Sep 20, 2013
Trading Block: A mild day on the street. Watch out! SPY ex-dividend today. Metals hosting a "Volapalooza"
Odd Block: Calls Trade in Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), calls trade in Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (EGLE), put buyers in Sealed Air Corp (SEE), and calls trade in Meritor Inc. (MTOR).
Xpress Block: Tesla is still on a tear. CME metal trading very active.
Listener Mail: You have the questions, we have the answers.
- Question from Buckeye6 - I am a new listener catching up on the archives. On an earlier episode, Mark mentioned the OX platform highlights which options qualify for reduced commissions to close. But I do not see what he is talking about. Where do I find this information? Thank you.
- Question for the Option Block from Luke: "Uncle Mike" has suggested that if one has a spread that has gone in the money, the short leg can be rolled up by at least one strike, with a goal of breakeven or near breakeven. He suggested waiting until the day before expiration, but I have an ITM spread, so thought I would look at it one day early. I have a bear call spread on SPY: Short Sep 170 (sold at $0.59), long Sep 172 (bought at $0.255), when SPY was at about $165. It never reached my 70% profit target, before going ITM this week. With the no taper announcement, SPY has gone to $173.03. Today (Wednesday before expiration) I could buy the 170 call for $3.07, and sell the 172 for $1.30, which looks very far from breakeven, unless I greatly misunderstood what he meant by breakeven in this context. Actually, the spread on the 170 call is 3.03-3.11, but still. Even if these calls went to 0 extrinsic, how could I ever get breakeven here? Or did I just get a really really bad price on my initial short fill? For completeness, the long 172 call is trading for about $0.94. Thank you for a great show!
Around the Block: AKA taper watch