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Traders will soon have 3x as many opportunities to punt short-term options on the biggest US stocks

And that means 3x the opportunities for gamma/pin risk in the largest US stocks (and the biggest bitcoin ETF).

Luke Kawa

Fantastic news for people who like trading short-term options with not much time to expiry:

The Nasdaq has received approval to list Monday and Wednesday options for a group of single stocks and one ETF, in addition to its normal weekly Friday expiries.

The initial group of companies that will enjoy more listing includes the BATMMAAN group (or the Magnificent 7 plus Broadcom, if you prefer) along with the iShares Bitcoin Trust. Most of these qualifying securities will begin to have their Monday and Wednesday options listed on January 26.

From a market structure perspective, more expiries can mean more gamma, or the potential for more violent intraday volatility in a stock around certain levels. Or, most likely in practice, the exact opposite.

To turn to the Greeks: gamma measures how much more or less sensitive an options price will become to changes in the prices of the underlying asset. Gamma is highest for options that are close to or at their strike prices and increases the closer an options contract gets to expiry. Ergo, more frequent expiries equal more opportunities for potential gamma squeezes.

Imagine you (and half the world) is long Nvidia call options expiring today with a strike price of $180. That’s going to create the potential for much more volatility if news pushes the stock decisively above that level than if there weren’t a lot of open interest at that strike expiring today.

Conversely, it can (and probably will) actually lead to more pinning — the tendency for stocks to close around strikes where there’s a ton of open interest, levels where, loosely speaking, options sellers win and options buyers lose.

If I’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that Say’s Law — the idea that supply creates it own demand — actually holds when it comes to speculative activities, whether that’s short-term options, sports betting, or prediction markets.

Or, more precisely, supply and regulatory loosening enable latent demand to be realized.

For instance, the addition of zero days to expiry index options to Robinhood’s trading platform last year contributed significantly to the growth in volumes for these instruments.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

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Lululemon’s stretch getting tested: Stock plunges after after outlook is cut

Lululemon shares are down double digits in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, overshadowing a Q1 beat and raising fresh concerns about the brand’s turnaround efforts.

The company now expects fiscal 2026 revenue to be flat to down 1%, compared with its prior forecast for 2% to 4% growth. Guidance for full-year diluted earnings per share was dragged down to a range of $10.95 to $11.15, below the company’s previous guidance of $12.10 to $12.30 and well below Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26.

Key numbers for Q1:

  • EPS of $1.69 vs. the $1.68 expected.

  • Revenue of $2.47 billion vs. the $2.43 billion expected.

The modest top-line beat masked a widening divergence between Lululemons geographic markets. While international revenue rose 22% overall with a 30% increase in Mainland China, the bigger problem remains North America, where revenue fell 5%.

Interim co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank acknowledged during the earnings call that recent product rollouts underperformed. A highly anticipated yoga campaign failed to generate its expected halo effect across broader product lines.

Profitability metrics took a major hit, with gross margins contracting by 410 basis points to 54.2% due to mounting tariff costs and promotional markdowns. Operating income consequently fell 37% year over year to $276.9 million.

“We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top-line performance,” Frank said during the earnings call. “And second, not all of our product launches have met our expectations. While we have had several successful launches so far this year, we have seen others as we start Q2 not generate the anticipated guest response.”

Lululemons valuation has already been steadily compressing for years. While it was once one of retails richly valued stocks, investors have been questioning whether the company can return to the double-digit growth era.

The results also arrive during a leadership transition. Lululemon announced back in April that former Nike executive Heidi ONeill is set to take over as CEO in September, with investors looking to her to revive growth in North America and restore the brands growth.

As Lululemon faces both macroeconomic pressure and brand-specific challenges, its stock has dropped around 40% year to date.

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The US economy added 172,000 jobs in the month of May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending 10-year Treasury yields higher.

The strong May job market surprised economists. Experts had predicted only 85,000 new jobs — just half the reported number. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

The job growth story is a hopeful spot for the economy as consumers continue to feel inflationary pressure from the Iran war.

Job gains were buoyed by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 70,000 jobs, as well as local government, healthcare, and education.

Both the March and April jobs reports were revised upward, making them collectively 93,000 higher than previously reported.

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