Market Update
Market Update Hello Smart Option Sellers! Been pretty quiet around here. I sit here everyday, all day, scanning the markets for potential new put-sell trades for us. And right now, I'm just not seeing anything that's worthy of our attention. There's a few fringe opportunities, but not enough to pull the trigger and put our hard-earned dollars into sub-par risk/reward scenarios. Sometimes it's best to sit on the sidelines until a clearer picture emerges. Can't go broke if we have no stake. At the same time, can't make any money either. But I'm super conservative (maybe too much for some of you), and would rather err on the side of caution. I will say that two of the stocks I'm looking at right now are Paypal (PYPL) and Square (SQ). Both of those stocks are at the forefront of modern payment systems, most notably for small businesses and entrepreneurs (like me!). All of you know that my method of payment to join The Smart Option Seller is through Paypal. The reasons why I haven't pulled the trigger on these two stocks yet are: 1. PYPL just released a news story that one of its recently acquired bill processor systems - TIO Networks, had a security breach, with possible customer personal data being exposed. Not sure yet how this will affect PYPL's stock price, but I'll continue to monitor. 2. There's nothing inherently wrong with SQ, except that it's gone vertical recently, and then had a large pull-back, so I'm waiting to see how the next move will shake out. Here's an interesting article about SQ. 3. Lastly, both of these stocks have only been trading for a few years, and I typically like to get involved with companies with longer trading histories. I will continue to watch these stocks, and if we do decide to get in, it will be under the caveat of a higher risk trade for us. Stay tuned! Another stock I've also just recently been keeping track of is the Proshares VIX Inverse Short-term Futures ETF (SVXY). That's a mouthful. This is an ETF that moves inversely to the moves of the VIX. Here's the current chart. What's interesting about this chart is that it keeps moving higher even though the VIX has mostly flatlined. This tells me that if we continue to have a stock market that keeps going up, and a VIX that essentially meanders or falls a little, then the SVXY will keep moving higher. This makes for great put-selling opportunities. And one of the things I'm finding is that the put options pay a very healthy premium, even for very far out-of-the-money strikes. This is exactly what we like. So I'm investigating a bit further. Make no mistake though, if the stock market falls and the VIX shoots higher, then the SVXY will drop pretty hard. This is the most likely reason why the put options have such healthy premiums - because a large fall in the market could be at the forefront of everyone's minds, especially since its hasn't had a meaningful pull-back in quite some time.. I'll keep tabs on it and will let everyone know if/when it becomes a viable opportunity. So for now, we sit and wait, and continue to monitor our current positions. Not much has changed since last week on their pricing. Continue to hold all trades as-is. And for any new Smart Option Seller, you can decide if you want to get involved in any of the trades that meet our initial entry prices. Check the Current Portfolio below for instructions and up-to-date pricing. Bitcoin Update We've kind of made this a regular thing here as some of you ask me about it weekly. In last week's alert, Bitcoin had just eclipsed the $11,000 level per coin, and just this morning, it was trading above $13,000 on some of the European exchanges. Amazing, right? Well, there are two big developments happening next week that I believe will be defining moments for bitcoin and some of the other cryptocurrencies. Both the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) and the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) will begin offering bitcoin futures. Having long-standing institutions such as the CME & CBOE list bitcoin futures for trading not only lends credibility to the whole concept of digital currencies like bitcoin, but it also completely opens the door to the large amount of hedge fund and institutional money that has been mostly sitting on the sidelines. Is that a good thing? I mostly believe yes. But what I think could happen in those first few days or even weeks, is that many of these large players will begin to sell bitcoin futures because there hasn't been a legitimate way to go short bitcoin for that institutional class yet. Many of them think bitcoin has reached bubble status and will want to sell it. That could lead them to muscle the market lower, potentially causing bitcoin to give up 20%-50% of its value rather quickly. This will completely shake out the weak longs (people who get scared out of positions easily), and in my opinion, will offer the mother of all buying (MOAB) opportunities in bitcoin. Yes, if bitcoin loses half of its value, I will be there buying with more of my speculative money. Now, on the other hand, if these institutions believe in the long-term value and usage of digital currency for the good of all mankind, they will put all that sideline money to work and push bitcoin higher very, very quickly. I could see it going to $20,000 per coin within a matter of days. Full disclosure again - this is just my opinion, and I am invested in bitcoin and will continue to do so. I'm very excited to see how the new futures market will play out. The CBOE launches on this Sunday night 12/10 at 6pm EST and the CME launches next Sunday night 12/17 at 6pm EST. You should be able to see the futures prices in your broker's trading platform or on the CBOE & CME websites. Once again, if you want to get involved and open up a trading account, you can sign up at Coinbase.com Use this referral link to get started. If you do, we both will receive $10 worth of free bitcoin after you've bought your first $100 worth. Don't forget, if you do open an account, make sure you use a very long & intricate password. And sign up for the "Two-Factor Authentication". This is just another layer of protection for your account. It will send you a 6-digit code to your phone to use for logging in purposes in addition to you typing in your password. That's all for now. Continue to hold all put-sell trades as-is. Check the Current Portfolio below for updates & instructions. You can always reach us here
Regards, Lee Let's Grab That Cash!
Current Portfolio Continue to work all other trades as instructed and continue to hold all other open positions as-is. See the Current Portfolio below for current prices & instructions. Note on the Current Portfolio - if you are a new subscriber and don't have a position yet on any of our trades, make sure you enter your order at the original recommended sell prices. Do no enter any order unless the current option price is at, or higher, than the official recommendation. If you are unsure or have any questions, please ask us!
