We're about five weeks out from the start of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, but the Brazilian stock market ETF $EWZ looks like it wants to get a head start on the party. And its one of the few places in the Western hemisphere pricing in muted volatility. This sets up a nice opportunity.

We’ve had quite a bounce in US equities since the beginning of the year. And the longer this bounce holds, the more appealing the long side gets. However, it still doesn’t alleviate the very real risk that we might be in what could best be described as a classic bear market bounce. And if that is true, the downside from here on any newly initiated long positions could be severe.

In addition to broader indices, there are certain bellwether stocks we monitor continually to offer better clues as to the strength or weakness of the market. One such stock we monitor has not followed along with the prevailing winds in the market since the beginning of the year and according to our view, is at serious risk if the market were to pause and/or resume back to the downside.

From where I sit, the likelihood of a pause in this bounce is pretty high right now, and becomes even more so with each new closing high for 2019. So with the potential for a significant pullback rising, now feels like a great time to take a shot on a short position in this struggling bellwether.

The bounce in US stocks continues off the Christmas Eve low, but it is showing signs of short-term exhaustion. Does this mean we go right back to lows? Not necessarily. I'm in the camp that some sideways chop would be constructive for the markets overall. As such, I'm in the mode of looking for smart delta neutral trading plans.

The debate seems to be raging between Bulls and Bears as to what's happening right now. The Bulls are declaring THE bottom is in and we're going up from here. The Bears are smugly observing what they think is just another dead cat bounce on our way to lower prices. Who's right?

What if they are both wrong?

Ms. Market loves to frustrate the largest amount of participants she can, as often as she can. And it seems to me the best way to frustrate the most people right now would be for U.S. stocks to tighten up and grind sideways for a little while. With that in mind, we have a nice ETF candidate to sell some delta neutral premium in while the next market direction sorts itself out.

We're headed back to our friendly neighborhood bank teller at JP Morgan Chase. She seems to like handing us cash. Twice she has been quite generous to us and the post-Christmas bounce in shares of $JPM gives us extra interest in coming back for a third helping.

This is the video recording of the January 2019 Conference Call for Members of All Star Options

Just as the final week of the year -- the days between Christmas and New Year's Day -- are generally to be avoided by anyone looking to put new options trades on, so too are the first couple trading days of any new year. Especially this one. It was highly unlikely you were going to make your year by trading during the holidays, and similarly, there's no reason to believe that any trades you nail on the first trading days of 2019 will be memorable this time next year.

As I type this at 12:45am ET, overnight S&P Futures have already traded as high as +34  and as low as -25 from Monday's close. And I expect further indecisiveness to be pervasive during the first two full trading days in 2019. Sure, the nimblest of day traders likely will have a lot of action this week to make it worth their while, but those of us looking to put on options spreads with several weeks or months until expiration will best be served letting some of the nuttiness of the first 48 hours shake out. As such, we'll be sitting on our hands until the end of the week, waiting until Friday to put on our first new position of 2019 (stay tuned!).

Happy New Year everyone! We're happy you're here. 2018 was a great first year for All Star Options. We pulled some profits out the market in both directions, we had some fun, and its been an incredibly rewarding challenge for me personally to share my experience with all of you and teach you some of the tricks of the trade I've learned in my 20 years tackling the markets.

We always welcome questions from the community about existing trades, questions about position management, and questions about our insight into various scenarios and trade ideas. And as such, I thought I'd take some time today, as we head into the new year, to lay out the way we think All Star Options subscribers can get the most out of their experience here and address some common requests we receive.

U.S. Stock Markets will only be open for a half day tomorrow Monday December 24th for Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day. And the following week will follow a similar pattern, being completely closed on Tuesday, January 1.

And the muck in between is no-man's land, especially given the market we're current in as best described by our pal Howard Lindzon: "This is one shitty market."

Unless you've got positions in distress that need defending in this sloppy, bearish tape, it's best to sit on the sidelines and wait until Wall Street gets back to work for real after New Year's Day. As such, we will not be adding any new positions to the All Star Options portfolio this week.

We're fortunate

Coming down the homestretch of 2018 and Mother Market sure is making it interesting. Will a "Santa Claus" rally save global stocks? Or is the Grinch quietly whispering in her ear?

Speaking of the Grinch and classic holiday movies, my family's Netflix consumption has been on the rise this holiday season. But as we know, the stock market is a forward looking mechanism and the outlook as foretold by prices is suggesting that softness is ahead for $NFLX stock.

This being the holiday season and all, you'd be forgiven if you didn't want to put on any new risk heading into the New Year. But for those of us still standing in the ring ready to do battle, $NFLX is streaming a tasty short play opportunity.

From where I sit, the correction in banks is a long way from being resolved, and one of the biggest names in the biz appears to be teetering on the edge of a much more significant drop than already experienced. It's now down for the year and significantly below both 50- and 200-day moving averages.