ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
In mid-February, I posted Groupon (GRPN) as a bearish post-earnings play (see “Groupon Loses Gains From Facebook IPO Hype And Put Options Soar“). At the time, I claimed that the stock would linger around its $20 IPO price for a while after the immediate post-earnings selling. Sure enough, GRPN hung around $20 for another two … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 18, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) On February 10, I rushed to create a short-term bearish setup on Google (GOOG) based on the sudden surge in volatility. I concluded that if the volatility gains anticipated stock losses … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 13, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) When Facebook filed its IPO papers with the SEC on February 1, the news lit a rocket under almost all things internet. Stocks across the industry got revalued just because Facebook … Read more
(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are posted on twitter using the #120trade hashtag) T2108 Status: 84% (overbought day #29) … Read more
With tongue reaching for the cheek last week, I declared the market both extremely undervalued and very overvalued, guessing that “as earnings season grinds on, I suspect the near-predictable pattern of post-earnings fades will finally wear thin, giving way to more bullish behavior.” I did not expect the turn to happen so clearly and dramatically … Read more
It appears that this month’s WYNN strangle options play will fail. Relative calm has returned to WYNN (Wynn Resorts Ltd.) shares as the stock has remained flat since I launch the trade. There have been moments of action. WYNN dropped over 10% from recent highs to begin the month, but I chose not to close … Read more
Schaeffer’s Investment Research is reporting today that the Macau IPO for Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) has been meet with heavy put buying the past two days. October 65 puts were popular yesterday and the bearish trading has extended to the 60 strike today. The option strangle trade I outlined last week on WYNN uses the … Read more
It seems traders in ReneSola (SOL) are moving one step too slowly. Options traders loaded up on Oct 7.5 calls earlier this month, only to be greeted with last week’s news that SOL’s revenues would come in a little light based on weaker than expected pricing. SOL also announced a fresh offering of 14.4M in … Read more
Casino stocks have soared since the July market lows. September in particular has featured some near parabolic moves as shorts get squeezed and risk-seeking behavior has accelerated. Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) has caught my attention the past two months because its large swings in stock price have made option strangles quite profitable. In a strangle, … Read more
Last week, I noted heavy call activity in MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) that was notable enough to lure me into buying. Today, WFR continued its impressive recovery from an earnings warning with an 8% one-day pop giving it a 17% run since the close following warning. Briefing.com attributed today’s trading to takeover speculation. Whatever the … Read more