TRADING BLOCK: The news of Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple has dominated the headlines. What does this mean for future Apple plays? What's the outlook on Apple vol going forward? An outlook of the [[meta]]ls market. The CME raises the margin rate of gold, a little too late? What's driving an interest in copper? Also, has scalping negative gamma exacerbated the downward movements seen in the past few weeks? XPRESS BLOCK: Rob K discusses how Bank of America's order flow surged as bottom pickers got an early Christmas care of Warren Buffet. The newest OX iPad app is just around the corner! AROUND THE BLOCK: QE3 – Does it even have a prayer of happening? What is the positioning ahead of the Bernanke speech? Could we possibly take a hit going into the weekend?

Trading Block: Special guest Andrew Giovinazzi of Aqumin takes Sebastian's seat as the all-star gang discusses market madness. The market has become quite the drama queen with global concerns smack the market again. Consumer confidence is still low – this is getting to be a broken record. Commodities rundown – gold and treasuries are where everyone is putting their money. Patent lust has been inflating some smaller tech stocks like NOK, EK, etc. Odd Block: Unusual activities in Seagate Technology (STX), New York Times Co. (NYT) and NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG) Xpress Block: What's been going on behind the scenes at optionsXpress – today was one of those outlier days. Around the Block: The patent wars continue to drive activity in the tech sector ? watch your upside. Niche names like CBOE should be faring well in the environment, not following the market down – perhaps there may be some opportunity in the downside? Also, a VIX outlook for the next few sessions.

TRADING BLOCK Google (GOOG) acquires MMI, which explains some of their strange trading patterns recently. Were rumors leaked out ahead of time? A rundown of GLD, SLV, and commodities. The price of gold – is it realistic? INTERVIEW BLOCK This week's guest, Russell Rhoads, author and instructor at Options Institute at the CBOE discusses his newest book "Trading VIX Derivatives," as well as hedging VIX options. AROUND THE BLOCK Housing start numbers come out tomorrow and jobless claims come out August 18 – will they move the market significantly. Who’s next after MMI? RIMM? NOK?

Welcome to the premiere of The Long and Short of Futures Options. In this episode, www.TheOptionsInsider.com Founder Mark Longo dives into the explosive world of agricultural options, with a particular emphasis on corn options. Mark is joined by Tim Andriesen (MD, Ag Commodities and Alt. Investment Products, CME Group) and David Lehman (MD, Commodity Research and Product Development, CME Group) to examine the mysteries behind the corn option frenzy. In addition, Mark, David and Tim examine the growing interest in weekly corn options, the plans for the Corn VIX, and much more. They even take a few minutes to answer listener questions regarding agricultural options. The Long and Short of Futures Options: The Great Ag Explosion is required listening for all current agricultural options traders, as well those planning to enter this dynamic marketplace for the first time.

Trading Block: An overview of Vix performances for the last week. Is everything rosy again? Treasury auction came out very weak. Jobless claims numbers rallied. Odd Block: Unusual activity in Cisco (CSCO), Asiainfo Holdings Inc. (ASIA) and OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI).Xpress Block: Mr Navabi walks us through what it was like to be at the center of the madness this week at OX.Mail Block: From Tom S, in Cleveland: Does OX offer IRAs? Can you use naked short puts to leg into long equity positions in an OX IRA account?Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses a cash and hedge secured, unlevered bull put spreadAround the Block: Not too much in the way of earnings. What's the outlook for weekend risk?

Trading Block: A fractured round table discusses the bloodbath following the S&P's downgrading of the US credit rating, including Motorolla (MMI), LinkedIn (LNKD) and Apple (AAPL) Around the Block: Will the sell off continue? Tomorrow may not be the rebound the most people were looking for.

For your listening pleasure – the Banter Block from Episode 80 that hit the cutting room floor. Topics on tap: SPX, VIX, covered calls vs. ratio repair spreads and more…