Based on reports from subscribers in the chat room, I’ve established a tracking position consisting of four July 24 180 puts @ 0.76. They traded as high as 0.97 on Friday but settled back to close at 0.72 after the futures crept feebly higher for most of the session. Because bears will face a gauntlet of short-squeeze possibilities in the days ahead, including Apple earnings due out on Tuesday, I’ll suggest locking up a profit in our position at the earliest opportunity, provided one comes. Accordingly, you should offer four 178 puts (July 24 expiration) short for 0.76, good-till-canceled. Be prepared to see index futures get hammered Sunday night, only to recover before the opening bell on Monday, when options begin to trade. In any event, I estimate that DIA would need to fall to at least 178.50 for our order to fill. Whatever happens, you should stop yourself out of the puts if they touch 0.50. ______ UPDATE (3:16 p.m. EDT): We were stopped out of the puts for a position loss on about $104. DIA is not up by much, but time decay and a dramatic drop in option volatility have taken their toll.
