Testy Tuesday - Have the Markets Become Comfortably Numb?
by Phil - January 19th, 2010 8:08 am
"There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
but I have become comfortably numb." - Pink Floyd
I have a theory that the markets (and the American people in general) aren’t irrational, they are simply shell-shocked after suffering a very traumatic group financial experience…
To be shell-shocked is to be "mentally confused, upset, or exhausted as a result of excessive stress" and the most common symptoms are: Fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one’s surroundings, and inability to prioritize - That certainly sounds like our Congress doesn’t it? Combat stress disorder was first diagnosed in WWI, when 10% of the troops were killed and 56% wounded - far worse than had been experienced in previous wars. Our current financial crisis has similarly affected more people than any previous crisis with almost everyone knowing someone who is bankrupt or lost their jobs or homes and almost no one escaped the carnage of the downturn without some financial damage.
Combat fatigue may go a long way to explaining the severe drop-off in volume that has plagued the markets since March, with participation now down to 25% of where we were last January and that leaves us open to the blatant sort of market manipulation that Karl Denninger caught last week as well as the usual nonsense we get daily from HFT programs that drive the market with such precision that we are able to tell how the day is going to go by simply checking our hourly volume targets. Here’s a clip from CNBC where a floor trader discusses market manipulation as a fact of trading (2 mins in).
As Nicholas Santiago points out on In The Money Stocks, "January is usually a very high volume month, yet it has started off the New Year even lighter than the last two months of 2009. Light volume markets are very difficult to short. Hence the old saying, ‘never short a dull market’." Not only is the market volume light, but over 60% of the trading volume is concentrated on 5 stocks: AIG, C, BAC, FNM and FRE!
We have often noted that high-volume (relatively) days almost always tend to be down days and PSW Members can tell you how the…
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PepsiCo sees large put volume
by Andrew Wilkinson - April 28th, 2009 5:08 pm
Today’s tickers: PEP, XLY, ITT, PFE, HUM, HSY, ERTS & NTRS
PEP PepsiCo, Inc. – The global beverage, snack, and food company’s shares have rallied by more than 1% to stand at $49.75. PEP popped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after a large volume bullish transaction was observed in the October contract. One optimistic individual targeted the October 50 strike price and sold 30,000 puts for a premium of 4.20 apiece out of some 35,000 puts sold in total at the strike. There is no existing open interest at the October 50 strike, and thus, the trade represents short selling in anticipation that shares will rise beyond $50.00 by expiration in October. This could also represent a covered put strategy (short stock and sold puts) indicating the investor’s expectation that shares might fall further. At expiration if shares are below the strike the investor would have stock put to him at $50.00 but the premium from the puts effectively reduces that price to $45.80.
XLY Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR – Shares of the ETF have risen by about 0.5% to $22.60 as the ticker edged onto our ‘most active by option volume’ market scanner this afternoon due to one investor who established a ratio put spread in the June contract. It appears that this trader is looking for downside protection on the fund and so bought 12,500 puts at the June 22 strike price for 1.30 apiece spread against the sale of 25,000 puts for 65 cents at the June 20 strike price. The put spread was initiated at no cost the trader given the premium of the respective puts. If shares should decline all the way to $20.00 by expiration this individual will have reeled in the maximum profit of 2.00 possible on the trade. Profits will begin to amass to the downside at any share price below $22.00. Despite carrying a net short put position below a share price of $20.00 losses would not accrue unless shares slipped beneath $18.00, but would rise penny-for-penny thereafter.
ITT ITT Corporation – Shares of the multi-industry company engaged in the design and manufacture of engineered products have remained relatively flat for the day and currently stand at $40.73. ITT appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner after one investor initiated a sold straddle in the July contract. It appears that the straddle was established by the sale of 4,790…
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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
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