Tech-Selling’s The Game On A Tepid Tuesday
Although the new President may be shaking up the political scene with some policy
decisions in this first week of his new administration, the market today is all
business-as-usual. Options players are bearing witness to a day of moderate volume and
modest volatility. Call Selling is the name of the game overall, but put selling is in
vogue as well. The tech sector is characteristically experiencing the highest volume,
followed by the services sector. Call sellers and put sellers are making their presence
felt in both of these sectors.
Let’s look at the numbers….
Pre-open order volume was moderate this morning. Overall, call sellers led buyers 3:1,
while put sellers beat out buyers at 2:1. In pre-bell activity,
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers
outnumbered buyers 5:1, and put buyers crunched sellers 4:1.
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers led buyers
5:1, while put sellers led buyers at 2:1.
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers crushed buyers 11:1.
(
OPWV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call
buyers beat up sellers 7:1, and put sellers led buyers 2:1.
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers dominated
buyers 8:1 while put buyers trumped sellers 5:1.
First-hour volume remained moderate this morning. Overall, call sellers led buyers 2:1,
while put sellers beat out buyers at 2:1. In first hour activity, JNPR call buyers
outnumbered sellers 2:1. In INSP call buying strongly predominated. QCOM and ORCL call
sellers led buyers 5:1. SUNW and AXP call sellers crushed buyers 6:1. AMGN call sellers
dominated buyers 8:1. OPWV call buyers backed off to a more equitable 3:1 dominance over
sellers. CSCO and ARBA put buyers led sellers 3:2. GE, TXN, WCOM, INSP, and NOK put
sellers crushed buyers 6:1.
We wish to note to our readers that the
strong trend in our data over the last few weeks has been a high preponderance of selling
out of the blocks in the early morning, followed by a balancing off or even a covering by
buying later in the day. This has been reflected in our column titles.
Today, selling premium remains the strategy of choice, we believe, as the markets test
the waters of the new Presidency. Higher volume than normal immediately post expiration
may be a sign players are ready to come back into the game. Stay tuned for some new
strategies in the immediate future…
Keep those questions coming and I’ll keep on firing back some answers: