Based on my chat room post late in Thursday’s session, subscribers were able to stake out some small ‘Jackpot Bets,’ buying expiring calls at the 112 and 113 strikes for as little, respectively, as 0.21 and 0.15.  The latter options traded for as little as 0.10 yesterday before rocketing to 1.00 when Bahh-Bahh found traction after the opening and soared $5 in the space of an hour. It can, and often does, perform similar feats on a given day, and that’s why I would rather be long a few out-of-the-money calls for cheap on expiration day than short them. The goal of these jackpot bets, which we ordinarily initiate on Friday mornings in the first hour, is to cash out half of the options in the early going for twice what we’ve paid for them, assuming the opportunity arises. If successful, that leaves us with a risk-free chance to make perhaps 5 to 10 times our money.  In practice, subscribers have done this or even better numerous times, and even when things did not go our way they were able to do no worse than break even.

I’ve included a chart that suggests that, from a purely visual standpoint, a run-up to as high as 114.80 on Friday is hardly unlikely. We don’t need that to happen to make a nice score, however, since even if BABA rallies just $1.50 or so in the early going, there will likely be an opportunity to ‘double out’ on half of our positions.  If the stock opens lower on Friday there could still be a chance to get a jackpot bet down. However, I’d suggest doing so with options of a lower strike purchased for perhaps 0.20 or less.  Don’t bet more than you are comfortable losing, since this gambit is highly speculative. My guideline is to invest no more than you would on some 20-to-1 horse that you happened to like. _______ UPDATE (November 21, 4:00 p.m.): Subscribers reported gains of  300% to 800% on the trade suggested above. Quick, substantial gains were painlessly achieved after BABA spiked on Friday’s opening bar to 113.25 — 3.63 above the previous day’s close. The leap caused expiring 113 calls that subscribers had bought for as little as 0.15 less than a day earlier to trade for 0.90 in the early going — a sixfold increase. At the same time, calls at the 112 strike that subscribers reported buying for as little as 0.21 soared to 1.60.