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 […]

As another earnings season begins, options traders are presented with an opportunity to structure trades that aim to take advantage of the potentially explosive moves in stock prices that can occur with the release of earnings information and forward guidance. While it is often difficult to predict the direction a […]

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 […]

Volatility is back!  Perhaps that is the understatement of 2018 as we have watched global equity markets enter into- and rebound out of – correction territory in February.  Just two weeks ago the market theme was FOMO – fear of missing out – and traders/investors couldn’t snap up shares of […]

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 […]

As the S&P 500 continues to defy gravity at the start of 2018, investors are facing a bit of a dilemma.  The “greed” monster on one shoulder wants to stay long the market and continue to benefit from potentially higher equity prices despite the fact that this index has not […]

It’s that time of year again where we reflect on our successes as well as our not-so-successfuls… For many of us, this means that we review the areas of our activities that are the most important to us individually. To some, getting back in shape was their biggest resolution, or […]