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

Some option traders on Friday mornings just want to be in and out in the first hour or so of trading on short term options they feel comfortable trading. In the second half of the day most of the action calms down. Take your winnings and run. McDonalds sold off a little bit yesterday afternoon and firmed up a bit towards the closing. Could this "mostly downtrend" continue? Here is a partial look at the opening bell's action, today 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. Now this, McDonald's jumps up $4.98 and the 317.50 Puts we followed yesterday which are now "out-of-the-money" acted accordingly. 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 started to come off a touch. These Call options where not attacting all that much attention. The bid and ask jumped up ...
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Ford and The Call and Put Option Game On It Has Slightly Changed.

Look at this chart. Do you recognize something a little bit different in the striking prices? They have changed and here is proof.
Forget playing the 12, the 12.50, the 13 and the 13.50. Calls or Puts. Now they are all 11.85, 12.35, 12.85, 13.35 Calls or Puts. What is now different is that the striking prices have now shifted downwards by .15 cents or upwards by .35 cents depending on how you look at it. Does it make any difference to option players? Has it become slightly more challenging to do the math? Not really as everything functions just the same. Just learn to get use to it. That said, here is how the stock Ford is now trading in February. .
Now look at these same Call options on the morning of Tuesday February 22nd two trading days later.
The market tanked on Monday and the executives at Ford are making comments that are casting their operating realities in a bad light. Institutional investors have limited patience for these kinds of outbursts.
Then this.
Ford's public relations department needs to coach their management to button their lips. Here now is a printout of the same Call options we showed above two days later. They have tanked.
The bottom line is the playing Call and Put options on Ford can be a wild game when there are so many moving parts in play. Yet then again these price gyrations make for interesting trading opportunities. Don't be afraid to play them.* The longer term Call and Put options like the Ford 12 and 13 and 14 Calls remain "as is". It's only so far, the near term Call and Puts options that have the new striking prices.

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