Bull Trap Or Time To Buy?

The Option Pit VIX Traffic Light Is Yellow: Volatility is likely to swing wildly.

Hey Traders,


The S&P 500 (Ticker: SPX) blew higher on Friday, rallying over 100 points into the close.


With that, we saw the VIX slip further into contango (futures trading over spot VIX):

VIX is now in a pretty decent contango all the way out to December.


There are decent odds that we could see the S&P 500 make a run back to 4,300 at this point:



That would be the high from early May, and put the SPX right against the 50-day moving average.


Furthering that argument is the VIX of VIX, VVIX, which is now at a multi-year low:


VVIX could legitimately break 90 if the S&P 500 continues to rally.


While VVIX is dropping, the market is likely to be rocking …


And looking at VIX options, on Friday we saw huge buyers of the VIX June 24-strike puts and the 22-strike puts.


The June VIX 22-strike puts were $0.10 on Wednesday. They are now at $0.25, and could balloon to over $0.50 if the VIX gets to 22 again (which appears to be a real possibility).


I am not sure we are going to settle below 20, but at this point, the 20-strike puts cost $0.05.  I think they will trade at least $0.10 to $0.15 before VIX makes a decision to move higher.


I would buy a bunch of these lotto tickets if Tuesday is green, and then use some of the quick profits (assuming I can sell these at $0.15 this week) to buy some 25-35 call spreads.


Your Only Option,


Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian is a former member of both the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), where he spent years mastering the art of options trading in the most competitive environment imaginable. As Chief Investment Officer at the hedge fund Karman Line Capital, Mark manages sophisticated options strategies for institutional clients. He is the author of two highly regarded books on options trading: ‘The Option Traders Hedge Fund’ and ‘Trading Options for Edge.’ Mark is a frequent guest on major financial networks including CNBC, Fox Business News, Bloomberg, and First Business News, where he provides expert commentary on market volatility and options strategies.

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About the Author

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Former CBOE floor trader and CIO at Karman Line Capital. Author of ‘The Option Traders Hedge Fund’ with over 30 years of options trading experience.

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