Option Block 428: The Thorax of the Trade

Trading Block: Tattoo snafu inks Apple iWatch wearers. Options volume slid in first quarter. Bad sign? Retail investors all in: TD Ameritrade. The dollar is on its longest losing streak since 2011. India VIX caps monthly advance as futures rollover below average. Tesla loses ground ahead of battery event.

Odd Block: Calls trade in PowerShares DB US Dollar Index (UUP), calls trade in Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), and puts trade in Youku Tudou Inc. (YOKU)

Mail Block: Listener questions and comments

• Question from Nick - I have heard markets spend 30% of time trending and 70% of time bracketing. Can I use options to trade both of these environments?
• Question from Alan - Why is rolling a position so prominent? Is that not just averaging into a losing trade?
• Question from Anglo Jim - We saw a trending bull market for most of 2014. Is it simplistic to say that you could have just bought out-of-the-money calls and done fairly well? What about that decay that you are always talking about? Does that become a factor in that strategy, or does the bull market overcome it?
• Question from Orlando - I am thinking of using weeklys to initiate debit vertical call spreads. Is that a good use case for them?
• Comment from Mark Brant - @Options Great Option Block episode! I got even smarter about options again! The gift that keeps on giving: OIR. Thx!

Around the Block: Earnings: Apple & other earnings expected to dominate the week of April 27. Friday - Chevron, Weyerhaeuser