Saturday, August 2, 2014

* Preparation: Must Know for the Week to Come; Must Know from Last Week

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Conclusion
We knew last week would be huge, in fact that's the exact adjective I used in last week's "Prepare..." note. The week did not disappoint in terms of shaking off a very quiet low volatility period. We saw:

Facts
* A single day where all three major indices dropped by 2%.
* A single day Dow drop of more than 300 points.
* All of the indices down more than 2% for the week.
* Economic 'misses' everywhere you would look (but were they really misses?)
* A question of when interest rates will be raised. #WatchTheRates

Watch. The. Rates.

And of course, the one phenomenon which I always check, momentum.  One huge trend continues... momentum is imploding.

We are now in official bear territory for market internals.

Opinions (outside Media)
* The 20% market correction has already started
* 3 market warning signs predict 20% stock tumble



Last Week: Must Know
All Stock Indices: Down


Data provided, Yahoo! Finance, Charles Schwab optionsXpress

Economic Misses (but do they matter and were they misses?)
1. Nonfarm payrolls: 209K vs. 220K consensus vs. 298K prior month
2. Nonfarm private payrolls: 198K vs. 225K consensus vs. 270K prior month
3. Unemployment Rate: 6.2% vs. 6.1% consensus (and prior month)
4. Hourly Earnings: 0.0% vs. 0.2% consensus (and prior month)

But the issue is momentum (not economic numbers that are changed and re-changed) and we can now say, without hedging our language, that momentum is into new annual low territory across the board.

* As of Friday: 21% of stocks are now trading above their 20-day MA
* As of last month: 75% of stocks were trading above their 20-day MA

* As of Friday: 29% of stocks are now trading above their 50-day MA
* As of last month: 79% of stocks were trading above their 50-day MA (annual low)

* The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now down on the year (-2%).

Putting The SPX 2% Drop into Perspective: This May Shock You... Because It's Not Shocking


But there's so much more in the momentum phenomenon, which is included a bit later in this post.



Chart of the Week: Percent of Stocks Trading Above 50-day Moving Average

Provided by Barchart.com

There's more to momentum, but for a chart of the week, this does just fine. The measure sank below an annual low. Here's how it looks over the last month:


But this isn't the most important chart for momentum if the 'fear' is a correction or bear market turn.

Last Week: Phenomena We Must Know
7-31-2014
* Putting The SPX 2% Drop into Perspective: This May Shock You... Because It's Not Shocking

7-31-2014
* Collapsing Momentum in 3-Charts; Why Today Was Predictable; Why The Bull May Not be Dead

7-28-2014
* Herbalife (HLF) - Earnings Preview: We've Never Seen Risk This... Low?

Last Week: Stats Must Know
Momentum collapsed, and now it's time to look at all of it.


Provided by BarChart.com

* As of Friday: 21% of stocks are now trading above their 20-day MA
* As of three weeks ago: 75% of stocks were trading above their 20-day MA

* As of Friday: 29% of stocks are now trading above their 50-day MA
* As of a month ago: 79% of stocks were trading above their 50-day MA (annual low)

But this is the big one...

* As of Friday: 46% of stocks are now trading above their 200-day MA
* As of a month ago: 70% of stocks were trading above their 200-day MA (annual low) 

We saw the 50-day MA chart at the top of the post (and it's new annual low).  But it's the 200-day MA that I focus on.

Provided by BarChart.com

In four weeks we have gone from an intra-day high of ~70% to now 46% and not only hit a new low, it obliterated it. I focus more n the 20DMA than the short-term measures when focusing an actual correction or end to the bull market because it takes a substantial and prolonged change in the AD (advance / decline line) to really move this measure substantially.

For those that have been reading this report over the last weeks, we've been watching that headline number creep lower, and then... collapse lower.

Last Week: Must Know Headlines:
* 3 market warning signs predict 20% stock tumble

* Fed Hawks Shake the Stock Markets on Interest Rates

* Argentina blames US, 'incompetent' judge for default

* Fed offers no clearer hint on first rate increase

* The 20% market correction has already started

This Week: Must Know
This week has some economic data and the tail-end of earnings season. I use optionsXpress (aka Charles Schwab) for all of this data, so if you want to find it yourself, just click on the pic below.

Below you will find all that we need to prepare for the week to come. All data and images for this report are provided by Charles Schwab optionsXpress.

This Week: Economic Calendar
  • I've circled in blue economic results vs. consensus vs. last month results.
  • I've highlighted in red the news to come this week.



Partial List of Noteworthy Earnings This Week


Earnings has a mash up of biotechs (ARIA, MNKD), MOMO's (FEYE, ZNGA) and even a huge blue chip (AIG... is this a 'blue' chip anymore?)

This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.






Legal Stuff:
Options involve risk. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Investors need a broker to trade options, and must meet suitability requirements.

The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. I am not engaged in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website.

I specifically disclaim any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses.

I make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that I endorse, sponsor, promote or am affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.

Friday, August 1, 2014

8-1-14: End of Day Report - Largest Stock Moves, New 52 Wk. Highs/Lows, Unusual Option Volume

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Indices



Advance/Decline Line

Provided by Barchart.com

Top Headlines
'iBillionaire' ETF looks to bring Buffett, Icahn to the masses

Fed Hawks Shake the Stock Markets on Interest Rates

3 market warning signs predict 20% stock tumble



Top option Story
FireEye (FEYE) - Earnings Preview: Dr.Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?

Open Interest
Daily Open Interest Report

Covered Call
Daily Covered Call Report

Biotech Index
Daily Biotech Small & Micro Cap Update

Market Overview

Largest Stock Gainers



Largest Stock Losers



New 52 Wk Highs in S&P 500



New 52 Wk Lows in S&P 500



Unusual Option Volume



Elevated Implied Volatility (IV) to Historical Volatility (HV)



This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.






Legal Stuff:
Options involve risk. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Investors need a broker to trade options, and must meet suitability requirements.

The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. I am not engaged in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website.

I specifically disclaim any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses.

I make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that I endorse, sponsor, promote or am affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.

8-1-14: Daily Biotech Small & Micro Cap Update

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The Ophir Gottlieb Small Cap Biotech Index
Is this the biotech revolution or the biotech bust?



The small cap Biotech group (as defined in the Gottlieb Biotech Index) dropped ~0.98% today while the broader market fell 0.29% (SPX) and 0.39% (NASDAQ). Interestingly, there were only two stocks that had absolute returns > 10%.

As a whole, this was a bearish week with the index down ~4% compared to the broader market -2.6% (SPX) and -2.2% (NASDAQ).

The Biotechs are symptomatic of collapsing internals in the market.
Collapsing Momentum in 3-Charts

Notable Stock Movers
NKTR+12.04%
DEPO+8.54%
CBM+7.26%
FCSC-9.25%
PRX-9.59%
BOTA-24.61%

Unusually Heavy Option Volume
INSY:1747% of daily average
DYAX:1468% of daily average
FMI:1178% of daily average

231 small / micro cap biotech and pharma companies (equal weighted):
  • Public Biotech and Pharma Companies
  • Trade on North American Exchanges
  • Market Cap Range: [$0, $2 Billion]
  • Price, Employees, Revenue Range: Any


More on index construction and performance: The Ophir Gottlieb Small Cap Biotech Index

Today's Biotech Index Stock Movers



Today's Biotech Index Unusual Option Volume



Full Index Constituents and Moves




This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.






Legal Stuff:
Options involve risk. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Investors need a broker to trade options, and must meet suitability requirements.

The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. I am not engaged in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website.

I specifically disclaim any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses.

I make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that I endorse, sponsor, promote or am affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.

* FireEye (FEYE) - Earnings Preview: Dr.Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?

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FEYE is trading $32.62, down 8.1% with IV30™ up 2.6%. The Symbol Summary is included below.

Provided by Livevol

This is an earnings preview, volatility and stock note and is just one in the series for this earnings season.  To date, the option market in general has under-priced risk in most of the names I have discussed, meaning the stock prices have moved more than the amount the option market was pricing. Here's a quick list:


Disclosure: The hedge fund is (has been) naked short FEYE. That doesn't mean the stock will go down (or up), it just means... 'the hedge fund is (has been) naked short FEYE.' I'm not licensed to give advice nor is anything I ever write intended to be advice to buy, sell, hold (or anything else) on any security ever.



Conclusion
As the market has been declining and momentum has turned totally upside down, the risk in the option market is also increasing and that increase is now reflected in single stock names (like FEYE). What once was a rather obvious under-pricing of risk is turning.  FEYE risk into earnings isn't obviously low (or high), but there's still a lot we can see ahead of the event

The all-time stock chart for FEYE is included below.

Provided by Charles Schwab optionsXpress

The stock has had essentially two cycles (see chart):

Cycle #1: A rise from ~$33 to $97.35 (~+200%) in about four-months.
Cycle #2: A drop from $97.35 to $25.58 (~-74%) in about two-months.

The stock is down 9.6% since IPO as of this writing.

There is in fact a third cycle if we look closely.  That cycle has happened twice, and I call it "the quiet period.' For FEYE, the questions are simply:
  1. When does the quiet period end?
  2. How big a move is there in the next 'moving' cycle?
  3. Which direction will it move?

Obviously, I don't know the answer to any of these other than to bet on our model which, no matter how fancy it is, is speculation.

Let's turn to the IV30™ chart in isolation, below.

Provided by Livevol

The implied volatility is the forward looking risk in the equity price as reflected by the option market (IV30™ looks forward exactly 30 calendar days).

In English, the red curve is the risk in future stock price movement. The blue "E" icons represent earnings dates (highlighted in yellow), and we can see that risk has increased into earnings after the first release, and for now seems right about at the level it hit in the last earnings release when the stock gapped down from $37.13 to $28.65 in a day.

It's that last move down on earnings that I believe is keeping the earnings risk (implied volatility elevated) about the same.  Earnings aren't due out until 8-5-2015 (AMC), so that red curve should risk a bit just ahead of the event.

End result: The risk into this earnings release is about the same as the last, which was an all-time high in risk.

Finally, the Options Tab is included below.

Provided by Livevol

Using the at-the-money (ATM) straddle in the Aug8 weekly options we can see that the option market reflects a price range of ~[$28.30, $36.70].

Using the Aug15 monthly options, that range is  ~[$27.50, $37.50].

  • If you believe the stock will be outside that range on expiry or any date before then, then you think the volatility is too low.
  • If you believe that range is too wide, and that the stock will definitively be in that range on expiration, then you think volatility is too high.
  • If you're not sure, and can make an argument for either case, then you think volatility is priced just about right.

Final note: Don't bet on this earnings event or this stock simply because I am. My model is my bet, it shouldn't be yours.

This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.






Legal Stuff:
Options involve risk. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Investors need a broker to trade options, and must meet suitability requirements.

The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. I am not engaged in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website.

I specifically disclaim any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses.

I make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that I endorse, sponsor, promote or am affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.

8-1-14: Daily Open Interest Report

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Daily Option Interest Report


This information is available via optionsXpress Toolbox --> Dragon

Notable Large Option Position Increases Realtive to 3-month Average
UEIC+659%
PNY+633%
RUBI+600%
Full List Below

Largest Current Open Interest Relative to 90-day Average




This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.






Legal Stuff:
Options involve risk. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Investors need a broker to trade options, and must meet suitability requirements.

The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. I am not engaged in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website.

I specifically disclaim any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses.

I make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that I endorse, sponsor, promote or am affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.

8-1-14: Daily Covered Calls Report

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Requirements
  • 1 million+ shares average daily volume
  • IV > 10%
  • IV < 60% 
  • Static Return (unassigned) > 5%

This information is available via optionsXpress ---> Idea Hub




This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.






Legal Stuff:
Options involve risk. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Investors need a broker to trade options, and must meet suitability requirements.

The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. I am not engaged in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website.

I specifically disclaim any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses.

I make no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that I endorse, sponsor, promote or am affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.