha with my own options strategy.
However, in today's case, I think I may jump aboard with the unusual options buyers and play along with them in a small-cap oil tanker.
What a wild week, eh? On Tuesday, the rug got pulled on dip buyers with the latest inflation data point coming in hot, throwing a whole bunch of confusion into the market regarding the future of interest rates. Or, so I'm told.
The net result for us options traders is that there is once again some juicy options premium for us to sell into. And we've got a bunch of sloppy ETF charts that look primed for some net sideways actions over the near term.
We've been keeping a keen eye on Uranian stocks over the past few weeks. Throughout the recent broader market weakness, it became a common refrain in our internal analyst meetings: "...we're still seeing relative strength in Uranium stocks."
When we keep saying that over and over, maybe the market is trying to tell us something? *slaps head*
The stock that seems the strongest to us in the sector has been showing signs this week that it's ready to break out. So let's get to work.
Today, it looked like the market wanted to continue yesterday afternoon's powerful late rally.
Well, it was not to be, as stocks have broadly declined since lunchtime and indices are in the red as I type this.
For me, this offers yet another opportunity to sell some delta-neutral options premium to continue providing some ballast to the directional bets in my portfolio.
With volatility still up since Friday afternoon's stock market freakout, we're going to continue to take advantage of this volatility rise to add an additional, much-needed delta-neutral credit spread to our portfolio to diversify our risks somewhat.
So today I'll be positioning into an index ETF near the top of the implied volatility charts.
"Jackson Hole" has delivered volatility once again. Seems we can always expect fireworks when the bigwigs gather at a luxury resort in the mountains. Must be nice...
We're going to take advantage of some of this volatility by positioning into a delta-neutral credit spread in the highest implied volatility ETF currently on the board.
Today's trade comes from the latest Young Aristocrats report. And today's dip offers us a chance to get into this trade with a very nearby risk management level (today's low). Either this stock is going to make a run or it's going to fail, and we'll likely find out quickly.
As such, we're taking a long position in October call options.
...but it might win us cash-money gains, which is all we're really here for anyway. Give the participation trophies to the strivers.
Today's trade comes from a "dirty" sector. One some investors don't like to talk about in polite company. And it certainly won't win us any friends in the ESG crowd. But again, who cares?
It's a big wide world out there. Luckily for us investors in the U.S., we aren't just limited to trading domestic companies. Often via ADRs, we are able to participate in opportunities in the very best foreign companies and conglomerates.
And right now, there are good opportunities shaping up in if we look overseas at some banking stocks.