2015 Blog Archive

Low Volume Creates Lack of True Direction
28 Dec 2015

Volume was very low last Thursday and today. As we had predicted there appears to be no Santa Claus rally this year. As oil continues moving down it is pulling the market with it. Iran is set to bring more oil to an already over supplied market and Goldman Sachs has suggested oil may go to $20 a barrel. 2016 is looking ominous because oil should bottom in 2016 and then start up and as it does we should see a market continue to move down with major stocks tied to energy being adversely effected such as UPS, FDX, LUV, DAL etc. World growth is declining and that is impacting commodities to include gold and copper. But we think that volatility should benefit our proprietary trading algorithms. We are looking forward to a great year in 2016.

Options Alert PRO - Up Over 3,100% in 2015

18 Dec 2015

We just closed another winning trade up 56% in 5 days! Congratulations to all who participated. This has been a banner year for Optik Options and Options Alert PRO up 3,120% as of the close on Wednesday, December 23, 2015. We have had some losers but overall we would venture to guess that no other news alert service came close to our performance. We continue to expand and refine our proprietary algorithms and predict that 2016 will continue the volatility that made 2015 such a success. Thanks to all our subscribers and Happy Holidays

WOW - Words Can't Describe the Market Swings

18 Dec 2015
Wednesday the markets took off upward after Janet Yellen delivered her speech. Then Thursday reality kicked back in and so did our good buddy volatility! If you go and look at a chart of oil against the DOW you will see nearly a 1-1 correlation. Goldman Sachs announced that they see oil heading to $20 a barrel. With Iran coming online and putting more oil into a global market that is running out of storage that could very well be true and if so how far down will it drive the market. But remember this is a very sensitive market. The slightest hiccup that interrupts oil could send it up. Other analysts have said they see $100 a barrel oil in 2016. So we have two camps – one says the glass in half full the other half empty. What we plan to do is watch our technical indicators and make solid picks. Overall it appears we will end 2015 with over 3,000% gain in our alerts. We don’t know of any other service that comes close to our record of performance. So stay tuned for more volatility and gains in the coming year.

Fed Raises Interest Rates

16 Dec 2015

The Federal Reserve raised the interest rate on Wednesday from a range of 0% to 0.25% to a range of 0.25% to 0.5%. It has been nearly a decade since a rate hike! "I feel confident about the fundamentals driving the U.S. economy, the health of U.S. households, and domestic spending," Fed chief Janet Yellen said during a press conference. "There are pressures on some sectors of the economy, particularly manufacturing, and the energy sector...but the underlying health of the U.S. economy I consider to be quite sound." Ms. Yellen's remarks after the announcement set the market up after lacking definitive direction in the morning. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 224.18 points, or 1.3 percent, to 17,749.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 29.66 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,073.07. The Nasdaq composite gained 75.77 points, or 1.5 percent, to 5,071.13. The market finished higher for the third day in a row, something that hadn't happened in almost two months. The S&P 500 is up 3 percent over the last three days. Lets see if volitility starts to settle and if there will be an end of year rally or are we entering a new era.

Volatility - Did we say VOLATILITY?

08 Dec 2015

Yes, we have a number of times mentioned volatility. To be honest we had no idea that the market would be this volatile with crazy swings up and down for the past four trading days in a row. This past Friday the DOW closed up 369 points, or 2.1%, to 17847.63, its biggest increase since September 8th. Yesterday we shed 144 points and today the Dow fell as much as 245 points, with the slumping energy sector leading the way lower. Oil fell as low as $36.64 a barrel, but it bounced off those levels and settled at $37.51. The market has wiped out all but 63 points of Fridays gains. Markets are tense for five major reasons: 1) Pending FED rate hike; 2) Oil crashing; 3) China growth slowdown; 4) many big funds are in the process of shedding their losers in the middle of December hence higher levels of selling pushing the market down; and 5) geopolitical issues. China’s exports fell 6.8% year-on-year in November. That is the fifth consecutive monthly drop in the world’s second biggest economy. China’s imports also fell in November by 8.7%, compared to a year earlier. We continue to see – volatility. It is now 6:31pm EST and the futures just updated showing a potentially up at the open, DOW +12 and Fair Value -14 indicates a +26 open on the DOW - but a lot can happen between now and then.

Markets Soared Friday - But what's next?

04 Dec 2015

Prior to the market opening Thursday futures were very strong but then pulled back after the European Central Bank president, nicknamed “Super Mario” for his record of decisive policy actions, failed to deliver the level of stimulus that the global markets were anticipating. The DOW lost 252 points Thursday. On Friday the futures moved up significantly after the jobs number was released at 8:30am (EST) but then subsequently went negative because of the news out of Vienna which roiled the oil markets. Despite the majority of OPEC members pleading with Saudi Arabia to reverse course and cut back the cartel’s oil output levels, which stood at 30 million barrels per day (mb/d) heading into the meeting, OPEC refused. Once the market opened a rally ensued. This seesaw movement is indicitive of the volitility we have been experiencing. Friday did wind up soaring with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 369.96 points, or 2.1%, to 17847.63, for its biggest increase since Sept. 8. The S&P 500 rose 42.07, or 2.1%, to 2091.69, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 104.74, or 2.1%, to 5142.27. Optik Options alert late Thursday paid off with a gain of 29%. Many of our subscribers made higher profits by continuing to hold their positions as the market continued up. Here's the million dollar question: has the markets really priced in a Fed rate hike for this month? Most people say yes but we are not 100% certain. The stock market faces challenges as it heads into 2016, particularly from retracted global growth and the troubled energy setor. The S&P 500’s energy-company index lost 0.5% Friday and is down 19% for the year. Optik Options thinks that 2016 will be the year of volatility and big swings especially if geopolitical issues spread.

Qualcomm (QCOM) Returns 102%+
02 Dec 2015

Our alert for QualComm (QCOM) paid off in a big way today! We issued that alert after QCOM was hammerd down from its high in November of $61.18 to under $50 a share. We knew that this was very oversold and that QCOM would come back. However, we did not think it would come back as soon and as strong as it did but the earnings release propelled the stock up. To recap, on November 18th we issued an alert to buy QCOM, April 15, 2016 calls, at the $52.50 strike price for $1.63 or less. Today we exited that position at $3.30 for a gain of 102%. Some of our subscribers exited slightly lower and some held on to sell their shares at over $3.70. Congratulations to everyone!

World Tension + Janet Yellen = Volatility

29 Nov 2015

We are expecting significant volatility to continue in the markets and the SPY to continue to move between 201 and 211 due to continued geopolitical issues as well as global growth and manufacturing slowing. The S&P 500 Index is not far from making new, all-time highs, but OBV (on balance volume) and PMO (price momentum oscillator) technical indicators remain bearish. For now, these are caution flags. This may be the beginning of a longer-term breakdown. In addition, the FED is expected to raise rates in December and that will continue to contribute to the volatility as the markets and talking heads guessing. Because of this we may shift to daily trades on the SPY ETF because of the fast swings we see occurring. Closing out November we were up 144% not including the trades that remain open. Of note, the IMF added the Chinese Yuan to its basket of reserve-lending currencies, a milestone in China’s ascendancy as a global economic power partly designed to encourage stronger economic overhauls by Beijing. We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday.

Holiday Rally or Not?
21 Nov 2015

It is nearing the time of year that many market analysts call the holiday or Christmas rally. But with the lowering of guidance on global growth, shoppers concerned over crowded venues due to Paris attacks, oil dropping lower, and a host of other economic factors - we are betting on no real rally and continued volatility.

Volatility – Get use to it!
15 Nov 2015

Before we get into the markets we want to extend our prayers to France, its people and all those who have lost loved ones or in any manner have been harmed by the attacks that occurred in Paris this past Friday. We have published a number of articles previously focused on market volatility. We anticipate volatility will continue for many months to come and may be the theme for all of 2016! We saw a significant downward move in September only to have an October that was the most positive in four years! Now we are in a clear sell off and the Paris attacks will surely have an adverse effect near term. The bounce up in October we attribute to manipulation by China and the Euro providing artificial stimulus. But lets look at the really bad news – globally there is an economic slow down, gas/oil is overflowing and they are running out of storage as well the new deal with Iran will bring more oil to the global markets. We think that $30 barrel oil is on the way. We also have declining US and global GDP, commodities that have been hammered to historic lows and retail earnings report this past week that disseminated Nordstrom’s (JWN), Macy’s (M) and Cisco (CSCO). In short – we see no good news on the horizon. Be ready to buy SPY PUTS! In fact the November $198 Puts we bought may come all the way back from the brink of worthless to positive territory but the expiration date is close and we would advise exiting as we have previously stated in alert emails. The S&P 500 index turned negative for the year Friday as it fell below its 200 day moving average, a critical support level.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 202.83 points, or 1.2%, to 17,245.24 and lost 3.7% over the week, also its worst weekly drop since September. Friday’s economic reports pointed also pointed to sluggish consumer spending and stubbornly low inflation. The One small positive note is that the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index rose to 93.1 in November from 90 in October. So hold in as we continue the roller coaster rise with the SPY working between an approximate low of 198 to a high of 212. We are very pleased with the 100% return we made this past week with GOOGL (60%) and LOW (40%).

Expanded Service Picks Up 60% Gain!
07 Nov 2015

On November 9th we issued an alert to buy GOOGL,November 20th, $760 Calls at $7.50 or less. In just 2 days we have exited at the target price of $12 for a 60% return and some held until they were at $14 for a return of 87%

Optik Expands Services

07 Nov 2015

Starting Monday, November 9, 2015, Optik Options will expand its services at no additional costs to subscribers and provide options alerts on other equities and ETFs beyond our current focus. We wanted to let you all know so when you see an alert other then an alert on the SPY that you are aware of the service expansion. We have concluded months of back testing and the expanded alerts should effectively increase the effectiveness of our services to all significantly. Over the past several months we have back tested the probable results and level of correct calls using our proven proprietary models. Subscribers can look forward to new options alerts.

All that Matters is the Price of Money

01 Nov 2015

The stock seems not to care about global slowing, mixed earnings or international tensions. It appears the market will continue to move higher and higher as long as the Federal Reserve keeps rates low. Watch out when they hike! After a banner October, the best month in four years, the market drifted lower Friday. Economic data released this past week clearly shows that the economy is sluggish, stuck in a pattern of gradual but uneven growth it has followed since the Great Recession. But the outlook for future growth improved and fears waned that a slowing Chinese economy would send the U.S. economy into a tailspin. Strong corporate earnings in some sectors, like health care and telecommunications, also helped propel the market all the way back to positive for the year. We continue to hold our battered position on the November SPY $198 puts and hope to regain some of the loss.

Markets Stagnant Ahead of GDP, FOMC and Earnings

26 Oct 2015

It is a big week as the earnings marathon continues, with several big names including Apple and Alibaba poised to report quarterly results this week. In addition, we have the FOMC rate announcement Wednesday and Thursday morning before the open the GDP! With all these major events the markets have cooled off. Also, historically, this is one of the worst weeks in the history of the S&P. The market should determine its definitive direction sometime Thursday once the dust settles. Last week the markets roared forward on Thursday primarily due to EU stating it will provide more support to their economy and Friday China stating it will lower rates. Today, Monday, was very quiet and free of noteworthy earnings. Accordingly, the benchmark index opened with a two-point loss and traded in sideways fashion until the closing bell. Seven sectors registered losses between 0.2% (consumer staples and industrials) and 2.5% (energy) while consumer discretionary (+0.8%), health care (+0.5%), and telecom services (+0.1%) outperformed. Today's participation was below average with fewer than 850 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. It appears the in the last several months the market has ignored the world economy and focused instead, or entirely, on the cost of money. As long as interest rate are so low it appears the market will continue an overall upward move. However, when the rates are increased we are looking at a possible devastating effect even though most commentators will tell you that a rate hike is already built in. We shall see!

Stocks Rally is it Real?

22 Oct 2015

We don’t think so. Economic reports last week were not stellar, aside from jobless claims that hit a low last seen in the early 1970s. The rest of the data ranged fair for retail sales to incredibly awful for the Empire State and Philly Fed surveys, and a surprising JOLTS report that showed a sharp drop in job openings. Further, while we had an incredible rally today. The fuel for the rally was due to the European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, stating that the bank is prepared to undertake another large stimulus package that could include more bond purchases and a cut to the already negative deposit rate, as the Eurozone struggles with ultra-low inflation and a tepid recovery. But small- and mid-cap stocks are not participating in this recent rally. Charts on the S&P 400 and the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) show that they are not bullish in the intermediate term to long term. On all S&P 400 and the IWM the September high is the problem, none of them have been able to penetrate it! At some point bad news will be bad news for stocks again but the rest of the markets are already reacting to the bad news as if it were exactly that. It is more than passing curious that while stocks took all that bad economic news as a reason to be bullish, other parts of the market were not as sanguine. Bonds have been in a rally mode with the10-year Treasury at one point dipping below 2 percent yet again. The Fed may think rates need to be higher but the market disagrees vehemently. Bond investors aren’t buying the stock rally because of the weak data. It is only a matter of time until this irrational exuberance explodes.

Continued Downward Market Pressure Today
14 Oct 2015

The markets have been racking up daily gains since the 400+ point swing we had on the 2nd of October. It appears the bad news on the employment report that day initially sent the DOW down about 200 points but then the mindset was no rate hike because the economy if bad and the sent the market up over 200 points. CRAZY! The world economy is not good. Today we had Wal-Mart (WMT) the main stream store for America get crushed dropping over 10% when it surprised investors stating it expects profits to drop by as much as 12% next year, this from the world’s biggest retailer. Intel (INTC) missed expectation and was down today and after the bell today Netflix (NFLX) is getting hammered – down as much as 14% at one point. We do not live on interest rates alone and the market is starting to recognize this. We continue to anticipate more big swings but lower highs and lower lows over the next several months. There were other negative reports indicating this economy is not in good shape.

PMorgan Chase (JPM -0.28%) fell over 1% in pre-market trading after it reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.29, below consensus of $1.38.

Intel (INTC -0.53%) slid nearly 3% in pre-market trading after it reported Q3 EPS of 64 cents, better than consensus of 59 cents, but then projected a slowdown in corporate server demand as businesses scale back capital spending plans.

GoPro (GPRO -1.72%) fell nearly 2% and Under Armour (UA -1.98%) dropped over 1% in after-hours trading after Piper Jaffray downgraded both stocks to 'Neutral' from 'Overweight.'

Cepheid (CPHD -8.61%) sank 11% in after-hours trading after it reported a Q3 EPS loss of -13 cents, more than double consensus of a 6 cent loss, and then cut guidance on fiscal 2015 revenue to $537 million to $541 million from a July estimate of $544 million to $553 million, below consensus of $549.8 million.

ADBE and YUM – Setting the Stage?
06 Oct 2015

The only thing that explains why stocks have rallied since last Friday after the DOW dove over 200 points at the open is that the economic news is so bad, investors think that any rate hike is off the table. Does that make sense, bad economic data driving the market higher? We don’t think so. After the bell today, YUM and ADBE made announcements that set them on fire – and by fire I mean burning down! ADBE went first and was down by 11.27% to $75.55 in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company announced fiscal 2016 guidance far below analysts' estimates. It has recovered and, as I write this, it is only down 3.11%. Next, YUM was down more than 18% in Tuesday’s after-hours session based upon poor sales in China, following the announcement of the company’s third quarter financial results. Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts global growth will fall to its lowest level since the onset of the financial crisis. The Fund estimates a slowdown of 3.1% this year, rebounding slightly next year. So the IMF is pleading for the Fed and the UK to keep all accommodative monetary policies in place – i.e. don’t raise the rates. Latin America's fortunes are being pushed down; its largest powerhouse is Brazil, which will now fall into a -3% recession this year. And then there is China – everyone is very concerned if the perpetual devouring of goods is getting ready to slam on its brakes. But we are all sure that the governmental data released by China will be entirely true and accurate. So with all this great news – why is the market on the rise? We think that it will not last long and we will see another substantial pullback soon. This week, Thursday at 2 ET, the Fed Minutes will be released and we feel that the markets are on hold pending that release, which is generally surrounded by a wild ride. So as we have been writing – hang on for more volatility.

Fed Keeps Market on Rollercoaster
04 Oct 2015

The Fed has numerous Presidents and the Chairman, Janet Yellen. If you keep up with the news on the Fed, there is one thing that they all agree on, they don't agree. At least that is how it sounds when you compare what each of them tell the media. Clearly, they have no unified stance with regard to a rate hike or the timing thereof. After the poor jobs report this past Friday, many are saying that the Fed made the right move – which is to stay the course and keep the market guessing. We tend to believe as many commentators have stated; if we are this concerned and the market is in turmoil over the possibility of a quarter-point hike, then we must have hidden significant issues in the economy. As we stated in our blog of September 23rd, hold on for more volatility. We were certainly right Friday. After the bad jobs report, the futures tanked and the market dropped over 220 points at one time only to finish the day up over 200 points. INCREDIBLE VOLITILITY – a swing of over 440 points in one day! We actually think that this is where the market is heading long-term, tremendous swings. It makes our philosophy more compelling that to buy and hold is no longer sound advice to a serious investor looking for gains. The better course of action is to determine the market direction, jump on that trend be it up or down, collect your gains, get out and wait for the next direction to take hold and repeat the process. That is exactly our model at Options Alert PRO, and so far it is paying off. We were up 114% in September and certainly maintaining a big lead over the returns of buy and hold anywhere that we are aware.

Janet Says – YES! We are Going to Raise Interest Rates!
27 Sep 2015

In her latest after hours speech at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Janet Yellen received emergency medical attention following a speech during which she appeared to lose concentration and which she struggled to finish. Is she just too old to do this vital job? In any case, with very little future left for her as she’s well into her final years, she’s making decisions that will impact all. She’s now made it clear, “It will likely be appropriate to raise the target range of the federal-funds rate sometime later this year and to continue boosting short-term rates at a gradual pace thereafter as the labor market improves further and inflation moves back to our 2% objective,” Ms. Yellen said. So hold on for much more volatility!

Choppy and Volatile Marks the Day

23 Sep 2015

U.S. stocks ended down slightly Wednesday after a choppy day. Materials and energy shares dropped due to weak Chinese and U.S. factory order data which added to ongoing growth worries. The S&P 500 briefly traded higher following afternoon comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping that his country was capable of maintaining a relatively high growth rate for a long time. But how much of the Chinese do we really want to believe? Data showed U.S. manufacturing growth remains at a two-year. Global economic growth is slowing. Our leadership could set a fire in the United States if they would only waive taxation of corporate monies repatriated. The growth would be incredible and not only benefit the US but the world. The energy sector (-1.4%) and materials (-2.1%) were the bottom leaders, while industrial sector (-0.7%) also helped to keep the market under downward pressure. All responded negatively to China's preliminary September Caixin Manufacturing PMI, which fell to a 6.5-year low of 47.0 from 47.3 (expected 47.5).

First Loss in 4 Months

21 Sep 2015

We just recorded our first loss on an alert since May of this year. We bought the SPY October 15, 2015 $203 calls at $1.25 and exited that position today at .82 cents. A loss of 34.4%. That said overall we are up for September 124%. We continue to outperform all other services and advisors that we are aware of and are watching for the next trade.

Continued Fed Uncertainty Weighs on the Markets
20 Sept 2015

No doubt, the pullback last week in the U.S. equity markets, in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates, had a lot to do with the uncertainty about the timing of the initial interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve—as market history shows that there often has been downside volatility surrounding the first rate increase. The markets were clearly displeased by the inclusion of following sentence in the FOMC statement: “Recent global economic and financial developments may restrain economic activity somewhat and are likely to put further downward pressure on inflation in the near term.” Of course, events abroad have to weigh on growth projections and the International Monetary Fund stated last week that it may again reduce its World Economic Outlook from July's downgraded projections of 3.3% in 2015 and 3.8% in 2016, while the OECD reduced its projection on Wednesday to 3.0% this year and 3.6% next year.

Presidential Debates, Stocks Rally, Government Shutdown AGAIN!
16 Sept 2015

Wow! Talk about a lot of heavy hitting events taking place. Trump is in first place and are so called political leaders are ready to square off yet again and bargain with the threat of government shutdown. Maybe the government shutting down would be good; we could eliminate all of the worthless politicians that we’ve elected and get some smart people that care in their positions! The politicians keep passing laws that continue to hurt America. But amid all this and the looming FMOC announcement tomorrow, stocks continue to rally. We are staying clear and waiting for the dust to settle, happy with our gains for the month. The S&P 500 rose 17.22 points, or 0.9%, to 1,995.31, holding within a 19-point range as energy-sector stocks led the way after a jump in oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded within a 162-point range and advanced 140.10 points, or 0.8%, to settle at 16,739.95. The Nasdaq Composite tacked on 28.72 points, or 0.6%, to close at 4,889.24, after trading within a 45-point range. Moving back to the brilliant minds in Washington. Did you know that more Americans renounced citizenship this year than ever before? They did this because of over arching regulations that are imposed on foreign banks. Those banks have said, “Forget it. We are not going to deal with the USA.” As a result, expatriates retired abroad can’t access their retirement and can’t afford or do not want to move back to the U.S. So, they are becoming citizens in other counties to access their rightful retirement funds. This is yet another great action driving smart people out of the U.S. by our brilliant lawmakers. Also, we talk about creating jobs. Well, the number one thing we could do is to eliminate the tax on corporations bringing money into the U.S. If we did this, we would have blinding growth! But the nut jobs in D.C. are too stupid, most never having worked a real job in their lives, to do the right thing for America. That’s just two examples out of 43,745,932. We should be entertained tonight with the Republican debates. Hold on for volatility in the markets tomorrow. Jim Grant the editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer said in an interview Wednesday on CNBC’s Closing Bell, "I think they do it for the very human reason that Janet Yellen wants to change the subject as much as we want to have it changed. Just do it."

Key Meeting of the Federal Reserve Looming

11 Sept 15

The markets have seen much volatility, and that might be coming to an end or may escalate dependent upon the Fed’s decision regarding interest rates next week. As one of my professors said in law school, it’s as clear as mixing concrete with your eyelashes. Jeff Immelt, the Chairman and CEO of General Electric, stated in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street that “. . .interest rates starting to go up, that’s a good thing for us ultimately. Not a bad thing.” There's still no clear signal from the Fed if they will pull the trigger or not since they are confronted with conflicting signals. On the one hand we have a strengthening economy and job market, per government reports and we know they are never wrong. On the other hand we have significant global growth slowdown concerns markedly from China. The bottom line is Wall Street has no idea what the Fed will decide. I am betting that on September 17th at about 2:05 ET, we will all know. We will be left with either uncertainty continuing to haunt the markets or a rate hike. Then all the talking heads will start on when the next hike will be and how much! But if you’re using Options Alert PROTM alerts just sit back and take the gains regardless of market direction. We are happy to report that our two alerts this month have produced gains of 132% in total.

US Stocks Rally
08 Sept 2105

We have a significant rally with the DOW up over 360 at the time of this post. However, we continue to remain cautious because of a number of factors that concern us to include the Fed and interest rates. While this should be long baked into the market by now, the market keeps reacting to the headlines and rumors. In addition, we continue to see world economic growth slowing and we are entering a historically volitile season that can last until the end of October. After that we will start to hear talk about the holiday rally and if it will happen this year or not. In Asia on Tuesday, shares in Hong Kong rose 3.3%. Japan’s Nikkei closed 2.4% lower, erasing all of its 2015 gains. In Europe, Germany’s DAX climbed 2.2% and France’s CAC-40 advanced 1.6%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 1.4%.

Stock Market Sensitivity

04 Sept 2015

Have you ever driven past another car that is parked and suddenly the alarm on the other car goes off? It goes off because the alarm’s sensitivity level has been set so high that is reacts to everything, which results in many false alarms. The same is true for the stock market today – its sensitivity has been set extremely too high. The incredible advances in technology allow hedge funds, high speed and high frequency traders to program codes (algorithms) that take into account an endless number of factors including the air temperature, wind speed and where Janet Yellen had breakfast. So the markets react like the car alarm – anything sets it off. Luckily, Options Aert PRO can see past the false alarms and identify the true direction of the market. That is how we have been able to achieve the incredible returns we have which results in being up over 2,800% this year. As I tell my kids, most of what you read and see on TV is there for one purpose, to attract an audience to the maximum extent possible so the businesses can sell ads and make money. In short, it is mostly entertainment with little value. But at Optik, we provide no entertainment - just reliable, consistent financial news alerts that provide unmatched gains to our subscribers. Thank you and have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Jobs Report Friday 0830 ET
03 Sept 2015

We've had a few comments from readers about why we've not taken advantage of some of the direction in the last couple of days on the SPY. To be honest it has been hard not to jump in but we think the decision to wait is best because we are concerned that the jobs report tomorrow morning at 8:30 ET may move the market significantly. We would rather be patient and right, then fast and wrong. Speaking of being wrong we have posted a correction to the August 24th blog below. One of our readers wrote in, Barry M., and said he saw some numbers that did not align. We went back and checked and he was right! We had two typographical errors that we have now corrected. One was the date, which we changed to the 19th from the 18th. The other was on the entry price, now changed to $1.50 from $1.30. These were just typos onthe blog. Our performance has not changed we are still up over 2,700% for the year! We apologize for the errors on the blog and thank Barry for bringing it to our attention. Lastly, as our subscribers are aware we had another 20% gain this week on the 1st, a day the DOW was down over 500 points at one time. Stay tuned for what we think could be a wild ride tomorrow.

U.S. Open Fails to Help the DOW

01 Sept 2015

The DOW shed over 500 points at one point today. However, Optik OptionsTM

was on the job at the open and we made a call that provided a return of 20% to our subscribers! We are sure that most people were just hoping to preserve capital today while we were making our subscribers money. Also, we have great news we are working with a number of brokers to secure autotrading for our subscribers and the first one is Auto Shares! We want to thank Rob and their fantastic team for their super fast response.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

29 Aug 2015

Some may compare the recent wild swings in the stock market to action wrestling. You never know what's going to happen next! Certainly the markets have had massive moves but Options Alert PROTM has made some incredible calls. Of note is that the weekly S&P PMO (price momentum oscillator) crossed down at the end of April. The last two times this occured there was a significant market correction. We are watching closely and anticipate more volatility and the market moving lower in faster steps down.

10 Days - 1,400% Return with Options Alert PRO
26 Aug 2015

Yesterday we sent out the following alert at 1:30pm EST. ALERT - Buy SPY Sept $200 Calls at $1.30 or less. Today those Calls hit a high of $4.12 a return in just one day of 216%. Our last two alerts have produced, in less than 10 days, a total return of over 1,400%. Options Alert PROTM is simply the best options signal available producing consistently remarkable returns.

Market Sell Off - WE CALLED IT! (Corrected 3 Sept 15)

24 Aug 2015

On August 19th our proprietary algorithms signaled that the S&P was heading lower. We had no idea that the DOW would fall like it did! But we sent out the following alert on August 18th - BUY SPY SEPT 200 PUTS at $1.50 or less. Today that contract hit a high of $20.41 closing the day at $14.50. This was one of our greatest alerts ever producing a return of 1,033% - had you sold it at $17. Our systems continue to work with extreme accuracy. The China Stock Market is a major factor in this latest selloff and the DOW is being hit hard as Apple (AAPL) falls and pulls the DOW down since it was recently added to the DOW 30.
Exited Position Early

12 Aug 2015

We've been asked - Hey! Why did you exit your August 12th alert the same day after only a 20% gain? We decided to exit because we had a good profit and did not wish to maintain that position given the fact that the markets had been impacted by China's devaluation of the Yaun on the previous two days. So we decided to eliminate the risk and take the profits.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

26 Aug 2015

Some may compare the recent wild swings in the stock market to action wrestling. You never know what's going to happen next! Certainly the markets have had massive moves but Options Alert PROTM has made some incredible calls. Of note is that the weekly S&P PMO (price momentum oscillator) crossed down at the end of April. The last two times this occured there was a significant market correction. We are watching closely and anticipate more volitility and the market moving lower in faster steps down.

10 Days - 1,400% Return with Options Alert PRO

26 Aug 2015

Market Sell Off - WE CALLED IT!

24 Aug 2015

On August 18th at 1:30pm EST our proprietary algorithms signaled that the S&P was heading lower. We had no idea that the DOW would fall like it did! But we sent out the following alert on August 18th - BUY SPY SEPT 200 PUTS at $1.30 or less. Today that contract hit a high of $20.41 closing the day at $14.50. This was one of our greatest alerts ever producing a return of 1,208% - had you sold it at $17. Our systems continue to work with extreme accuracy. The China Stock Market is a major factor in this latest selloff and the DOW is being hit hard as Apple (AAPL) falls and pulls the DOW down since it was recently added to the DOW 30.

Exited Position Early

12 Aug 2015

Out of Focus Predictions

27 July 2015

Markets are all showing a continued spiral down from last week. At the close Friday the 50 day moving average was breached on the 10 year weekly $NYAD (NYSE Advance Decline Issues). The last occurrence of this indicator breaking its 50 day moving average was in October 2007. We have several options trades that we are looking at this week as follows:

MA - we are placing a buy on the MA August 95 calls. The stock is down 1.24% as of this post. MA reports on Wednesday of this week and we expect it will be a good report based upon Visa (V) prior report. Our entry price is $2.75 or less and we are looking for a 50% return - an exit of $4.13.

GILD - we are buying a straddle on GILD as it reports Tuesday and we believe it will move substantially. Therefore, this is a gamble that one option will expire worthless and the other provide a return of over 200% for a net profit. This approach worked well last week when we did it with Visa (V) and had a gain of 112%.

TWTR - we are buying a straddle on GILD as it reports Tuesday and we believe it will move substantially. Same anticipation of a move as outlined in GILD above.

GDP - Take the Money and Run!

29 July 2015
We exited our position early taking a gain of 14% on the SPY August $210 Calls because we are concerned that the market could react adversely tomorrow to the GDP release at 8:30am EST.

Under Armor - Killed by an Analyst

2o July 2015

We are always talking about why we don't buy options related to stocks - UNLESS the stock is great and has been killed by an analyst - such as Under Armor (UA). If we see a great value get killed like UA was just killed by an analyst we jump at it. Nike (NKE) reported a few days ahead of UA and jumped on a good earnings report and forward looking forecast. That told us UA will have a high likelihood of moving up on its earnings report. Right after NKE announced an analyst did us a great favor and downgraded UA. So we issued an Out-of-FocusTM buy on the UA August $95 calls at .90 cents or less. In just 4 days UA bounced back and the calls we bought we exited for a return of 480%. In case you've not heard of Out-of-Focus before it is a bonus to our subscribers. While we focus on the SPY ETF we also keep an eye out for great opportunities such as this one.