Weekly Commentary
We enter the week with several trading opportunities on the horizon. My plan is to add two trades this week, an iron condor and the potential for another bear call spread.
Implied volatility ranks, otherwise known as IV ranks, are low across the board. IV rank is where the current implied volatility (IV) sits in comparison to the last 12 months of readings. This makes sense given the recent surge in the market, right? And while macro conditions seem to be improving, with more indicators showing a bullish bias and numerous other bullish signals, we have to remember, we place trades going out 45 to 60 days in Quant Trader with the average trade lasting 20.5 days. Probabilities lead the way, not the latest inflation report, and given our short windows (45 to 60 days) we don’t really care about what happens three months, six months, a year from now. In my Fundamentals service, it’s a different story: The intermediate to long term matter, but not with Quant Trader. Collecting premium/income, consistently over the long term, is the ultimate goal.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at andy@cabotwealth.com.
Current Portfolio
Open Trades | |||||||
Open Date | Ticker | Strategy | Trade | Open Price | Current Price | Current Probability | Delta |
6/30/2023 | SPY | Bear Call | August 18, 2023 462/466 | $0.52 | $0.78 | 78.36% | -0.08 |
Open Date | Closed Date | Ticker | Strategy | Trade | Open Price | Closing Price | Return |
6/2/2022 | 6/13/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | July 15, 2022 440/445 | $0.70 | $0.05 | 14.94% |
6/8/2022 | 6/17/2022 | XOP | Bear Call Spread | July 15, 2022 190/195 | $0.70 | $0.04 | 15.21% |
6/22/2022 | 7/13/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | July 29, 2022 405/410 | $0.75 | $0.35 | 8.70% |
6/30/2022 | 7/25/2022 | IWM | Iron Condor | August 19, 2022 195/200 - 145/140 | $0.70 | $0.34 | 7.76% |
7/8/2022 | 7/28/2022 | GLD | Bull Put Spread | August 19, 2022 155/150 | $0.60 | $0.16 | 9.65% |
7/14/2022 | 8/11/2022 | SPY | Iron Condor | August 19, 2022 417/412 - 335/330 | $0.70 | $4.10 | -68.00% |
8/1/2022 | 8/29/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | September 16, 2022 439/444 | $0.70 | $0.07 | 14.42% |
8/11/2022 | 8/29/2022 | DIA | Bear Call Spread | September 23, 2022 350/325 | $0.75 | $0.08 | 15.47% |
8/11/2022 | 9/8/2022 | IWM | Iron Condor | September 23, 2022 220/215 - 173/168 | $0.77 | $0.57 | 4.17% |
9/7/2022 | 9/9/2022 | QQQ | Bull Put Spread | October 21, 2022 260/255 | $0.62 | $0.30 | 6.84% |
9/9/2022 | 9/15/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | October 21, 2022 430/435 | $0.75 | $0.25 | 11.11% |
9/13/2022 | 10/17/2022 | IWM | Iron Condor | October 21, 2022 208/203 - 163/158 | $0.77 | $0.30 | 10.40% |
10/3/2022 | 10/25/2022 | SPY | Bull Put Spread | November 18, 2022 325/320 | $0.54 | $0.09 | 9.89% |
10/4/2022 | 11/2/2022 | IWM | Iron Condor | November 18, 2022 198/203 - 143/138 | $0.64 | $0.32 | 6.84% |
10/6/2022 | 11/2/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | November 18, 2022 412/416 | $0.43 | $0.28 | 3.90% |
11/16/2022 | 11/28/2022 | IWM | Iron Condor | December 16, 2022 205/200 - 162/157 | $0.75 | $0.24 | 11.36% |
11/10/2022 | 12/6/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | December 16, 2022 420/425 | $0.65 | $0.14 | 11.36% |
12/1/2022 | 12/6/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | January 20, 2023 435/440 | $0.67 | $0.18 | 10.86% |
12/13/2022 | 12/15/2022 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | January 20, 2023 430/435 | $0.54 | $0.17 | 7.99% |
12/7/2023 | 1/6/2023 | IWM | Iron Condor | January 20, 2023 202/198 - 160/156 | $0.70 | $0.06 | 19.00% |
1/4/2023 | 2/1/2023 | IWM | Iron Condor | February 17, 2023 200/195 - 154/149 | $0.65 | $2.00 | -27.00% |
1/6/2023 | 2/2/2023 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | February 17, 2023 415/420 | $0.60 | $2.50 | -38.00% |
2/2/2023 | 2/15/2023 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | March 17, 2023 440/445 | $0.63 | $0.15 | 10.62% |
2/10/2023 | 2/22/2023 | DIA | Bear Call Spread | March 31, 2023 355/360 | $0.70 | $0.17 | 11.86% |
2/2/2023 | 3/1/2023 | IWM | Iron Condor | March 17, 2023 175/180 - 215/220 | $0.72 | $0.51 | 4.38% |
3/6/2023 | 3/13/2023 | DIA | Bear Call Spread | April 21, 2023 350/355 | $0.85 | $0.17 | 15.74% |
2/23/2023 | 3/28/2023 | SPY | Iron Condor | April 21, 2023 435/430 - 350/345 | $0.80 | $0.15 | 14.94% |
3/23/2023 | 4/11/2023 | DIA | Bear Call Spread | April 21, 2023 338/443 | $0.62 | $2.05 | -28.60% |
3/23/2023 | 4/19/2023 | IWM | Iron Condor | May 19, 2023 196/191 - 147/142 | $0.83 | $0.23 | 13.64% |
4/12/2023 | 4/21/2023 | DIA | Bear Call Spread | May 19, 2023 350/355 | $0.82 | $0.44 | 8.23% |
4/21/2023 | 5/2/2023 | SPY | Iron Condor | June 16, 2023 440/435 - 365/360 | $0.95 | $0.63 | 6.84% |
4/24/2023 | 5/10/2023 | DIA | Bear Call Spread | June 16, 2023 354/359 | $0.72 | $0.22 | 11.11% |
5/5/2023 | 5/24/023 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | June 16, 2023 430/435 | $0.72 | $0.35 | 7.99% |
6/15/2023 | 6/22/2023 | SPY | Bear Call Spread | August 18, 2023 465/470 | $0.70 | $0.24 | 10.13% |
5/26/2023 | 6/23/2023 | IWM | Iron Condor | July 21, 2023 191/196 - 156/151 | $0.79 | $0.50 | 6.15% |
5/31/2023 | 7/12/2023 | QQQ | Bear Call Spread | July 21, 2023 375/380 | $0.60 | $1.80 | -31.60% |
128.30% |
Volatility Talk
After a brief stint above 15, the investor’s fear gauge pushed back down in the low 13s, closing Friday at 13.34. Since the beginning of June, the VIX has traded in a fairly tight range, between 13 and 15. A rising market often creates complacency among traders and the VIX will fall and stay suppressed as the demand for put options decreases … and this has no doubt been the case over the past 45 days as the S&P 500 has raced 7.5% higher.
Weekly High-Probability Mean Reversion Indicator
Below is my watch list of ETFs and stocks with the most liquid options headed into the week of July 17, 2023.
Here are the various levels I use to determine if an ETF is in an oversold or overbought state.
Very Overbought | greater than or equal to 80.1 |
Overbought | 60.1 to 80.0 |
Neutral | 40.1 to 60 |
Oversold | 20.1 to 40.0 |
Very Oversold | less than or equal to 20.0 |
Each week I also include the current implied volatility (IV) and IV Rank. I look for an IV rank above 40, preferably higher.
ETF Watch List – Trade Ideas
Exchange Traded Fund | Ticker Symbol | IV | IV Rank | HPMR Oversold - Overbought |
ARK Innovation ETF | ARKK | 39.3 | 9.2 | 70.7 |
Proshares Bitcoin ETF | BITO | 45.9 | 12.5 | 44 |
SPDR Dow Jones | DIA | 18.0 | 1.4 | 67.3 |
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets | EEM | 13.8 | 18.6 | 68.2 |
iShares MSCI EAFE | EFA | 19.1 | 11.5 | 67.6 |
iShares MSCI Mexico ETF | EWW | 28.8 | 8.8 | 62.8 |
iShares MSCI Brazil | EWZ | 29.1 | 5.6 | 52.5 |
iShares China Large-Cap | FXI | 30.8 | 8.4 | 60.2 |
Vaneck Gold Miners | GDX | 12.1 | 7.1 | 69 |
SPDR Gold | GLD | 7.8 | 0.1 | 67 |
iShares High-Yield | HYG | 7.2 | 6.3 | 57.8 |
iShares Russell 2000 | IWM | 19.6 | 2.9 | 64.9 |
SPDR Regional Bank | KRE | 36.4 | 19.2 | 61.1 |
Vaneck Oil Services | OIH | 34.6 | 8.6 | 76.6 |
Invesco Nasdaq 100 | QQQ | 19.7 | 4.6 | 78.8 |
iShares Silver Trust | SLV | 26.2 | 9.8 | 81.6 |
Vaneck Semiconductor | SMH | 27.8 | 10 | 68.2 |
SPDR S&P 500 | SPY | 13.4 | 1.6 | 75.9 |
iShares 20+ Treasury Bond | TLT | 14.9 | 3.2 | 51.2 |
United States Oil Fund | USO | 29.5 | 1 | 63.4 |
Proshares Ultra VIX Short | UVXY | 102.2 | 18.3 | 27.5 |
CBOE Market Volatility Index | VIX | 95.5 | 41.8 | 37.2 |
Barclays S&P 500 VIX ETN | VXX | 70.2 | 18.9 | 28 |
SPDR Biotech | XLB | 15.9 | 6 | 63.9 |
SPDR Energy Select | XLE | 24.8 | 8 | 49.6 |
SPDR Financials | XLF | 16.1 | 2.4 | 66.4 |
SPDR Utilities | XLU | 15.5 | 4.5 | 60.9 |
SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explorer | XOP | 31.6 | 6.5 | 48.7 |
SPDR Retail | XRT | 24.1 | 17.7 | 58.9 |
Stock Watch List – Trade Ideas
Ticker Symbol | IV | IV Rank | HPMR Oversold - Overbought | |
Apple | AAPL | 25.1 | 17.8 | 59.3 |
Bank of America | BAC | 30.8 | 14.6 | 54.2 |
Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | 22.2 | 25 | 22.3 |
Citigroup | C | 25.0 | 2.6 | 40.7 |
Caterpillar | CAT | 29.6 | 22 | 75 |
Comcast | CMCSA | 27.4 | 18.4 | 57.5 |
Costco | COST | 16.8 | 5.9 | 73 |
Cisco Systems | CSCO | 21.5 | 22.1 | 40.5 |
Chevron | CVX | 25.6 | 11.1 | 40.1 |
Disney | DIS | 35.9 | 37.1 | 41.6 |
Duke Energy | DUK | 22.4 | 16.8 | 65.8 |
Fedex | FDX | 23.3 | 4 | 69.7 |
Gilead Sciences | GILD | 26.7 | 32.2 | 58.2 |
General Motors | GM | 33.8 | 9.7 | 68.8 |
Intel | INTC | 46.2 | 45.2 | 49.4 |
Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 17.1 | 24.6 | 43.5 |
JP Morgan | JPM | 19.0 | 3 | 78 |
Coca-Cola | KO | 16.0 | 17.1 | 60.6 |
Altria Group | MO | 17.7 | 13 | 53.4 |
Merck | MRK | 23.0 | 31.8 | 33.3 |
Morgan Stanley | MS | 26.8 | 12.5 | 56.8 |
Microsoft | MSFT | 32.4 | 45.9 | 66.5 |
Nextera Energy | NEE | 25.8 | 20.1 | 48.1 |
Nvidia | NVDA | 45.6 | 13.1 | 74 |
Pfizer | PFE | 25.0 | 28.3 | 46.5 |
Paypal | PYPL | 46.7 | 26.3 | 73.8 |
Starbucks | SBUX | 30.2 | 35.5 | 68.7 |
AT&T | T | 34.2 | 60.9 | 13.2 |
Verizon | VZ | 26.8 | 38 | 17.3 |
Walgreens Boots Alliance | WBA | 27 | 5.8 | 39.8 |
Wells Fargo | WFC | 26 | 1.9 | 65.8 |
Walmart | WMT | 17 | 14.8 | 46.6 |
Exxon Mobil | XOM | 28.4 | 17.3 | 30.4 |
Weekly Trade Discussion: Open Positions
*Portfolio updated every Monday
Bear Call: SPY August 18, 2023, 462/466 calls
Original trade published on 6-30-2023 (click to see original alert)
Background: At the time of the trade, SPY was trading for 442.50. We sold the August 18, 2023, SPY 462/466 bear call spread for $0.52. The expected range or move was 428 to 457. We placed our bear call spread 5 points higher than the expected move.
Current Thoughts: SPY is now trading for 449.28, roughly $7 higher than when we placed the trade. The probability of success on our bear call sits at 78.71% and the delta of our short call sits at a comfortable 0.22. With 32 days left until expiration our SPY bear call spread looks in good shape. Time decay has kicked in and is accelerating as each day passes, and if SPY stays around this area, or better yet, moves lower, we should be able to lock in a decent profit.
Call Side:
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at andy@cabotwealth.com.
The next Cabot Options Institute – Quant Trader issue will be published on
July 24, 2023.