
Optik up 92% YTD - Volatility Remains
Optik Options is now up 92% (YTD), returning four (4) winners in a row after a rocky start to the year. We returned 29% on BAC; 24% on MA; 65% on X; and 9% in XOM. Volatility remains in the markets as we saw this week Monday up 400 points on the Dow at one point and then Tuesday we shed -300 points. Some of our experts agree that volatility will remain through April and we will look to take advantage of swings where possible.

Concern over 10 year Treasury Notes Possibly Hitting 3%
The markets seem to always find something to induce volatility. We saw it with oil prices. Then more recently on the VIX going crazy. Now the volatility is said to be tied to the concern that the 10 year T-Note may hot 3%. In fact, Art Cashin says "all hell could break lose." We don't know about all hell but the markets appear concerned. This morning futures are pointing higher because of reduced interest rate concerns as the 10-year T-note yield falls below 2.90%. Also,

Wild Ride - Volatility Remains Intact
In the past week the markets have been having crazy days, sometimes 1,000 point swings starting up, going negative and then closing up - in some cases closing down. Mark Cuban is hedging the swings! All this was brought about by a sudden and historical surge in the VIX - the CBOE Volatility Index. Some people are saying that it was all a setup! That there was no real reason for the VIX to spike like it did - why? Because it never has before even when we appeared near war

The Bull Just Crashed - Dazed and Stumbling
The stock market this week resembled a drunken bull that just crashed into a concrete wall, got up and stumbled around in all sorts of wild directions. We've written on our blog before that we are not in Kansas anymore that this is uncharted waters and no one can tell you what will happen based upon historical data and we think that the markets just proved us right. We saw a lot of strange things. First, the VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) generally has an almost 100% correlation

Volatility - Rollercoaster
We have seen some dramatic and historic moves in the markets over the past several days. Today the Dow was down over 550 points and then later it was up over 500 points. It appears that volatility is back. We issued an alert for Bank of America and it too has fluctuated greatly.

Market Correction - DOW -1,175 at Close
The Dow was down at the open, by 10:45 it was nearly positive. In fact, the S&P did go positive. But then it started to drop and at one point the DOW was down about 1,500 points. Then it recovered about 600 points and then back down closing at a loss of -1,175. To say it was a rollercoaster ride would be an understatement. It was a wild ride with some of the largest point swings in history. The VIX closed above 35. In 28 years of data it has only done so 4.13% of the tim

Big Earnings Week - Will it smash through?
This is a big earnings week with Apple, McDonald's, Alphabet, Amazon and many others reporting. Many are top holdings int the PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF and that should move QQQ. People are thinking that Apple may already be adjusted down based on rumors and it may actually move up on earnings at 5pm today. We have no alerts open at this time. But this bull market while taking a breather but should continue and here is some proof. The Atlanta Fed GDP tracker reports that t