Implied Volatility can be simply thought of as the “expensiveness” of options. There’s a bunch of math – but let’s keep this simple. I often use the analogy of insurance, which is actually more than an analogy; insurance is technically a put option. Let’s use homeowners insurance as an example. […]

In the last few weeks of March 2019, the headlines in financial media were consumed by the news of the inverted yield curve. What does an inverted yield curve mean? The U.S. Treasury issues bonds for different periods of time, e.g., 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 10 year, etc.. […]

Let’s suppose for a moment that Elon Musk is serious about a Tesla buyout at $420, how could you trade it? 1) Long Stock The first and most obvious approach for most traders is to buy shares. As of this writing, the stock is trading at $373.70. That gives you […]

Last Christmas, my wife and I received a full case of fresh Florida oranges as a gift from my parents. You can only eat so many delicious orbs of citrus goodness. With a dozen or so fresh oranges left, we broke out the juicer and squeezed them into a sweet […]

Implied Volatility is metaphorically like an onion. There’s a lot of layers. Once you peel a layer, there’s another one. Let’s start with the basics. The rest of the details come with more experience and understanding. Simply stated, Implied Volatility is the risk component in option pricing. Let’s take an example […]

If you really understood the VIX you would not trade it. On top of all the risks, which are frightening, it can be easily manipulated. You – and I mean YOU – can move the VIX with as little as $50. Only two kinds of people make money on the […]

OptionsANIMAL Raises Target Price for Apple (AAPL) to $190.75 and Expects Implied Volatility to Rise – Pleasant Grove, UT Despite technical warning signals, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares still have some room for growth.  Volatility behavior indicates there may be opportunities for options traders. OptionsANIMAL’s proprietary approach to trading begins by […]

When I tell people that I trade options, I often get the same response: options are risky. Frankly, options are the opposite of risky – when they are used properly – they give traders the ability to limit risk and also increase their odds of winning. You wouldn’t drive your […]

There has been no doubt that since March of 2009, the market has been in a consistent uptrend. This has been driven, in large part, by the Federal Open Market Committee’s quantitative easing (QE) through various mechanisms, including maintaining the Effective Federal Funds Rate at near zero – Zero Interest […]

What the heck happened to AAPL in the last few minutes of trading on Friday? If you were watching AAPL at the close on Friday, March 20, 2015, you would have noticed that there was a neck-breaking snap in direction. The stock was chugging along sideways and then, at exactly […]