USO in trading range
For a couple of weeks USO has been in a trading range between 32 and 33.5. Bought USO at 32.77 and sold S33 10-Sept calls at 0.30. Break even is 32.47, maximum profit is $0.53 per share.
Options
Are we at the bottom yet?
After several sell-off days with low volume, the buyers seem to be coming back. I bought SPY at 105.22, sold 27-Aug 106 calls at 0.58. Breakeven is 104.64. Maximum profit is $1.36 per share. Livevol shows the 27-Aug 106 IV’s at 28 and the 18-Sept monthly IV for the 106 calls at 24. Right now, Livevol’s IV numbers are the only ones I believe for …
XXV Prospectus
Update: Barclays terminated XXV in April 2018. There is no replacement product. ********************************************************** XXV Prospectus: XXV: Barclays Inverse VolatilityETNs Usually getting the prospectus for a new ETF or ETN takes a Google search and a couple minutes of browsing. The prospectus for Barclays’ new XXV inverse volatility ETN proved to be a much more elusive search—it didn’t show up in the top 20 hits. …
Trading puts in an IRA account
Most IRAs will allow buying puts (assuming you get the appropriate approvals), even if you don’t own the underlying in the account. This opens up the field for speculative uses of options, in addition to the buttoned-down protective put strategies. Recently I had deep in the money puts and OTM covered calls on SPY in my IRA account. As expiration approached I …
CBOE adds more weekly options—and drops a few
Looking at the 30-July version of AVAILABLE WEEKLIES spreadsheet on CBOE’s weekly page shows that next week adds some interesting options (USO, CSCO, DNDN, GE) , and drops some that were offered the week before (ABX, POT, XOM). Evidently the clever folks at CBOE are adding options for some stocks just for the week when they are reporting earnings. I suspect that USO, …
