Yo, Pit Crazies,

I tell you one dude who won’t fail!  Bill Griffo and Win the Week are on fire. Check out how to ride the gamma squeeze to big dough.

Now …

I have a bit of an old man rant here.

Don’t call me a boomer!

But I want to preface it by saying I don’t think there is anything wrong with crypto, per se.

I view it more as a curiosity like the Bearded Lady at the circus in the days of old.

It is the exchanges I have a problem with.

In the parlance of the options industry, they are known as Self Regulated Organizations or SROs. 

US Option exchanges have a third-party clearing function in the OCC, or Options Clearing Corp. The OCC makes sure everyone involved has the dough to keep things whole.

Crypto, on the other hand, has no check on activity. It is the Wild West – like equity markets at the turn of the  century.

This crypto exchange is on the bottom. Will it break on through to the other side?

How do you set up for an industry collapse?

At this point, I think crypto exchanges have been fast and loose with customer funds in a game that worked well when values were jumping. 

Right now, values are not jumping. (Well, maybe jumping off a cliff.)

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, claims it doesn’t use leverage … but it does own and issue its own coins. How much of its dough is in those?

Genesis, another exchange, meanwhile, is looking for money? Why? None of this smells good.

I don’t like the fact that one week into the FTX mess, Coinbase Inc. (Ticker: COIN) is still at the bottom. The best-of-class should have a way to show they are moving in the right direction.

I think COIN can make new lows whether they are solvent or not.  If investors really lose confidence, there is no backstop in this industry and no one will loan to them if they need collateral.

I like the OTM put time spreads in COIN. I hedged by buying a Square Inc. (Ticker: SQ) call.

The Rundown

OP Mentoring

I closed a Div+ Walgreens Boots Alliance (Ticker: WBA) Nov. 18 30/35 strangle & 100 shares for a 25% gain.

Power Income Trader

Wild Bill closed the iShares Barclays 20+ year US Gov. Boand FundETF (Ticker: TLT) 1/3/2 Nov. 18 98/95/92 put butterfly for a 34% gain 

Option Shopper

The Queen of the Candlesticks closed the Proshares Ultrashort QQQ ETF (Ticker:  SQQQ) Nov. 18 44 puts for an 81% gain.

Pro Trade Group

Giovanni used the EH VBS to pick up the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (Ticker: EWZ) straddles.

To Your Trading Success,

AG