I'll start by saying: this is no ordinary week. But you knew that.

If you are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for all this craziness to subside, that is not a bad idea at all. There is no reason to put our money at risk if we can't get a handle on our own emotions during this highly uncertain time.

That said, for those who are willing to wade into these choppy waters with me -- these insane premiums offer us the ability to sell premium FAR away from current prices. I'll share with you my simple game plan for this week.

The boys were out with a bullish piece on China stocks, citing oversold conditions. As JC said: "If the world isn’t ending after all, this could be an interesting place to look for huge winners."

So I've got my eye on a big name that has held up pretty well, all things considered.

The current market calamity is certainly not sparing many of our long or delta neutral positions. The good news for us is the majority of them have defined risk.

At the open this morning, many of our positions traded through our stop-out levels. But an important point to remember here is that we're looking to see a CLOSE below our stop levels. We're don't jump on an exit the second a level is broken intraday.

There is a lot of trading left in today's session. This is not the time to be dumping defined-risk positions into the hole.

Careful what you wish for?

Options premium sellers profess a deep and undying love for elevated volatility. But when they get it, are they willing to act? Sometimes when you're in it -- like right now -- it can feel very scary. The urge to sit it out may overtake you. I get it. Been there.

For those of us who plow ahead and like to take advantage of opportunities when statistical edges are backing them up, this next trade is for us.

The team is out with a couple bullish pieces on the metals sector this week. This chart in Gold, in particular has my attention:

This looks like an upside move I want to play.

Feels to me the stock market is at one of those inflection points. Personally, I'm finding it difficult to find trades that I'm willing to bet too aggressively long here. But on the flip side, I'm not willing to get aggressively short here either. In situations like this, the best move is often to patiently wait for the market to tip her hand. Problem is, we all know waiting is the hardest part (cue Tom Petty).

Of course, there are strategies options traders can employ profitably when the expected move is a sideways chop fest. And the best way to line the odds of profitability more in our favor is to find situations where a sideways grind has already begun to take shape and it is coupled with higher than average volatility being priced into the options. When selling premium, this gives us some nice cushion to absorb some moves.

I've found just such a situation for us to take advantage of.

JC is out with a piece today that is bearish on Latin America broadly, and more specifically, Mecradolibre $MELI.

Here's the money line:

Here is the chart showing Mecradolibre failing once again near this 677 level that has been trouble since last year. There is clearly still an overwhelming amount of supply here. The bet is that $MELI gets back down to 517, which would put it near the lower end of this multi-year range:

The stock is expensive so if getting short a $650 stock feels pretty unappealing to you, I've got an options trade that may be more palatable.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, eh? Tesla put on a show, Coronavirus, we've gotten a little two-sided action in the broader markets, and volatility reminded us it still exists. But as we know, volatility fades. And right now, there is some elevated premium levels too tempting to ignore. So we're selling some premium here.

This is the video recording of the February 2020 Conference Call for Members of All Star Options

"It's a Miracle!" has probably been uttered through tears by stock market bears, news watchers, and particularly Tesla $TSLA bears repeatedly in recent weeks. We're not sorry. If you ignore price action, well... that's on you, friendo.

That said, we've got our own "miracle" play that is setting up nicely...

Well here we are, the first "panic" of 2020. Markets are selling off a bit, the TV and twitter birds are chirping, trying their best to get you to act irresponsibly in your portfolio.  And maybe you're even feeling a bit of unfamiliar heat on some of your long positions. Time to get scared, right?

Maybe. I dunno. But this I do know -- fear subsides. And in options trading parlance, volatility mean reverts. I'm stepping in and selling the fear today.

In a recent piece, JC laid out the case for why we should be considering some bullish plays in the Utilities sector. A bunch of the stocks mentioned have already broken out, but another one is setting up nicely today so we're getting to work here.