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Long-Term Bulls Are Active Today: Options Recap

Long-Term Bulls Are Active Today: Options Recap

Cell phones and natural gas. Those are some big trades in the options market today. Let's start with Sprint (S), which saw the purchase of 20,000 May 7 calls for $0.50 and the sale of 40,000 May 8 calls for $0.21. It's a little complicated, so here's a breakdown of...

History May Favor Bulls This Quarter, Despite Volatility

History May Favor Bulls This Quarter, Despite Volatility

Stocks are coming off their worst week since March, but history may favor the bulls. After all, we're in the fourth quarter -- a time of the year with a strong bias to the upside. Consider some of these points we crunched from TradeStation's wealth of chart data: The...

Basics of Hedging, Part 3: Buying Vs. Selling Options

Basics of Hedging, Part 3: Buying Vs. Selling Options

We recently outlined protective puts and covered calls as common hedging techniques. This brings us to the important question of selling options versus buying options. To understand the these two basic kinds of transactions, traders need to recognize the difference...

Track Dozens of Industries with TradeStation

Track Dozens of Industries with TradeStation

Everyone wants to stay on top of the market. Where are the buyers, and where are the sellers? How do I find areas of strength and weakness? What if I want to see broader groups instead of just individual stocks? This is yet another time that TradeStation's...

What Just Happened to Airlines?

What Just Happened to Airlines?

Delta Air Lines (DAL) got a mention on yesterday's Market Action segment, and today it's hitting turbulence. Sure, management announced that it carried a record 15.2 million passengers in September. It also set new high-water marks in July and August. While that's...

Guess Who’s Shopping in the Retail Space

Guess Who’s Shopping in the Retail Space

Bears are shopping for downside in the retail space after a rough start to the month. A block of 40,000 December 47 puts was purchased this morning in SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) for $1.08. It was one of the largest transactions in the entire market. Puts can make...

Nasdaq Gets Slammed as Rates Shoot Higher

Nasdaq Gets Slammed as Rates Shoot Higher

Stocks began the fourth quarter in the red as interest rates spiked and money streamed out of the technology sector. The S&P 500 slid 1 percent between Friday, September 28, and Friday, October 5. But that was nothing compared with the Nasdaq-100's 3 percent drop...

Bulls Want a Gusher from South American Oil Giant

Bulls Want a Gusher from South American Oil Giant

Brazil's ripping this week, and today's biggest options trade is following the trend. Check out the bullish call spread this morning in oil giant Petrobras (PBR), the country's largest company by market cap: A block of 130,000 October 16 calls was bought for $0.28....

The Message Behind Yesterday’s Volatility Spike

The Message Behind Yesterday’s Volatility Spike

Yesterday was a reminder for traders who forgot what volatility feels like. The S&P 500 had its biggest drop since June 25, and Cboe's Volatility Index ($VIX.X) had its biggest spike over the same period. Even more impressive, TradeStation data showed 23.6 million...