Option Block 137: Selling the Hunger Games

Trading Block: BATS debacle: All IPO trades busted as a matching engine encountered a software bug. The range of symbols, of course, included Apple. If you are executed on a limit order what do you do after your trade is busted? It’s analogous to pin risk. CBOE suing ISE over 10x SPY contracts — the no-brainer news of the week. The crushing of TVIX continues — it is bound to reverse split.

Odd Block: Unusual activity in Red Hat, Inc. (RHT). 

Xpress Block: After the dust settled on customer fallout from BATS/APPL debacle and recent TVIX drama, Lions Gate Films (LGF) saw an increase in options contracts in front of the new movie release “”The Hunger Games.””

Around the Block: Keeping an eye on crude oil, if and/or when gas hit $5/gallon is when we’ll see things grind to a halt. Corporate earning in a few weeks. Looking for something to push to market before the summer doldrums.