Ring A Ding Dinged...

I keep getting dinged and I still go back into the ring...  

After tonnes of black eyes and a multitude of punches in the nose, I still go back to options trading like an 8 year old girl humming along to 'Hey Stephen' at a Taylor Swift concert.  So far, strangles and straddles seem to have slowed down the law of diminishing returns for me, but not today.

AAPL is my guinea pig, so if I notice price action not following through tomorrow, I will finetune my FB strategy.  It looks like the stock is dropping off a cliff in Extended Hours Trading even though the company beat on both topline and bottom line.  At one point it was a hair away from $500, so thank God I didn't go postal and unilateral here.  Will the sell-off intensify tomorrow or will both my calls and puts get sold?

Things appear to be deteriorating by the day in the options market.  People seem to be more interested in selling calls now and a FB straddle was worth over $8 last week and worth just $6 something this week.  

Unless there's a level I like on FB, I'm staying out.  If there's one thing I can control right now, it's my trading discipline.  

It's clear that investors aren't interested in LEAPs and we have to take it as a sign that the market is just not seeing that upside 6 months from now or people would be buying this stuff hand over fist.  All year, LEAPS were getting sold and the only way they'll go up is via the Greater Fool Theory.  So far, I've been the Greatest Fool by buying LEAPS when the all-time highs first started hitting.  

LEAPS are good for market bottoms, not potential tops.  


-12.68% SBA
+0.89% Roth IRA (the Good Lord must have heard my prayers...)

-0.01% DJIA
-0.08% Nasdaq 
+0.13% S&P 

+0.07% FTSE
-0.14% Eurofirst
+2.19% Nikkei
+0.04% Shanghai
-0.55% SENSEX
+0.48% Hang Seng

+0.75% WTI
+2.32% Brent
+0.09% Gold
-0.09% Copper
-2.05% Corn


0.78 Put / Call Ratio


0.108 Treasurys | DTCC GCF Repo Index
0.113 MBS | DTCC GCF Repo Index


+0.39% DJT
+2.22% VIX

+0.16% 5-Year US Treasury Notes
+0.36% 10-Year US Treasury Notes

44% Advancing Issues on NYSE                        |   45% Up Volume
53% Declining Issues on NYSE                         |   54% Down Volume
3% Unchanged                                              |   1% Unchanged
191 New Highs   |   8 New Lows 

47% Advancing Issues on Nasdaq                     |   43% Up Volume
49% Declining Issues on Nasdaq                      |   55% Down Volume
4% Unchanged                                              |   2% Unchanged
181 New Highs   |   17 New Lows




Today's Major Headlines

Mizuho's Flaws Opened Doors To Gangsters

AAPL Beats, Shares Fall, ForexDiva Gets Dinged

Batista: Billionaire To Bankrupt?