I agree. Lots to play on the upside. That said, lets not get crazy here. We still need to put ourselves in some high probability situations and not bet the farm on any one trade. So let's take a look at a good opportunity in that vein.
As I do at the end of every month, I scan across my portfolio of open positions and observe any positions which hold options nearing expiration in the upcoming month. Today being October 31, I'm setting my sights on November expiry.
I've been noticing some mostly sideways action in the oil & gas space in recent months. And with premiums somewhat elevated in options, delta neutral income strategies become extremely appealing.
Selling premium when options volatility is relatively high is a repeatable edge that plays out in my favor over time. So I like to put myself in position to take advantage of these situations as often as I can -- ideally when the underlying is caught in a range and my analysis indicates the range is likely to continue.
I found a stock where earnings have come and gone with little impact upon the overall trend, volatility collapsed (predictably), and now the only question left to ask is: when does the Santa Rally begin?
One of our bigger directional wins this summer/fall is showing signs of taking a breather, but traders with a memory are still keeping a bid under options prices. This is setting up the potential for a nice "income trade." When volatility is high (and therefore options premiums are juicy), and my bet is some sideways action in the near-term, these are the ideal situations to employ delta-neutral credit spreads.
The S&P 500 is back near highs. Call me crazy, but bullish setups in this environment with low volatility in the options get my antennae up for my favorite bullish strategy -- the simple long call. (Keep it simple, slugger!)
Sifting through all the trade ideas from the latest All Star Charts Quarterly Playbook, I happened upon a stock that is still several weeks away from earnings, is just a touch below all time highs, is trading at its lowest volatility of the year, and has a clearly defined risk management level. As you can imagine, this is pretty damn near the perfect set up for my favorite options play...
A funny thing about Gold is, people who have any kind of opinion on it are either EXTREMELY bullish, or EXTREMELY bearish. There tends not to be any middle ground. No surprise it is such a politicized instrument.
Well, I don't care about any of that. What I do care about is volatility priced into options in this space continues to be pretty juicy at the moment while prices of many Gold underlyings appear to be stuck in a sideways holding pattern. (You won't hear any talking head loudly yell on CNBC: "I THINK GOLD GOES SIDEWAYS!" LOL).
And the boys at ASC agree with me, having published a neutral opinion on it in their recently published ASC 4th Quarter Playbook. So let's get into the play that makes most sense from here.
Last month, I put a trade on that didn't work out. Believe me, it happens (shocking, I know! /EndObviousSarcasm). There was a level that invalidated my thesis and it was breached. I don't fight with price action. When price is speaking, I listen. So the trade was exited and I moved on, accepting my manageable loss.
Fast forward just one week from my exit and the chart has repaired itself and has established a newer, clearer level to lean my risk management against. My overall bullish thesis on this stock hasn't changed, and now with new levels to observe, I'm going back in for a new try with a similar spread, but at new strikes and a new expiration.
Geez... the calendar turned into October and traders are acting like Halloween is already here! The up-and-down trading action so far in the first three days of October can be downright frightening if you're chasing every whipsaw in this schizo tape.
Considering my portfolio is leaning a bit long at the moment, it feels prudent to put some downside exposure on.
The biotech space has been a laggard all year. If broader markets still have additional spook in them, it is likely biotechs will lead the way. So I'm positioning myself accordingly.
Ok, today's title is a cheeky play on the ticker symbol I'm trading today. I couldn't help myself.
Today I'm getting into a low conviction trade, but shifting the probabilities in my favor so that even if I'm wrong, I still have a good chance of reaching my profit objective. Pretty sweet, right? This is one of the many reasons I like trading options.
