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Trading Block: Is it too risky to actively short volatility in this environment? Andrew thinks that, from a volatility point of view, all things are pointing in the same direction. Earnings plays. What's the deal with Amazon? Chipotle, or stealth Apple, is nothing but classy. Andrew gives taqueria recommendations in San Francisco. All is right in the world, so it's time to buy stocks. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Zynga, Inc., Facebook is spreading the love. Xpress Block: John Grigus discusses the IPO process, and the confusion around when the stock will actually trade. Tax season updates on 1099's. Around the Block: Non-farms payrolls released on Friday before the open. Andrew suggests an ADP indicator. Earnings still coming out: Activision, CBOE, CSCO, Groupon. Read >

Trading Block: Apple blows the doors off earnings again – long premium going into earnings was the way to play it. JC Penney up $6.50 today, but is it best to still keep a short position? Netflix on the comeback trail? Odd Block: Unusual activity in Deutsche Bank AG (DB) and DeVry Inc. (DV). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi breaks down the recent activity at OX. Have the recent round of earnings and a move to the upside started to lure back degenerate premium sellers back to Netflix? Have people continued to dive back into the short end of Google? Strategy Block: In this rare opportunity, Mark Sebastian takes over the strategy block to discuss what he thinks about the VIX. Around the Block: Keeping an eye on Ford and Apple - again. Very interesting to see oil still around the 100 mark - gold and silver are also moving. Earnings: Jan 31 - Amazon, Feb 1 - Chipotle (stealth Apple), Exxon Mobile & UPS - next week. Read >

Trading Block: Ho hum day on the street, but VIX makes it below 20 after much dancing in the area. Looking at a sleepy creep up of the general markets and for a dedicated selling of volatility. Uncle Mike's patience has paid off in Ford. Mark rolls in the Wheel of Fun. The gang fixes the issues with weeklys, but are the exchanges listening? Playing around in earnings season. Kodak throws in the towel and declares bankruptcy. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Safeway, Inc. (SWY). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike takes us through win-loss ratios. High probability does not equal guaranteed money. Premium selling is not an annuity; you still have to prepare for risk. Around the Block: Earnings dominating the horizon. Read >

Trading Block: Another mild day on the street. Apple hits a new high ahead of earnings, riding high on iPad 3 rumors. Apple's new high comes in spite of the fact that Android finally eclipsed IOS in the mobile market over the holidays. Netflix was up 14% today despite opting out of ultraviolet program. Is the widowmaker back? Nuance, perhaps a stealth play going into CES. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Perfect World Co., Ltd. (PWRD). Xpress Block: John Grigus runs the OX desk this week and discusses year-end topics, such as closing out worthless securities and most importantly, taxes. Listener Questions: Option margin Around the Block: Biotech and pharmaceutical stocks are lighting up the screens. Kodak closed and $0.40. What is their future? Looking forward to Alcoa. Lots of earnings and retail sales coming up. Read >

Sometimes the market doesn't work in your client's favor. This episode explores the ways that protective puts can insulate your clients from the dramatic swings of the marketplace. Read >

Trading Block: A weak rally going into the holiday -- not too much going down on the street except for the continued annihilation of volatility. GLD and GVX ended the year down. Not much movement otherwise given the time of year. Odd Block: A look back at some usual activity from the past, including GLD and Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI). Xpress Block: Rob K talks about straddles and strangles given the fact that volatility has been crushed lately. Around the Block: The bulk of the holiday weekend has already come out. Have a happy holiday! Read >

Trading Block: SPY and other expirations on ETFs--close out your shorts! More put buyers are rolling into VIX - even the Journal is starting to pick up on it. Given this erratic movement, how risky is hedging the VIX? GLD put options, a relatively inexpensive option if you still need to hedge you're GLD downside. A Reuters article debating and discussing the sideways movements of the market, which gained popularity of the site recently, recommended straddles as a way to play with market. Should it even be allowed to recommend straddles without following it up with the appropriate discussion on gamma scalping? RIMM earnings after the close – at-the-money straddle trading $1.75 with one day to go. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Walgreens Co. (WAG), Credit Suisse Group (CS), and an activity review from November 17Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX). Xpress Block: John Grigus from OX discusses the Van Eck ETFs and Sears (SHLD), which came out with a re-org. The December futures contracts will go off and stop trading at 8:30 CST. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw talks about diagonal spreads and the diagonal butterfly given the weekly options being the great fascination of the retail world and gives us his two cents. Around the Block: An update on RIMM - that straddle still not paying the bills, trading about a dollar lower. Will VIX continue to decline? Will the market head north from here? Read >

Trading Block: VIX cash back above 30, how long can it last? MF Global disaster continues to get worse, with no clue as to where customer money is. Customers are making additional margin payments because their funds at MF Global are frozen. This disaster may have ramifications for years to come. Metals/commodity rundown -- volatile gold and silver. Ford brought their dividend back after five years. Odd Block: Three-legged spreads. Unusual activity in Yahoo!, Inc. (YHOO) andLiz Claiborne, Inc.(LIZ). Plus, an update on last week's activity review: RIMM and Darden Restaurants (DRI). Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses the simulated index concept and how to relate it to higher income and higher net worth individuals. How to use a life insurance policy if you exceed your retirement plan contribution level. Around the Block: The ongoing turmoil in the Eurozone is continuing to keep the VIX in limbo. RIMM earnings next week. Walgreens producing very high vol levels. Read >

Trading Block: A massive explosion to the upside, what was the impetus for the 400 point rally? The S&P 500 has climbed 3% or more in a day 36 times in the past three years compared with 27 times for the nine years before, according to Bloomberg. EU battling to hold itself together. The first of the month means "Options Numbers Day." Odd Block: Unusual activity in Research in Motion, Ltd. (RIMM) and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) Xpress Block: Tim Navabi shares the news from Direxion Shares that their 2x bull and bear ETFs will now be converted to 3x. Also, how did OX handle the frenzied rally in the past days? Around the Block: Non-farms tomorrow, but almost a back-burner issue compared to the wild and irrational exuberance in the market recently. VIX finally takes a turn below 30, a long awaited event. Read >

Trading Block: Dow back in the red for the year. Debt cutting debate concerns hit the market -- reminiscent of the debt debate from August, only you don't see everyone loading up on VIX puts this time. Did they learn their lesson? Could more DC gridlock trigger another debt downgrade? Odd Block: Unusual and interesting activity in: Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) NII Holdings, Inc. (NIHD) Strategy Block: Andrew Giovanazzi from Option Pit discusses getting short the VIX without overloading on risk. Around The Block: Super committee debate dominates the outlook for this week -- how do you position for this? Apple below the 375 handle for the first time in a while -- maybe the best is behind Apple? Read >

Trading Block: How to use SPX movement in the downside skew to gauge the sentiment of a particular rally. An uncharacteristic sell-off in Apple -- will they finally lose their grip on the 400 handle? Green Mountain Coffee closed at nearly $41 today, down a whopping 40%. Odd Block: Unusual activity in EBAY and Computer Science Corp. (CSC). Xpress Block: Tim Navabi takes the reins at discusses the reverse split of FAS at OX today and talks adjusted options. Around the Block: Disney earnings after the bell - Things are looking good in the house of Mouse, it closed at 34.60, trading about $1 higher in the after-hours. NVDIA after the bell - closed at about 14.5, trading about $0.70 higher. Under Armor, Mastercard, Red Hat and Ulta Salon all had nice small pops before earnings. Oil and TLT have both been on a significant rally. Read >