Margin Calls, Tariffs. Gold is going down. For me, its the start of a crash.

Which Spy/ S&P500 puts are you recommending?

I trade on fidelity, but I found a tool on TT that I use because I can't find it on fidelity. So, given the 4 things that reinforce in visual (I need visual) my firm belief given an unprecedented act of one person will DEFINITELY add to uncertainty in the already fearful market sentiment I hope to open a position, maybe premarket, at anything under $3000. That's my limit.

I'll keep you posted. I have short term memory issues, hence the visual way of thinking, so if one person would comment, so I get the Gmail that I can use as another memory tool for me to keep you posted. If I can't get it for the right price, I'll post by 9pm tomorrow so you can go about your other reads.

Thanks for any who support this decision.

SPY- Predictions Monday opening?

I was daily / weekly trading GOOG from its previous November lows, keeping the earned capital gains as cash then reinvesting the principal. I got caught up in the decline since their last earnings with my current cost basis is $203 on 500 shares. My friend recommended selling covered calls. I have an exit price of $170-180 that I would be okay with if the stock price surged. Does it make sense to sell covered calls with strike prices between $170-180?

Hi all,

Obviously many of us have differing opinions on what is going to happen this upcoming week. Many think we are due for a black Monday, many think we will get a dead cat bounce/bull trap, and many think this is the bottom and the President is going to reverse course on tariffs this week.

I think what everyone can agree on is that this is a time of high volatility, and a lot of money can be made if you determine which way it's going to go.

Personally I do think Trump will reverse course at some point, I just don't know when. I do also think we will get a bounce next week, but that it may be short lived.

I am looking at selling some cash secured puts on some of my favorite stocks on Monday, with an expiry for this Friday. If I'm wrong, I am OK owning stocks the stocks I am selling puts on at these levels, or about 5-10% lower as I will be selling puts OTM.

Anyone else here planning on doing the same thing this week? It seems that we will be perhaps due for a volatility crush bringing options prices down as the VIX is quite high, it seems like a fairly decent bet.

Curious if others are doing the same and what tickers they might be targeting. I would love to have a discussion on this!

Goal is to maximize risk-adjusted returns (on $12k)over the next 12 months by:

1. Protecting against near-term downside in TQQQ through a low-cost bear put spread

2. Generating monthly income and hedging against market drops using SQQQ shares and covered calls

3. Capturing long-term upside potential in TQQQ via a LEAP call spread with defined risk

4. Maintaining a fully allocated, diversified options strategy within a Roth IRA to take advantage of tax-free growth, while avoiding uncovered or margin-dependent positions

Anyone using these or planning to put one on? Planning around a spy or xsp 45dte and I think it’s going to continue lower but don’t want much risk to the upside

I got lucky with the specific timing for some 5/16 QQQ puts. I've already sold enough to recoup double the total investment and am holding the last few to see where they could go. This is for fun, but is there a window as you get closer to expiration (assuming the market mostly keeps having large down days) that is optimal for highest price? (e.g. where protection costs for an upcoming expiration drives buying - again, assuming the market is diving).

ofc this is specific to my current play, but I'm also looking for any general advice. Thanks!

EDIT: not sure why I put ITM in the title, but cannot edit title now. Not ITM, but here they are (and I added another that is further out in duration, in case someone can shed light on timing that as an example as well.

QQQ 250516 P400
QQQ 250516 P340

QQQ 250815 P300

Does anyone know where to find historical FX option chain data? If possible cheap / not too expensive for research?

I am interested in trying to trade this spike in VIX. It appears like a no brainer play but I also have never traded any VIX tracking products. It seems like huge VIX spikes like this always come back down very quickly so buying puts on a spike like this would be a good trade. But I also noticed when comparing VIX to UVIX chart that there is lag between the two. UVIX doesnt track VIX perfectly I understand because it is trading futures on VIX. I was hoping someone could give me insight into how VIX tracking etfs react to spikes like this and if my thinking is correct. Is there some information I should read through before I try this?

Edit: I am assuming we will get a spike to 60-80 at which point I would buy puts

Hi there fellow options traders,

I'm working on a strategy that combines a long-only stock approach with a downside protection overlay using options, and I need some advice.

I'm looking for an options backtester that meets these key requirements:

• Stock Ranking Import: The ability to import a custom stock ranking (I rank stocks weekly with the worst performers at the top).
• Extensive Options Data: Access to 20+ years of historical options data for thorough backtesting.
• Live Trading Integration: Capability to seamlessly transition to live trading via Interactive Brokers (IBKR) once the strategy is finalized.
• International Options (Bonus): Ideally, the platform would include international options data (e.g., European markets), although I realize this might be a tall order.

I'd don't mind a monthly fee, but it should be less than a couple of hundred of dollars a month.

If you have any recommendations for a platform or tool that fits these criteria, or if you know of any workarounds to build one, I'd love to hear your insights. Thanks in advance for your help!

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Nothing to do with recent volatility. I once had IB liquidate the short portion of an ES futures option credit spread at 15 minutes prior to expiration. I understand why, I would not have had the margin required for the ES position.

My question is, does this typically happen around that time? Just want to make sure it couldn't happen a day or two earlier.

Would it be stupid to buy puts on Nvidia on Monday and hold till Friday? 😭 I’m definitely late to the party but since April 9 is when tariffs take into effect I have a feeling we’ll definitely go down more

Hi

Seeking to explore the pros and cons of repairing deep on the money CSP on APPL: Strike 225 expiring 2 May (3 contracts).

The worst case is to own the shares but wanted to lower the assignment price if so, and thinking to roll to 17 Oct with e net credit. This is a bad idea?

Thanks for your help.

Hi everyone,

I recently received an offer for a 2-year position in Exotic Equity Derivatives Structuring at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. I’m a French student with a strong mathematical background, and initially, my goal was to break into quant roles at hedge funds.

I made it to the final rounds at Citadel and Squarepoint, but unfortunately didn’t land offers there. Right now, this BNP Tokyo position is the only concrete opportunity I have.

I wanted to ask:

Is this a solid opportunity in terms of learning and brand value?

What kind of exits could I expect after 1-2 years in this role? (Ideally looking to transition to trading, or eventually still aim for trading/quant roles in BBs or HFs preferably.)

I’m aware that Tokyo is less common than London or NY for exits, and structuring is slightly more “banky” than pure quant, but I’m hoping this could still be a stepping stone.

Would really appreciate any thoughts from people who’ve been in similar roles or seen colleagues make transitions.

Thanks!

i really like to use history charting when i trade. (works almost ever time). the stats shows after 2 days of -4.5%. the market rallies the next day.

but earnings is the next factor into this. Q1 should be meh, nothing to crazy. i personally think Q2 will be bad tho.

Hello, Let's say I bought an leap and in a few days it became deep in the money. Like multiple strike deep in the money. Will I have issue selling my option? Thanks!

I understand the basics of the strangle strategy, but have yet to implement it yet - I have been trading single direction options only.

With VIX significantly up, premiums have shot up, which often means a poor entry point for mid to long term plays. But for intraday/very short term plays where you expect the volatility to stay fairly consistent for its duration, it should be largely insignificant, unless the options are very close to expiry.

It feels like it should be the case for strangles as well, or is there an aspect that I'm missing?

(To give context, I expect some meaningful movement in an underlying on Monday, and am looking to buy strangles that are 2 weeks out with the intention to sell by Tuesday at the latest; my assumption is that VIX will not drop significantly before then, thus limiting decay.)

Crazy to see all these puts that turned $10k to $3M+ (e.g. https://x.com/EpicTradeAlerts/status/1908266500370424120)

And it's not like these were dumb luck degenerate yolo trades, I feel like there was at least a 10% chance Trump's planned tariff announcement would've crashed the markets and then subsequently another 10-20% chance a megapower like China would retaliate somehow.

A $10k bet would probably have been a very reasonable bet given the risk-reward of the options available. So I'm assuming there's a number of you who made over $1M overnight.

Regale your tales/inner thoughts here

I was thinking of buying 92 dollar nvidia puts on Monday with about 1,000 dollars. Do you guys think nvidia will keep lowering?

As I understand it, SPX is section 1256 and thus, it always 60/40 LT/ST even if I held > 1 year.

But for SPY, if I held it > 1 year, it will be 100% LT capital gains?

Is this correct?

As the stock market flash crashed this week, crypto held very nicely. One of the few times I've seen bitcoin diverge from the Nasdaq on such a strong move. This coupled with the recent decline in most cryptocurrencies in the past 3-4 months gives me some confidence in opening a long position on IBIT. I plan on executing this sometime on Monday.

Anyone else have similar thoughts on bitcoin?

I'm curious to hear what some of you think of this.

I was thinking of subscribing to The Sunday Times. Has anyone got a paid subscription where they have access to some well researched articles they can read to gain insight into the global financial world. I follow some good accounts on X but the knowledge is sporadic and sometimes a bit biased. I’m interested to understand the global economy better and not turn me into a bull/bear. Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

Could anyone share some recommendation on the most cost effective way of hedging one NQ position pls.

Considering the IV is high now.

What outlet do you use for updated news that influence the stock market because I don't find out stuff until I see it on Reddit and I'm not a fan of yahoo finance