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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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Deere Again. Tesla's Call Are More Exciting To Watch But Deere Calls Are Also Somewhat Interesting

Seasoned option traders are a clever breed. Why? Well they know how to avoid traps meaning they know how to stay away from dangerous situations. Look at this current situation. Deere got clobbered today, Thursday October 3th. Down $7.80 on the day. Look at this.
What does this show? It shows the closing price of $3.30 that this series of slightly "in-the-money" Calls traded at, and it shows the number of contracts traded today on the day. Only eight. Once again, these are "in-the-money" Call options that expire tomorrow. Now this. A look at how these same Call options traded the next day, a Friday. Wouldn't you think that there might be some kind of a rebound after a stock dropped this much in one day?
The high on the day for these Calls was $3.50 a contract, an increase of only twenty cents from the previous day. My point once again is that option traders are a special breed who stayed away and resisted the impluse of trying to recapture some of the $7.80 that Deere lost on the previous day. Now a thirty day look at how Deere has traded. Up over $30.00 or one dollar a day!
Is Deere still in an uptrend? The drop of over $7.00 in one day on no news is a bit disconcerning. In previous blogs I have mentioned how playing 30 days Calls on Deere is the way to go. Now look at this "year-to-date" chart on Deere.
Are option traders who play Deere on a regular basis focused instead on purchasing next weeks Call options with the same striking price, or the Call options two weeks out? Here are the answers to those two questions.
Once again, few option traders find value with trading Deere options. Contrast this to the volume of trading on Friday on Tesla Calls about ten dollars "out-of-the-money".
They closed on Thursday at five dollars a contract and and hit an inner day high on Friday of two hundred and seven dollars a contract. Here is it's five day chart and look at the bounce it had on Friday morning.
Think of the stories that some traders would have on this kind of action. Who would have the guts to be holding one day Call options ten dollars "out-of-the-money" on Tesla on Thursday's closing market? Just by coincidence the caption on the front page of Barron's Oct. 7th states "Tesla's Turning Point". "Robotaxi Day" is happening later this week. Tesla options vs Deere options. You decide. Both are playable.

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