Hi Shoppers,

Watching the Winter Olympics recently, I found myself wondering … what is curling,exactly?

(Don’t worry, I have a trade today. More on that in just a moment.)

What are they doing with those brooms? Making it go faster? Guiding it?

And what is that big disc anyway?

Where did this game get started?

So, I did a little research.

Curling began in 16th century Scotland.

It is called curling because the player changes the direction of the stone’s path causing it to slowly turn or curl.

Curling was officially added to the Olympics in 1998.

It is made up of two teams of four people, each with a captain called a Skip.

The game begins with a coin toss.

It is played on ice called a sheet which measures roughly 150 ft x 16 ft which is not smooth but pebbled.

The target is called a house, made up of four rings, and the center is called the vutton.

The starting end is the hack.

Alternating turns, each team throws eight rocks with those landing closest to the center scoring the points. Like bocce ball (a very fun family game).

The round is called an end and they play 6-10 ends. Only one team can score per end, then the direction of play is switched for the next end.

The team that loses the end gets the hammer which means they get the last throw in the next end.

Brushing or sweeping can make the stone move faster and change its direction by actually melting a thin layer of the ice.

Players wear curling shoes where one sole grips the ice and the other is slippery.

A championship curling game can last up to three hours, which includes 38 minutes of thinking time.

The stones are made of a special granite and weigh 38-44 pounds each. They are 36 inches around and 4.5 inches high

Stones used in the Olympics have to be made of the granite found on Alisa Craig, an island in Scotland.

Those are the facts. 

We actually have seasonal curling here in Chicago on the rooftop of The Gwen.

Drinks and sweeping sounds fun.

Now …

Onto the trading.

Honey Pot

Looks to me like Honeywell (Ticker: HON) has formed a doji and could be reversing trend to trade higher:

Monday’s candle could be a doji signaling a reversal of this down trend from $228 on November 9th.

Tuesday’s candle looks like a confirmation to trade higher.

HON closed at $189.53 yesterday and I think it could trade back up to $197-$200.

I like the options with a bit more time expiring March 4:

If HON opens and trades higher today, I would pay up to $3.40 for the March 4 190-strike calls and then I would leg into a sale of the 197.50 calls over a dollar.

I like legging into this spread – buying one and selling the other separately – because the 190s have a higher implied volatility than the 197.50 calls.

I prefer to have the edge of buying a lower implied vol and selling a higher implied volatility.

I would pay around $2.30 for this spread.

Trade Update

I previously wrote about Peloton (Ticker: PTON) possibly creating a bull flag and trading higher. 

I did not get confirmation; PTON actually traded lower, so no trade.

Thanks for Reading … See You Next Tuesday!

Licia Leslie