Intra-Day Update: Pivot Bounce Day

UPDATE 10:12am EDT: Berk and I are daytrading some tech options today, as it’s a perfect opportunity. FYI: During the last few days of expiration week front month options turn into little mini futures contracts as they become extremely gamma sensitive. We grabbed some FSLR, GOOG, and MA – so far so good. Anyway, this takes some of my attention, but I will keep checking in here during the smooth cruising periods.

UPDATE 10:38am EDT: Mr. VIX now at 76.5 – that’s insane!

UPDATE 11:14am EDT: Mr. VIX now at 81.13 – that’s even insaner! How are my stainless steel rats doing out there? So far Berk and I are having a good day.

UPDATE 1:09pm EDT: Boy, I was spot on with that headline – LOL. Bouncy bouncy!! The market makers are just having too much fun today – right now we’re in the mid day chop and I’m playing it downhill again. I expect some turbulence around the 1240 area on the NQ, but if that breaches we should re-test today’s lows. The Yen looks a bit sickly right now though, so I remain on guard and am prepared to cut my ‘mini futures contracts’ (i.e. IMT options) on any sign of a new bounce.

UPDATE 1:50pm EDT: For the last 1.5 hours the NQ has been chopping between 1265 and 1240 –  it’s getting a bit annoying, but I chalk it up to a typical mid-day chop. I’m playing this to the downsite right now as the Yen’s stochastic is slowly crawling to the upside.

UPDATE 2:44pm EDT: Visual representation of how the MMs are whipping the market between pivots.