Before I get to today's Options Jam Session, I want to talk about profiting from bearish moves.

Short answer: It's a hell of a lot harder than it looks.

Few people (with the exception of traders holding short positions) hate it when stocks go up. It is human nature to expect stocks to go up. When stocks are going up, everything is "normal." There's no panic. There are no investor lawsuits. There are no board room freak-outs. Everyone is making money, everyone is happy. Carry on.

But when stocks are going down, people get mad. They look for someone to blame. Big shareholders and institutions start looking for malfeasance and an angle to sue the company for fraud. Star employees get frustrated and leave for greener pastures. Customers lose confidence in the company and start exploring other options. Borrowing costs get more expensive. It gets harder to raise capital in the public markets.

All kinds of bad things happen when stocks go down. So companies deploy all kinds of weapons (some legal, some questionable) to try to stop the stock from going down. They issue buybacks. They issue bullish press releases. The executives go on TV and...

I think I surprised JC during this morning's internal analyst Call. He asked me if I had any "spicy trades" in mind.

In fact, I did have one.

It's a bet on an upcoming earnings release kicking a dog semiconductor stock while it's down, sending prices even lower.

Suppose you're watching the evening cable news, reading the New York Times (or newspaper of your choice), or paying attention to your echo chamber on the socials. You'd be right to assume all the economies of the world (both friends and enemies of the U.S.) are staring into the abyss and their stock markets are about to be cut in half.

That's cool if you'd like to live that way. I doubt it'll make you any money, though.

You're smarter than that. This is why you're here. We're not affected by headlines. We follow price.

And the relentless bid in Chinese stocks cannot be ignored.

Regardless of the market environment, a company like Visa will keep printing money. 

Considering the vast majority of purchases involve credit cards these days and Visa is a dominant player in the space, Visa takes a small cut every time you swipe or tap your card. Good business to be in!

And the chart of $V backs this up.

I'm at the All Star Charts Portfolio Accelerator event in New York City. 

One topic I discussed this morning with everyone is a volatility-triggered setup I'm seeing in the iShares Bitcoin ETF $IBIT. We have a short history to work with, but this bears attention.

News over the weekend seems to have spooked investors this morning, particularly in the tech sector. And the effects are spilling out all across the market.

Are investors being a little overly dramatic here? 

The bet we're making is YES.

Today's trade is not in a tech stock, just a boring old bank that has been trending higher for over a year now.

Today's relatively short-term trade has an earnings catalyst, and I'm betting it will propel us to profits.

The stock has already had a stellar run over the past 52-weeks. Will the upcoming earnings mark the top? I doubt it.

Here's a one-year chart of a technology company that specializes in mobile app growth and monetization solutions -- Applovin Corp $APP:

As strong as this stock has been, it looks like it's setting up for another leg higher. And the upcoming February 12th earnings report just may be the catalyst the market needs to send this stock flying again. 

Of course, earnings can be a wild card, so it'll be important to define my risks.

Here's the Play:

I like buying an $APP February 400/450 Bull Call Spread for an approximately $11.50 debit. This means that I'll be long the Feb 400 calls and short an equal amount of the 450 calls. This debit I pay today is the most I can lose in a worst-case scenario:

I'm going to hold this trade, no matter what, through the February 12 earnings event.

On February 13th, my stop becomes $400. If $APP is below $400 per share, I'll close the spread for...

Today's trade leverages the flexibility of calendarized options spreads to put us in a long, free position for a potentially long ride.

This would be a highly desired position of strength.

In today's Flow Show, Steve Strazza and I discuss what feels like the birth of a new leg higher for this ongoing, but recently struggling bull market.

And while I was lamenting the performance of $AAPL lately, Steve showed me the mirror opposite: $AMZN.

Watch this video to see how we arrived at today's trade, and see the details below: 

Here's the Play:

I like buying an $AMZN June 250/300 Bull Call Spread for an approximately $9.65 net debit. This means I'll buy the June 250 calls and sell an equal amount of the 300 calls. And this debit I pay today represents the most I can lose if I'm dead wrong:

Amazon has earnings coming up on Thursday, February 6th. I'm mindful of this, in fact, I think it could be the catalyst that shoots this stock higher. But if I'm wrong, my risks are defined to the debit I paid.

For risk management purposes, I'll exit this spread if either one of the following conditions is met:

1. $AMZN sees a closing price below $215 at any time during my hold. Or,

2. The value of this spread...

A stock featured in a recent Junior Hall of Famers report has triggered an entry today, and it has a lot of room to run.

Earnings are on the horizon, but we'll play this stock with a defined-risk spread that takes a little of the sting out of the options' cost while giving us the ability to participate in upside follow-through should we get it. 

One of my junior analysts (Rick! He's the Man!) brought a stock to my attention that is in an attractive sector that could fly under the right conditions. 

Add to this that there is a high short interest and there is "meme" stock potential, and this could really be an upside portfolio-buster for us.

In today's Flow Show, Steve Strazza and I discuss our growing frustrations with the current market environment. Seems neither our bullish bets nor our bearish bets are gaining any traction in this tape.

What can we do with this information?

Watch the show below to see how we arrived at the details for today's trade.

Here's the Play:

I like entering into a $FCX February 30/35/45/50 Iron Condor for an approximately 70-cent net credit. This means I'll be short equal amounts of the February 35 puts and 45 calls, and long the same amount of 30 puts and 50 calls to cap my maximum risk:

As long as $FCX stays inside the range of our short strikes (above $35 per share and below $45 per share), we'll profit in this trade. 

I'll leave a resting order to close this entire spread for a 30 cents net debit to book my profit. This will represent a capture of a little greater than 50% of the premium I collected up front from...