Pre Market APR 1, 2025

Stocks are red in the Pre Market today
Wish I could say its “Aprils Fools” but it’s not

Do you remember me posting this at this time yesterday???
Today is the last day of the month
Today is also the last day of the quarter
Today is “Liberation Day” in reference to the tariffs
Today could see some wild, weird and wonkee price action

Wild, weird and wonkee price action is exactly what we got
Where do we go from here?
Was that the bottom?

April is typically a good month for stocks
Typically doesn’t mean always
The S+P 500 could be forming a Double Bottom formation here
If so, that’s a positive sign for stocks
But lets be honest, price is still below the 200 day SMA
And less stocks are making fresh highs
Yesterday gave us something we haven’t seen in a while.. “Volume”
This market needs a continuation of Volume in order to march on
So far this morning it’s not there

The markets change, with that we need to adapt, and that is what we are doing here with our Options. We are going to use the Strangles I introduced to you this week, but for one play we will also be using a Straddle

All Options mentioned have an EXP date of APR 17, 2025

COST
Strangles
Buy the 940 Put
Buy the 945 Call
37.48 at the MID

SFM
Strangle
Buy the 150 Put
Buy the 155 Call
8.95 at the MID

WMT
Strangle
Buy the 86 Put
Buy the 89 Call
2.73 at the MID

Straddle
The 88 is 4.00 at the MID
Your platform should have them listed under Straddles and you should not have to customize

Straddles are made for and are great for when expecting a big move in either direction
They are often employed prior to earnings and news announcements, because the investor does not need to guess the stocks reaction, but just be present
The downside is two fold, first off you need movement to make money, if the stock stagnates you wont make a dime and can lose what you put in if time goes on without movement
The second thing can be the price, we are buying a Call and a Put both ATM
The Straddle today on WMT is priced favorably

S+P 500 Support is 5,520
Some stocks are now starting to rise this morning
Maybe the wind is blowing again??
Time to grind

The Options Coach