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Why I Don't Like Trading Options On McDonald's

Same stores sales are up 6.8% in Q4 2025. With inflation and rising labour and food costs, 6.8% is not really very much. Then the rumours about 2,000 or so more outlets opening up this year are the same projections that we heard over the last few years. What they always forget to tell us is the number of their restaurants shutting down. Why might some be shutting down? Well maybe a new highway going is diverting some of the road traffic off in a different direction or a neighbouring high school is closing down. Four years ago they lost some restaurants in Russia. Now look at this. Next this. McDonald's trading on the close back on Thursday. It had a good day. There is new talk about a bigger and better "Big Arch" meal with a bigger burger with a better tangy and creamy sauce. Now this. Today's one day chart. It's Monday. Now it's one day of Call option trading. Look at the volume of trading on these Call options. Over 6,000 contracts. The open interest ...
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The Power Of "One-Month-Out-Options" For Short Term Gains.

It helps when the markets rally on a Monday but that's a secondary issue.
This blog is about stocks in the seventy dollar price range with options on them staggered in thirty day intervals. Is trading in options which trade in only in thirty day intervals better than options on stocks in the same price range that expire every Friday? My experience is that options on stocks that trade every thirty days tend to attract less interest which in turn means that they are less susceptible to "market-maker" manipulations. Yet this isn't really a point I want to debate. Now this, a look at the seventy series of Calls on "Carmax" at the end of the trading session today.
Bid 5:70 ask 5:90. Only two options traded on the day. Let's now look at it's five day chart.
So it jumped a touch but nothing to crazy. Now this, I did a blog last Friday, my previous blog where I showed what the same options were trading at on that day. Here is the printout I want to show.
A 10:39 a.m. readout on Friday morning showing only three option contracts traded with a last trading price traded of $4.07. Is there a lesson here to be gained? Yes, thinly traded "one-month-out" options can be successfully traded. What appreciations are there to be gained? Well there is less market maker manipulations. When you put in a closing sell ticket for only one, two or three contract and if the trend of the stock is upwards you will get a fill without going through the game of watching option makers wiggle the "bid-and-ask" in their favour. One month out options, played correctly are also less stressful to hold because the premiums built into an options price for it's time value will not disappear as quickly as the premiums built into one week out options. That's just the way I see it.

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