July 20, 2022

Intraday Update: MRK, UNG

The bear portion of the MRK strangle will be closed into afternoon weakness. MRK is at the 89.50 second target mentioned earlier, and the Aug05 $90 - $88 put spread roll down will be closed. The Aug05 $97 - $100 call spread will remain open to see if the stock recovers any ground over the next two weeks. With the call spread trading ~$.10-.$15, the overall debit risk is now much lower on it.

UNG had an odd (and apparently non-news-related) pop right before 1:00 PM est, and it is pushing towards 27 in afternoon action. The Aug19 $24 - $21 put spread revolved around the 50day sma holding as resistance following the 50% bounce retracement, but the pattern is changing now with the current run on UNG. The trade is not at the net debit stop loss, but because the setup has changed, the position will be closed. We can do a quick revisit with a bearish strategy if it starts to show signs of exhaustion soon.

Open Positions

* The following Open Positions pertain to the Options In Play trade ideas from this and previous editions. Disclosure of the Trader Co-Author’s actual portfolio holdings, as of the date of each publication, is made below under "Trader Author Portfolio Holdings.".

Trader Author Portfolio Holdings

**As of the date and time of publication