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CarMax Puts?

 Here is the number. Call in to listen to their just released quarterly report. You won't have to talk to anyone. It is 800-839-1247. In about five days this link will disappear. Please listen to it. I listened to all of it once and to the first half of it two times. What I learned is that their retail car sales on the quarter compared to the same quarter a year were up 6%. They purchased 336.000 vehicles from the public, up 7% and 48.000 from dealers up 38%. Their average retail sale price was $26,100, down $400.00 per vehicle from last year. They doubled their share buy back program. AI technologies are now helping them operate more efficiently. Everything seems positive. But wait, we are talking about  the used car business and what could happen if consumer confidence suddenly starts to wain? Look at it's three year chart. It now sees to be hitting a rough patch.  Now a one month chart.  All of this talk about tariffs and what level of tariffs will be imposed on n...
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Caterpillar and Deere Having A Good Week.

First Caterpillar going into Friday August 16th, a five day chart.
Now Deere.
Imagine having options and catching one of these moves? Tesla and Boeing were also on fire this week. There was talk of unemployment numbers not meaning to much and talk of interest rate declines. Get in and get out when the times are good. The markets can change on a dime. I talked this week about Telsa Calls and said to get out prematurely and the same with Boeing Calls. But wait, there will always be more trading opportunities. That plus the markets did nothing on Friday after this monstrous run. There was no point in wasting your time watching your lists of favorite stocks after everything rallied so strongly on Monday to Thursday. Now the five day and one day chart on Deere.
Who would be buying Deere stock on Friday after it had a massive rally the previous day? I don't know. Now look at how these three series of Puts traded on Friday. The only reason I am showing them is to point out how option traders were smart enough to stay away from them. You would think that after such a big rally on the week more option players would have jumped in on the Thursday's close to purchase "near-to-the money" Puts, looking for a five or seven dollar selloff. Apparently not. Yet the stock did sputter on Friday's opening which would have presented an opportunity to squeak out a small but profitable Put trade.
Learning where and when to pick your battles is a big part option trading. ( The S&P500 index gained 3.9% this past week, marking its best week of the year, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 5.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2.9%.) This was one of the best weeks this year to be playing the upside.

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