Blackberry Bears Bulk Up On Long-Dated RIMM Put Options
by Option Review - May 9th, 2011 4:02 pm
Today’s tickers: RIMM, MBI, HRB & MET
RIMM - Research in Motion, Ltd. – Investors taking a long-term bearish stance on the Blackberry maker initiated put butterfly spreads on the stock today, which yield maximum benefits in the event that the stock is trading well beneath its current 52-week low by expiration in January 2012. Shares in the Ontario, Canada-based company fell as much as 2.8% during the session to touch down at an intraday low of $44.71. A number of analysts lowered their share price targets on RIMM in recent days as rival Apple continues to encroach on the company’s share of the smartphone market. Butterfly spreads on the stock suggest some options players expect RIMM’s losing streak to continue into next year. Investors purchased around 3,500 puts at the January 2012 $40 strike for an average premium of $3.77 each, sold 7,000 puts at the January 2012 $37.5 strike at an average premium of $2.83, and picked up 3,500 puts at the January 2012 $35 strike for an average premium of $2.10 apiece. Net premium paid to initiate the put ‘fly amounts to just $0.21 per contract. The parameters of the strategy imply an average breakeven share price of $39.79. Maximum potential profits of $2.29 per contract are available on the spread should shares in RIMM plunge 16.1% from the current price of $44.71 to settle at $37.50 at expiration in January. The strategy employed substantially reduced the overall cost of taking a long-term bearish view on the Blackberry provider. Investors long the butterfly spread paid an average of just $0.21 per contract, but could make up to $2.29 per contract if shares behave as they anticipate. The reward-to-risk ratio is a sweet 10.9-to-1 on this strategy. Options implied volatility on RIMM is up 7.4% as of 12:10pm in New York to stand at 46.35%.…
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 
del.icio.us
DiggBullish Player Acts on Gymboree Corp. Speculation with Ratio Call Spread
by Option Review - October 2nd, 2010 6:32 am
Today’s tickers: GYMB, EQIX, JPM, SLV, STI, MBI, EEM, SNP & GDX
GYMB - Gymboree Corp. – One options player populating the retailer of children’s clothing and accessories waited until the twilight of the final trading day of the week to initiate a bullish stance on the stock. Gymboree’s shares surged as much as 21.425% at the start of the session to touch an intraday high of $50.44 on speculation the firm may put itself up for sale. The rumors drove implied volatility on Gymboree up 20.10% to 48.52% this morning along with the price of the underlying shares and spurred demand for options. Shares as well as volatility cooled somewhat by late afternoon, with shares up 16.5% at $48.40 and volatility higher by 13.5% to 45.85%, as of 3:00 pm ET. The patient bullish player looked to the February 2011 contract to establish a ratio call spread, purchasing 1,050 calls at the Feb. 2011 $48 strike at a premium of $4.80 each, and selling 2,100 calls at the higher Feb. 2011 $55 strike for a premium of $1.85 a-pop. Net premium paid to initiate the spread reduces down to $1.10 per contract. Thus, the trader is poised to profit should GYMB’s shares rally 1.45% over the current price of $48.40 to surpass the effective breakeven price of $49.10 by February expiration day. Maximum potential profits of $5.90 per contract are available to the ratio-spreader if the retailer’s shares surge 13.6% to settle at $55.00 at expiration. The greater proportion of sold calls expose the trader to losses should Gymboree’s shares explode higher to exceed the effective upper breakeven price of $60.90 ahead of expiration day in February. Analysts at Susquehanna raised their share price target on the stock to $60.00 from $48.00 after the Wall Street Journal’s website said bankers were looking into the possibility that Gymboree could be sold to private equity.
EQIX - Equinix, Inc. – The provider of global data center services appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner in…
Weak Weekly Wrap-Up – Charting Uncertain Waters
by Phil - May 8th, 2010 5:43 am
I’m just doing a quick wrap-up this week because, surprisingly, it MIGHT be time for a new Buy List!
I had said to Members on Cinco de Mayo, in our 5% Rule Review, that if we broke below 1,155 we would retrace all the way to 1,100 with our 5% Rule resistance points around 1,100 at 1,155, 1,114, 1,100, 1,073 and 1,045. We actually spiked as low as 1,066 on Thursday but finished the week at a very sad 1,110 as we watched for that "weak bounce" zone to be broken all day. This does not bode technically well for the markets next week but I told Members we would have to give the markets a pass for the day. Based on the uncertainty of the weekend, we can’t expect a lot of capital commitments ahead of the EU decision. After all, we’re in cash – why shouldn’t other smart funds be too?
When I predicted we’d hit 1,000 on Wednesday, I did not think it would be on Thursday! The markets are now negative for the year and the S&P has spiked almost to the Feb low of 1,044 (and our lowest close was 1,056). That’s right, these 5% Rule numbers are the SAME ones we used back then and it’s the same series we used to measure our winter run at the end of last year. We expect a bounce here, hopefully at least a test of 1,155 on a relief rally if Greece is "fixed" yet again on Monday but we’re not going to be too impressed until we’re over that line.
Still that means it’s time to at least lay out a new Watch List, which is the prelude to a Buy List – giving us a list of stocks we’d like to get into at lower prices. Our last Member Watch List was back in December and by Feb 6th we had our famous Buy List, which we triggered at Dow 10,058 for a very successful run through March 18th ("Bye Bye Buy List!"), when we closed 2/3 of the positions and we have since cashed out the rest as I got more and more worried about the rally, finally calling for all cash last week.
Speaking of last week, for those of you who say I don’t pick enough straight stocks – I listed 33 short trade ideas from my unofficial "Sell List" last Friday (4/30) when the Dow was way up at 11,167…
Bears Out in Full Force as Market Takes a Nose-Dive
by Option Review - May 6th, 2010 5:34 pm
Today’s tickers: XRT, MBI, CAT, XHB, FLS, PCS & TWC
XRT – SPDR S&P Retail ETF – It’s not surprising that we are seeing bearish trading patterns emerge on the XRT, an exchange-traded fund designed to mirror the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index, with shares of the fund trading 5.30% lower as of 3:20 pm (ET) to stand at $40.25. One long-term pessimistic individual initiated a three-legged bearish options combination play on the XRT using both call and put options. It looks like the investor partially financed the purchase of a debit put spread by selling twice as many out-of-the-money call options by volume. The trader purchased 5,000 puts at the September $40 strike for an average premium of $2.42 apiece, and sold the same number of puts at the lower September $34 strike for a premium of $0.84 each. Finally, the investor reduced the premium outlay required to establish the transaction by selling 10,000 calls at the September $48 strike for a premium of $0.73 per contract. The net cost of the options combination play is reduced to just $0.12 per contract. The investor responsible for the pessimistic play makes money if shares of the underlying fund slip beneath the effective breakeven point at $39.08. Maximum potential profits of $5.88 per contract are available to the trader should shares of the retail fund plummet 15.5% from the current price to breach $34.00 by September expiration. Options implied volatility on the XRT is up 15% to 34.80% with roughly 40 minutes remaining in the trading day.
MBI – MBIA Inc. – Investors who earlier in the session scooped up large numbers of put options on the insurance company are likely pleased as punch given the subsequent 10.4% decline in MBIA’s share price to $8.81 as of 3:25 pm (ET). Bearish investors purchased approximately 50,000 puts at the June $7.0 strike for an average premium of $0.75 apiece at around 11:40 am (ET) this morning when shares of the underlying stock were trading at $9.30 each. The decline in share price since this morning coupled with the 25.2% increase in the overall reading of options implied volatility on the stock to 136.22% inflated premium on the June $7.0 strike puts, which are currently up 200% on the day to reflect an asking price of $0.90 per contract. Put buyers in this case are poised to amass profits should…
Wheeeeeeekly Wrap-Up
by Phil - April 17th, 2010 8:22 am
Wheeee! That was fun – let’s do it again!
There is nothing more fun than a nice, big dip in the roller coaster that you are prepared for and nothing more terrifying than a sudden, unexpected drop you were not prepared for (think air pockets on planes). I know my incessant harping on fundamentals gets annoying and makes me somewhat of a party pooper at market tops but think of my commentary as that "clack, clack, clack" sound you hear when a roller coaster is climbing to the top of the tracks – the sound lets you know there’s a big drop coming and the more clacks you hear – the bigger the dip is likely to be.
In fact, much like a roller-coaster, most of our well-prepared members were disappointed that we didn’t get a BIGGER dip on Friday but we’ve learned not to be greedy on the bear side and to quickly take those profits on our short-term plays while we let our long-term disaster hedges run wild, waiting patiently for the big score. By the way, it’s not that we’re perma-bears – far from it, when Cramer, Adami, Finerman, John AND Peter Najarian were telling you to crawl into a bunker and hide your head in the sand a year ago – I was the one yelling BUYBUYBUY while our hugely successful Buy List, which is the bulk of our virtual portfolios, has been all bullish since Feb 8th. Just because we think a rally is BS, doesn’t mean we don’t participate in it!
As a fundamentalist, I believe there is a market "truth" a real value that can be placed on stocks and indexes based on reality, not hype and, when the MSM hype stampedes the herd and takes the market (or an individual stock) too far one way or the other – we simply step in and take advantage of it. It’s not complicated but it takes a little bit more work than the average "Lightning Round" participant is used to so PSW is not for everybody – this is our JOB, not our hobby, but boy is it fun when we get it right!
Despite the sell-off this week, we still finished up over 11,000 on the Dow but poor 1,200 on the S&P couldn’t hold and Nas 2,500 was merely a brief flirtation. The NYSE fell all the way to 7,550, down 200 from Thursday’s…
Weekend Wipe-Out, the Second Wave!
by Phil - January 29th, 2010 5:57 pm
Another week another 100 points lower.
Yep, that’s all it was, we lost all of 100 points more than last week, when we fell from 10,725 to 10,172 (553 points) and this week we dropped from Friday’s Dow close of 10,172 all the way down to 10,067 yet you would think the world had come to an end to hear the media and the traders freaking out. I’m not going to try to explain it, I can’t. Maybe it’s because going into last week we were very bearish but, starting on the 22nd, we let ourselves finally get a little more bullish AND THE MARKET BETRAYED US!
How could the market not zoom right back up? It always zooms right back up, doesn’t it? As I said a week ago Friday: "Boy, when sentiment shifts – it REALLY shifts!" My closing comment on Friday the 22nd was "Back to cash but leaving disaster hedges, which are looking great now as this is shaping up to be some disaster" and our weekend "Global Chart Review" showed us to be at some very key inflection points, letting us go well prepared into this week:
Manic Monday Market Movement
My Jets lost on Sunday so I was not in the best of moods on Monday. My outlook that morning was: "We still have our disaster hedges in case things get worse but, on the whole, we’re expecting a 1% bounce in the very least off our 5% lines (anything less will be a bad sign)." We were pretty much at the 5% rule on Friday’s close so we focused on the bounce we wanted to achieve in order to get more bullish.
I noted that the levels we were looking for were not exactly 1% retraces (see post for reasons) and our target retraces were: Dow 10,300, S&P 1,105, Nasdaq 2,225, NYSE 7,100 and Russell 625. What were the highs for the week on those indexes? Dow 10,310 (+10), S&P 1,103 (-2), Nasdaq 2,227 (+2), NYSE 7,098 (-2) and Russell 621 (-4). So that’s a net of +4 points out of 21,355 points worth of predictions on the retrace, accuracy to within .019% - not a bad showing for our patented 5% rule.
Please, under NO circumstances subscribe to our daily newsletter, where you would have this kind of information every morning and DO NOT get an Alert Membership where we send out our amazingly accurate watch levels to you every day. Having this sort of advanced information…
Ford Call Options Gone Wild as Bulls Populate January 2011 Contract
by Phil - January 7th, 2010 4:31 pm
Today’s tickers: F, IPG, MBI, DAL, XLF, XHB, CROX, GME, BBBY & NVTL
F – Ford Motor Co. – Yesterday we reported on a short strangle play, which implied the automaker’s shares would likely remain within the realm of $10.00 to $12.00 for the next six months to expiration in June 2010. Today we observed bullish options activity in the January 2011 contract, which points to significantly higher shares for Ford in the next twelve months. The stock rallied again today, gaining 2% to reach a new 52-week high of $11.60 with just under 30 minutes remaining in the session. Bullish indications came in the form of a call spread and plain-vanilla call buying strategies. It looks like one investor purchased a large chunk of 50,000 calls at the January 2011 $17.50 strike for an average of $0.58 apiece. The trader responsible for the transaction benefits from this position only if Ford’s shares explode 56% over the current price to surpass the breakeven point at $18.08 by next January. The parameters of the call spread also implies a significant increase in shares of the motor company by 2011, but the nature of the spread limits upside profit potential, whereas the plain-vanilla call buyer’s profits are potentially limitless. The investor responsible for the spread selected the more conservative January 2011 $15 strike to purchase approximately 6,000 calls for an average premium of $1.06 per contract. The other half of the debit spread involved the sale of the same number of calls at the higher January 2011 $22.50 strike for about $0.20 each. The net cost of the bullish play amounts to $0.86 per contract and positions the investor to accrue profits above the breakeven price of $15.86. Maximum potential profits of $6.64 per contract are available to the trader if Ford’s shares rally a whopping 94% from the current value to $22.50 by expiration in January of 2011.
IPG – Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. – A long straddle strategy initiated on the advertising and marketing company implies one investor expects greater volatility in the price of the underlying through expiration in February. The inherent nature of the long straddle suggests shares of IPG may swing dramatically in the next few weeks. Interpublic’s shares are currently off 2.5% to stand at $7.27 in afternoon trading. The straddle-player purchased about 2,000 puts at the February $7.50 strike for an average premium of…
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(