July 20, 2022

Intraday Update: PLUG, MRK

Consistent bearish action is hard to come by in this tape, where many stocks are steadily rebounding off their recent low. PLUG was hit hard last week with other Green Energy names, but it has started to recover. Today's opening pop is sending it above the tight 17.50 stop level, so the Aug19 $16 put needs to be closed.

Let's lock in some money on MRK. A disappointing data release this morning is weighing on MRK, and the stock's slide near 91 is offering a nice opportunity to scale back risk on the bear portion of the strangle. The plan will be to close the current Aug05 $91 - $88 put spread and roll down to a tighter Aug05 $90 - $88 put spread. The next target will be <89.50. The bull portion of the strangle will remain open for now.

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