Yo Zonies!

The government shutdown created something I’ve never seen before: an endless earnings cycle where option prices continue to expand without natural decay.

Traders just keep bidding the premiums up because there are no natural sellers willing to take the other side. 

Everyone’s waiting for a binary outcome that keeps getting pushed further out.

Look at this 5-day VIX futures chart. You can see VIX futures have gained value every day over the last five trading days. That’s not normal market behavior: that’s artificial scarcity.

We’re looking at an artifact where traders keep volatility bid higher, and option prices stay roughly the same instead of naturally decaying. Most traders are looking for a larger move at some point in the future, and this makes it very hard to price options correctly.

Since traders are dealing with a longer timeline for the shutdown, it’s making the market less liquid overall. It’s harder to get volume at price, and even a small selloff can turn into a slightly bigger selloff, like yesterday, with the S&P 500 down 1% and the VIX up over one point.

My Personal Bet in This Chaos

Make America Healthy Again stocks are holding up well, and they’re really a bright spot in my portfolio. They’re holding on.

Even Tuesday, Novo Nordisk (NVO) looked like it was going to negotiate a cheaper drug price for its weight loss drugs. I think that could be a bullish sign for the drug company going into the end of the year and into 2026.

The beauty of MAHA plays right now is they’re somewhat insulated from this VIX chaos.

 While everyone else is dealing with inflated option premiums and broken decay curves, healthcare stocks with government tailwinds aren’t as dependent on short-term volatility pricing.

What This Means for Your Trades

If you’re selling options expecting normal time decay, you’re fighting an artificial market. The “no natural sellers” environment means premiums stay elevated longer than they should.

Palantir (PLTR) sold off about 10 percent after Monday night’s big move higher, showing how this affects individual stocks. With high-multiple names trading at huge valuations, the inflated volatility environment makes momentum plays even more binary than usual.

Action step: Stop expecting normal option behavior until Congress resolves this. Focus on directional plays or stocks with fundamental catalysts that don’t depend on volatility normalization.

The continuing bid for VIX is showing you that traditional options strategies are temporarily broken. 

Trade accordingly.

If you want to learn how to turbocharge this idea, check into Hans’s Turbo Income next week.

To Your Trading Success,

AG