CAT Puts

Let's start with a definition of volatile. "Liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse". "Ford" is priced somewhere in the $13.00 range with with volatile "Put" and "Call" options offering excellent liquidity. Here now is a five day chart on "Ford" and here is the closing price of the 13.50 series of "Call" options. Let's see what happens tomorrow. Bid .14 and ask .15. Buy one hundred contracts near the close today and see if you can get out tomorrow morning and make $500.00. Yet then again the chart is going sideways so what happens if the stock sells off on the opening tomorrow and your stuck with "out-of-the-money" Call options" with only four days life left in them? That wouldn't be fun to wake up to. The chart doesn't help us very much. The point is that looking for directional moves on stock early in the week is a difficult game to play. Here now is the next ...

"Boeing" is up over eleven dollars on the day and the DJI is up over 350 points. It's 1:17 p.m. in the afternoon on a Wednesday. What are the odds of being able to make money playing "Boeing Puts" on the downside which expire this Friday? 50:50? The real question is why would you want to? The stock is now up over twelve dollars on the day. Here is the daily chart and here are two near term "Put" option positions. Would now be a good entry point looking for a reversal? Notice in the twelve minute difference in the period of time between these two printouts "Boeing" has gone up by almost a dollar. Other stocks like "Disney" and "Caterpillar" sometimes have five dollar a day rallies and sometimes they don't stop going up for a couple of days. When a stock goes up twelve dollars in one day you can't really wander in willy nilly hoping for a reversal. Now here is an end of the day chart on "Boeing". Lo...

Strange times for sure, a one time Friday afternoon rally. All was relatively calm at noontime followed by an upward surge. Look at these two series of "out-of-the-money" "Call" options on two different stocks I often blog about. Who at noon last Friday would want to jump into "out-of-the money" positions on option series with only four hours to go? Only people watching mulitple screens who were witnessing almost everything going up. Look at the highs and lows of these interday moves. What a smooth and somewhat unrelenting market rise. Moves of this magnitude only happen a few times each year.

This blog is going to write itself. Look at this chart and look at the volume of trading. There are no options on it. . Some traders watch on their screens lists of the most actively traded stocks looking to daytrade situations like this. It's a different way to trade. Let's see what Monday's action brings. A Tuesday March 9th update, Look at these premarket prices! Look at the volumes of trading in the last few days. This stock can't keep on going up forever.