Post-Exercise Of Naked Weekly Short Put, Selling IWM

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

Small-caps were big laggards last week.  IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, lost 2.5 percent, versus drops of 1.3 percent for the S&P 500 Index, 1.8 percent for the Dow Industrials and 1.7 percent for the Nasdaq Composite, among others. … Continued

Peek into future through futures

The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of April 21, 2015.  Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Are bond vigilantes expecting a hawkish tone from the FOMC next week?  The latter meets on 28-29.  For the most part, macro data … Continued

Options market is signaling pressure continues for stocks at least NT

posted in: Derivatives, Equities | 0

Bulls squander opportunity by failing to defend Tuesday’s lows on S&P 500 and Dow Put-to-call ratios just turning up, and have ways to go before they get overbought VIX surges 57% in three sessions; investors seek to protect 2014 paper … Continued

VIX says sky is clear, SKEW says institutions getting ready for clouds

posted in: Derivatives, Equities | 0

VIX:VXV itching to move higher, which could put stocks under pressure VIX suggests calm, but SKEW points to institutions buying tail-risk protection Put-to-call ratios have had extreme readings past several sessions on both CBOE, ISE The S&P 500 Large Cap … Continued

Options market waving green flag to stocks, for now

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

Options market at levels consistent with bottom in stocks, at least near-term Signal in midst of several other grossly oversold technical indicators Tone of rally to decide if it is investable or tradable bottom Extreme readings in the options market … Continued

Nervous money managers sticking with their longs, but buying protection

posted in: Derivatives, Equities | 0

In a global survey of 200 institutional money managers, the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch found that the pros are worried about the stock market and are buying protection against a crash.  They are worried about geo-political events and about interest … Continued