Out-Of-The-Money Naked Call On XLY — Willing to Go Short Near 77

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

The Consumer Discretionary SPDR ETF (XLY) made an all-time high of 77.89 toward the end of April, and has more or less traded sideways in the past three months – closing Monday at 76.52.  This ETF is an important one … Continued

Weekly Out-Of-The-Money Naked Call On QQQ To Possibly Go Short

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

The PowerShares QQQ (110.05), the ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100, seems to want to go lower, at least near-term. When the Qs broke out of 104-plus in February, it quickly added nearly four percent, rallying seven-plus percent for the … Continued

Shorts Only Hitting Singles And Doubles, Longing For Home Run

posted in: Equities | 0

Buy-the-dippers have been a roadblock to shorts’ success. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that the prevailing buy-the-dip mentality in U.S. equities has done to this bull market what oxygen does to a fire.  When O is present, … Continued

IWM: Weekly Credit Call Spread To Benefit From Probable Downward Pressure N/T

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

IWM breaks out of 11-month range early Feb, but momentum slipping; loses Oct 14 trendline Short interest building from low level; large specs adding to net shorts in recent weeks Credit call spread to take advantage of probable sideways/down move … Continued

Whipsaws aplenty; difficulty distinguishing signal from noise

posted in: Derivatives, Equities | 0

Put-to-call ratios, VIX:VXV point to potential selling pressure in stocks But large specs expecting lower VIX not in agreement with peers betting on lower SPX Task of separating wheat from chaff – which signal to treat as signal and which … Continued

Buyback-induced breakouts — signal or noise?

posted in: Economy, Equities, Technicals | 0

GE stages massive breakout Friday on back of massive buyback announcement S&P 500 companies splurged $565 billion on share repurchases in 2014 As/when buybacks dry up, support zones become more vulnerable Before last week, GE shares had been on a … Continued

End-March short interest: Indices flat, lots of changes industry- and sector-wide

posted in: Equities | 0

Short interest as of the end of March was flat on an index level, but action was hot and heavy on an industry/sector level. On the NYSE, short interest was 15.68 billion, down from 15.69 billion two weeks ago.  On … Continued