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This Week in Futures Options

Gold, crude oil, corn, soybeans and more - with so many tradeable products the futures options market is an intimidating place. How can you possibly keep track of the latest trading activity across so many different products? Don’t worry - we’ve got you covered. Welcome to This Week in Futures Options - the program designed to help active futures options traders stay on top of this ever-changing marketplace. Each week we’ll break down the top trades, hot products, volatility explosions and much more. Whether you’re an experienced veteran or a newcomer looking to separate the wheat from the lean hogs, This Week in Futures Options has the information you can’t find anywhere else...
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Now displaying: January, 2020
Jan 31, 2020

TWIFO 185: PANDEMIC CRUDE

  • HOST: MARK LONGO, THE OPTIONS INSIDER MEDIA GROUP
  • CO-HOST: SEAN SMITH, MD OF DERIVATIVES LICENSING, FTSE RUSSELL
  • CME HOT SEAT GUEST: ADAM WEBB, FOUNDER OF MACROHEDGED 

ON TODAY'S EPISODE, MARK, SEAN AND ADAM DISCUSS:

  • MOVERS AND SHAKERS FOR THE WEEK.
  • TOPICS FEATURED INCLUDE CRUDE, BRENT, EQUITIES, RATES AND LEAN HOGS.
  • WTI CRUDE OIL PRICES ARE WEAKENING AGAIN AS CONCERNS ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK COME BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT AND DOMINATE THE OVERALL MARKET SENTIMENT. SURPRISINGLY, PEOPLE ARE NOT WADING INTO HUGE DOWNSIDE PUT BETS IN WTI RIGHT NOW.
  • FUTURES OPTIONS FEEDBACK:
  • COMMENT FROM KAMAR: SEEMS LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO’VE BEEN FADING WTI CALLS FOR MONTHS WERE ON THE RIGHT TRACK. THIS PRODUCT CAN’T EVEN CATCH A BID WHEN THE MIDDLE EAST IS IN FLAMES. NOW THIS VIRUS IS SQUEEZING OUT THE LAST OF THE DEMAND. SOLD TO YOU!
  • QUESTION FROM JJL8: IS IT TIME FOR RECON YET?
  • QUESTION FROM ELIAN: MORE VOLUME ON THE TAPE THIS WEEK FOR THE BITCOIN OPTIONS?
  • QUESTION FROM ALLISON B.: HAVE YOU GUYS EVER DONE A STRADDLE RUN ON THE SHOW? MIGHT BE INTERESTING FOR CRUDE AND ES AND CORN. GREAT PROGRAM. I LISTEN EVERY WEEK.
  • QUESTION FROM JACK ATTACK: DO IWM AND RUT OPTIONS ALWAYS TRADE AROUND THE SAME SKEW AND VOLATILITY? OR ARE THERE DIFFERENT CROWDS FOR THESE PRODUCTS?
Jan 24, 2020
  • HOST: MARK LONGO, THE OPTIONS INSIDER MEDIA GROUP
  • CME HOT SEAT GUEST: SCOTT BAUER, PROSPER TRADING ACADEMY

ON TODAY'S EPISODE, MARK AND SCOTT DISCUSS:

  • CMEGROUP RECORD INTERNATIONAL AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME IN 2019.
  • MOVERS AND SHAKERS FOR THE WEEK.
  • TRADES IN EQUITIES, CRUDE, GOLD AND SILVER.
  • STRANGE SHIFTING NARRATIVE ON THE WEEK IN CRUDE - SUPPLY REDUCTION FROM LIBYA TO START THE WEEK AND THEN ONE-TWO PUNCH OF A SUPPLY GLUT AND DISEASE FEARS.
  • OIL: IS MIDEAST RISK PREMIUM TOO LOW? 
  • GOLD FUTURES MARKED THEIR HIGHEST SETTLEMENT IN OVER TWO WEEKS AS THE SPREAD OF THE CORONAVIRUS IN ASIA FED RISK-OFF SENTIMENT AMONG TRADERS, PRESSURING GLOBAL STOCK MARKETS AND U.S. BOND YIELDS, AND BOOSTING HAVEN DEMAND FOR THE PRECIOUS METAL.
  • AND MUCH MORE...
  •  

 

 

Jan 17, 2020

TWIFO 183: Bitcoin Options Are Finally Here

  • HOST: MARK LONGO, THE OPTIONS INSIDER MEDIA GROUP
  • CO-HOST: SEAN SMITH, MD OF DERIVATIVES LICENSING, FTSE RUSSELL
  • GUEST: NICK HOWARD, BANTIX TECHNOLOGIES

CRYPTO

CME BTC FUTURES

  • CRAZY WEEK LEADING UP TO OPTIONS LAUNCH
  • FRIDAY -  13,522
  • THURSDAY - 10,500
  • WEDS: 17K
  • TUES: 12K
  • MON: 6,600
  • OI HIT 7 MONTH HIGH
  • OPTIONS - 54 CONTRACTS OPENING DAY

EQUITIES

  • VIX: 12.2 - DOWN .75 FROM LAST SHOW
  • VVIX:89.25 -  DOWN .25 FROM LAST SHOW
  • RVX: 14 - DOWN 1 FROM LAST SHOW 
  • VIX/RVX SPREAD - APPROX. 1.8 - SLIGHTLY TIGHTER THAN LAST SHOW

SOYBEANS

  • -2,15% THIS WEEK
  • SOYBEAN OIL DOWN NEARLY 5%
  • VOL CRUSHED THIS WEEK AFTER TRADE DEAL SIGNING
  • LOOKING AT AG VOLATILITY

RATES

  • INSANE STUFF GOING ON IN EURODOLLARS DOWNSIDE RIGHT NOW.
  • BREAKING DOWN SOME FUNKY EURODOLLAR PUT SPREADS 

FUTURES OPTIONS FEEDBACK

  • QUESTION FROM TAMISH: THE FTSE REP ON THE PROGRAM MENTIONED THE STRONG INTERNATIONAL DEMAND FOR RUT OPTIONS AND FUTURES. THIS SURPRISED ME BECAUSE THE INDEX IS PRIMARILY DOMESTIC. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST INTERNATIONAL MARKETS FOR THE RUSSELL 2000?
  • QUESTION FROM ZAKI: ANY IDEA WHEN WE WILL HAVE SOME REGULATORY CLARITY ON CRYPTO?
  • QUESTION FROM NEAL: ANY THOUGHTS ON EARLY CME BTC OPT VOLUME? SEEMED SOMEWHAT LIGHT TO ME?
  • QUESTION FROM JACK: WHY DOES EVERYONE QUOTE CRYPTO IN NOTIONAL? EVEN CME IS DOING IT NOW?
  • QUESTION FROM 5ROUND: ARE COVERED CALLS AS POPULAR IN RUT AS IN S&P?
Jan 10, 2020

TWIFO 182: Kicking Off A New Decade of Futures Options

  • HOST: MARK LONGO, THE OPTIONS INSIDER MEDIA GROUP
  • CO-HOST: SEAN SMITH, MD OF DERIVATIVES LICENSING, FTSE RUSSELL

CME Group Reports 2019 Annual Volume and Monthly Market Statistics - https://www.cmegroup.com/media-room/press-releases/2020/1/03/cme_group_reports2019annualvolumeandmonthlymarketstatistics.html

  • Average daily volume (ADV) of 19.2 million contracts during the year and 15.5 million contracts during the month of December. 
  • Open interest at the end of December was 113 million contracts. Market statistics are available online in greater detail at https://cmegroupinc.gcs-web.com/monthly-volume.
  • Annual highlights across asset classes include:
    • Record 40 trading days with volume over 25 million contracts, up 29% from 35 days in 2018
    • Record Interest Rate ADV of 10.3 million contracts per day, up 4% from 2018
    • Record Metals ADV of 668,000 contracts per day, up 5% from 2018
    • Record Options ADV of 4 million contracts per day, up 2% from 2018

EQUITIES

  • VIX: 12.95 - UP .45 ROM LAST SHOW
  • VVIX:89.5 -  DOWN 9.25 FROM LAST SHOW
  • RVX: 15 - UP .75 FROM LAST SHOW 
  • VIX/RVX SPREAD - APPROX. 2 - AROUND THE SAME AS LAST SHOW
  • RUSSELL 2000 2019 PERFORMANCE
    • UP NEARLY 24% IN 2019
    • OPENED THE YEAR AT 1346
    • ENDED THE YEAR OVER 1600 - CLOSED AT 1668

In 2020, Equities Are Partying Like It's 1999 By Erik Norland - https://www.cmegroup.com/education/featured-reports/in-2020-equities-are-partying-like-its-1999.html

  • At the beginning of the 1990s, the US economy was heading into a recession, plagued by a crisis of small banks (saving and loans) and bad real estate loans.  The Federal Reserve (Fed) was slashing rates, from 9.75% to 3%.  
  • At the beginning of the 2010s, the US unemployment rate was nearly 10%.  The banking system was just beginning to recover from its most severe crisis since the 1930s.  Housing prices had collapsed nationwide. The Fed was experimenting with zero rates and quantitative easing.
  • Superficially, the beginning of the 2020s looks a great deal more like the state of the world in 2000 than in 1990 or 2010.  Unemployment is below 4%. There are no obvious problems with the banking system. Real estate prices are on a modest upward trend but don’t appear to be in bubble territory (at least not in most of the US).  Energy and materials prices are far from historical highs.

METALS

2019 In Review: A Record Year for CME Metals Products - https://www.cmegroup.com/education/metals-update/2020-q1-metals-update.html

  • Combined Futures and Options Average Daily Volume (ADV) was 668,327 contracts in 2019, a new record. Metals F&O have now set annual volume records in 4 consecutive years. 
  • Metals ADV increased 20% from December 2018, driven by 22% growth in precious metals futures and options and 15% growth in base metals futures and options
  • Average combined Metals Open Interest of 3,662,788 contracts also set a record in 2019, showing consistent growth as volume increased.
  • Gold Futures Open Interest set a record on December 31 of 786,166 contracts.

GOLD 

  • Gold Prices Rise Above $1,600 on Simmering U.S.-Iran Tensions 

Shanghai Gold Futures Contracts Debut with Deep Liquidity and Robust Volume

  • Since their debut on October 14, a combined 42,719 contracts have traded in the SGU (USD Denominated) and SGC (CNH) contracts. 

Use COMEX Copper Options to Manage Copper Price Risk

  • Copper options average daily volume in 2019 was 2,812 contracts, up 101% YoY.

COMEX Aluminum Suite Continues to Grow

  • CME’s physically deliverable Aluminum Futures contract continues to gain traction, with Q4 average daily volume reaching 139 contracts (3,475 metric tons), 
  • 2019 Average Daily Volume across CME’s suite of Aluminum Futures contracts was 671 contracts, up 9% vs 2018 (Q4 1,057 up 82% vs Q4 2018).

CRUDE

  • Oil prices jumped 5 per cent after Iran launched strikes against US military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of commander Qassem Soleimani. But by Wednesday afternoon gains in crude had reversed, with prices trading lower than before the Iranian general’s assassination.
  • BRENT CRUDE: Having jumped when markets opened to as high as $71.75 a barrel, crude later dropped to below $66 a barrel, a near 9 per cent peak-to-trough swing in the course of a day.
  • WTI: TOPPED OUT AT $63.27 - BEFORE DROPPING BACK BELOW $60 AGAIN. Oil tanker groups are taking a wait-and-see approach - Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter and a key US ally, has temporarily suspended shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating the Gulf from Iran where 20 per cent of global oil supplies pass daily.
  • However, Frontline, the world’s largest oil tanker operator, said that while it was “monitoring the situation closely” it had not “suspended trading in the area”.
  • Opec and allies can ALWAYS increase supplies - 
  • “Not a single drop of oil supply has been lost due to the recent incidents and this is why the oil price has fallen back down again so quickly,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at Norwegian bank SEB.

CRYPTO

Options on Bitcoin Futures. Coming January 13, 2020 - https://www.cmegroup.com/cme-group-futures-exchange/options-bitcoin-futures.html?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bitcoin_options_launch&utm_content=email4_prelaunch

FUTURES OPTIONS FEEDBACK

  • QUESTION FROM ABHISHEK JAIN: dear sir, can you share a fee source of U.S. commodity option chain  preferably gold and crude oil
  • QUESTION FROM STEVE WIM: What was a weird trend that came on your radar in 2019?
  • QUESTION FROM BKL61: What is the proper time frame for trading futures options? In case you can’t tell i’m pretty new to trading. Just discovered the program and I’m loving it and learning a ton. Thank you so much!.
  • QUESTION FROM DEMOCAT: Are there any plans for mini (micro) russell options?
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