Monday’s Option Alerts

  • April 4, 2003
  • Chris Tyler

More mixed signals in the
markets as we close out the week. Technology
was held hostage in Friday’s session due to some high profile warnings from
Peoplesoft, Affymetrix, and STMicroelectronics. Volume was lighter on both the
New York and the NASDAQ. The SPYs and DIAs were able to close out the day with
small gains to add to their gains of approximately 2% for the week. The QQQs on
the otherhand, had to be satisfied with closing the week “unched”,
after today’s percentage loss.

The albatross continues to hang, although it has
lifted some of its weight off of daily supports in the past two sessions. Still
too much enthusiasm, or the “fear of missing out” syndrome for me to
get to excited. The ETFs have managed, as judged by the numbers above, to hang
in there. The volume statistics also confirm positive action, but considering
the manner in which they’ve been trading….i.e. gapping action up and down with
low relative implied volatility, has me thinking once more, that the only way to
keep a”head” in a schizophrenic market is by always staying spread.

The VIX and VXN continue to raise the flag i.m.o.,
although no CVR signals are evident as of the close of trade. 

Points of Significance:

Volatility
Index		 Close Net
Change		 Signals/Direction %
Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average		 Significance
VIX 32.80 Up
+.48		       
NONE		 0%
Below 		Not
At Extreme
VXN 42.85 Up
+.78		        
NONE		 1.22%
Below 		Not
At Extreme

 

Abnormal Options Volume — This list
includes both percentage movers that are normally associated with an increase in
options activity, as well as stocks that have unusually high activity and / or
technical situations,
reflecting increased speculation of a potential price move.

Name Symbol Net
% Change		 Volume Avg.
Volume
Affymetrix 
AFFX		        -35% 11014 1002
PeopleSoft
PSFT		        -9% 26619 5818
Analog Devices
ADI		        -2% 1245 491

 

Stocks With Spikes in Implied
Volatility — Stocks with Increases and Decreases in implied
volatility compared to previous day. Candidates are then screened qualitatively.
These lists represent those issues that carry a blend of liquidity and/or
technical setups that might deserve further notice. 

Spike Up

Name Symbol IV Previous
IV		 High
IV		 Low
IV
Altria
MO		 91.5 72.5 69.7 20.1
Kraft
KFT		 51.6 37 40 19.8
Zebra
Tech		 ZBRA 36.6 32.7 64.8 31.6

Spike Down

None Today.

Please use stops on every trade!