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McDonalds Again And A Follow Up To Yesterday's Blog..

Option traders on Friday mornings just want to be in and out in the first hour or so of trading on short term options. In the second half of the day most of the action calms down. McDonalds sold off a little bit yesterday afternoon and firmed up a bit towards the closing. Could this "mostly downward trend" continue? Here is a partial look at some of the opening bell's activity. Today is a Friday however let us first look at how the stock traded yesterday. Now a look at it's trading pattern at 9:32.22 a.m. The McDonald stock jumped up $4.98 and the 317.50 Puts we followed all day yesterday which are now "out-of-the-money" acted accordingly. They shrunk in value. During the fist 2.22 minutes of trading they traded down to 34 dollars a contract. Now this. In the first three minutes of trading the stock jumped a bit and then started to come off a touch. These Call options where not attacting all that much attention. The bid and ask jumped up on no volume. ...
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Rethinking Setting Up A Deere Position One Week Out

A rough opening this morning.
A news release which I thought wasn't all that bad. Rising sales during a period of covid!
A further morning decline in a market which was holding it's own in the first hour of trading.
What to do? Why not buy a Call with one week to go? Here is what they cost at 10:13 a.m. and here is what the five day chart looks like as of 10:30 a.m.
But wait. The markets sometimes turn south in the afternoon and more importantly the trading volumes on Friday afternoons often dry up. Look at how the markets (the DJI is selling off). Might it drop more on the day? Why is there now a rush to play the upside? There isn't but look at Walmart and Netflix. They both have a similiar story.
We will soon be going into a Friday afternoon, which is not a period of time when the markets tend to rally. My interest in looking for a rebound is now waning. Here is how these Calls closed out the day. The problem now is that this particular series is now to far "out-of-the-money" to consider.
Here is the closing one day chart.
Fridays in general are not good times to be looking for reversals. These markets as of late are wicked. Deere lost $51.31 on the day. (This chart doesn't show the lower gap opening which was a big chunk of the loss on the day). Walmart also lost over $25.00 in one day a few days back. It's a market where everyone has lost money. Clear skies will be slow in coming back.

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