We kicked around a few ideas in this morning's Analyst meeting and the one thing that stood out to me is that I do not currently have any long exposure to the healthcare sector --- one of the strongest sectors out there.

That changes today.

We're going to get long a familiar name in the space, but we're going to do it carefully with a defined risk spread because we've got earnings coming up soon. So we'll go for a longer-duration trade and bet on earnings to be a catalyst for higher prices.

McDonald's just put "300-dolla-rolls" on the menu. Sweet and delicious. Limited time offer.

Many of you know that my all time favorite options trades are simple long calls on stocks making new all-time highs. And when you add in a big round number up ahead within spitting distance, it's hard for me not to get excited.

So we're going to put on a short-term play to catch those rolls in $MCD while they're hot!

We got into and quickly out of a trade in Microstrategy $MSTR over the past two weeks. Whipsaws suck. But the way the stock has quickly battled back is telling me we weren't wrong, just early. And I'm getting back in, but with a new stop loss level.

[9/7: updated stop to 48. We're already #FreeRiding here, so whatever we sell the remaining portion of the position for is pure profit!]

According to "the news," Americans can't afford to buy homes and rising mortgage costs will only deepen the problem.

Cool story, bro.

Do you know what disagrees? The price of virtually every publicly traded homebuilding company. We're already long Lennar and Toll Brothers which continue to work for us.

Next up is KB Homes $KBH, which appears to be on the verge of a big breakout following a welcome response to its recent earnings report.

If you’ve tuned in to either of my “Expiring Daily” Twitter spaces talks over the past two Mondays, you’ve heard me talking about a trading strategy I’m currently in the process of iterating that involves daily expiring options in the S&P 500 options complex ($SPY and $SPX options, specifically).

A thoughtful listener sent me an email with a bunch of questions about it, and I thought my answers to him might be enlightening to some of you who may be tinkering with strategy construction, particularly with short-dated, high-gamma options.

As I told the emailer, I can answer questions as of my thinking RIGHT NOW. But please know this is a work-in-process, and I’m continually tweaking my entry/exit/adjustment parameters as I learn more.

Here was our conversation:

The thing about options is that participants in these markets are very good at pricing in expected moves. You'd be amazed at how often the options market nails the expected move in an instrument before it happens.

Like point spreads in sports betting, it's amazing how often they nail it.

But when options are mispriced, meaning traders are not expecting something -- that's where big wins can happen for those who position accordingly.

We think one such opportunity is presenting itself in the consumer staples corner of the world. And if we get right, we might have a 20-bagger on our hands.

We're making a tactical bearish bet on a transportation stock that appears to be riding the rails south to lower prices.

It's got earnings coming up in late April, so we'll be buying an express ticket on a short-term play to capture a move.

I mean, do I really know my risk?

Stocks and Futures traders like to talk about how they use stop-loss orders to define their risks, and that’s smart.

A lifetime ago I managed a small, independent hedge fund that traded commodities with a trend-following strategy. This strategy entered positions that I’d attempt to hold for weeks or months (if they were working).

Every position I had on had a resting stop-loss order working in the market, giving me comfort that I knew the most I could lose if I was wrong.

All that comfort I was enjoying changed one day after a trip to my clearing firm’s office in downtown Chicago.

I sat down with one of the firm’s risk managers for a simple “get-to-know-you” chat. He was curious about my...

If you would've told me a few months ago that we'd see a large crypto exchange (FTX) go bust and later a number of big banks become insolvent and collapse to zero, I would've laughed you out of the room if you followed up with: "...and bitcoin will rally."

I mean, there is no way I would've agreed with that sentiment.

Thankfully, I don't get paid for my opinions. Because the market couldn't care less about what I think.

The strength in Bitcoin (and crypto in general) has truly been a sight to behold in recent months and in particular over the last few weeks.

The poster child instrument to play bitcoin in the equities market is via Microstrategy $MSTR. For those with their head in the sand on all thing bitcoin, this software services company has transformed itself into essentially a bitcoin ETF, having invested all of its working capital into bitcoing, and taking loans to leverage into even more bitcoin.

We'll leave the discussion on whether or not this is crazy to another blog post. But for now, MSTR offers us a great way to participate in continued strength in bitcoin and we're going to do it with a defined risk options spread.

The shorter my timeframe, the shittier the market. ~ Brian Lund @bclund

That quote was uttered during a Twitter spaces I hosted yesterday in which we discussed the emergence of “0-DTE” options and the opportunities and challenges they are spawning.

As Brian brought...

We're still in premium-selling mode until the market calms down.

That said, we're not taking any wild risks. This time, we're targeting the relatively tame utility sector and defining our risks. April expiration will become the "front-month" next week, so this delta-neutral spread should pay relatively quickly if the trade works.

All things considered, the tech sector is holding up well. This gives me some comfort that this is an area we can sell some delta-neutral options premium to ride out this market volatility.

But we're going to do so carefully, defining our risks and playing it conservatively.

Check out this chart of the Technology Sector ETF $XLK:

The horizontal lines on this chart represent areas we can sell April options premium at that feel far enough away for me to like our odds.

We're going to get involved with an Iron Condor.