You may have heard the phrase, “Cut your losses short and let your profits run.” Well, when you’ve got a straddle that is up 448% and a call that is up 918%, it’s tempting to want to do something. After all, seeing gains as massive as that disappear would be horribly disappointing. At the other end of the spectrum, in our early days of trading, we’ve taken giant profits on positions, only to see them become even more profitable. So what’s a trader to do? How do you let your profits run while also making sure a reversal doesn’t wipe out all your gains?

To answer those critical questions, we’re going to alter the format in today’s report because that’s exactly what we’re dealing with right now.

Just a few weeks ago, on August 21st, we spotted an opportunity in JD.com, Inc. (JD). JD was trending in the news after Walmart, Inc (WMT) offloaded shares. When we started this newsletter in 2023, JD was the very first stock we identified as trending. Our newsletter subscribers who entered trades based on our findings in that first trade hit the jackpot. We shared this chart in the August 21st edition.

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The probability cone on the left side of the graph shows that the stock made a big move outside of the market’s expectations, and option buyers following our guidance made huge gains. That was then.

This is now. Once again, subscribers who took actions based on our findings in this service have hit the jackpot with JD.

JD share prices and implied volatility are spiking. As of last night, call option buyers are seeing profits soar to 918%. The stock is up a gigantic amount again this morning.

The reason we picked October options in August was because of the Volatility Term Structure. The chart on the left shows volatility expectations for the October expiration then, were extremely low.

In the chart on the right, you can see how the Volatility Term Structure has changed. Now volatility expectations for the same October expiration are nearly double what they were. And there are only a few weeks left before those options expire. 

This MDM graph  compares the modeled expected distribution for future stock prices (the orange line) with the actual distribution of JD’s share prices over a two-year period (the blue histogram). In the chart on the left, you can see how expectations (the orange line) underestimated the moves JD shares actually tended to make when we showed you this chart in August.

Now in the chart on the right,  you can see that expectations have completely changed. Now that prices have actually made a big move, investors are expecting the stock to continue to move. Volatility forecasts now exceed the sizes of the moves JD shares have actually made over the past two years.

This Volatility Cone  chart for JD compares implied volatility expectations for each term to the historical volatility for that same term. The blue line shows the average historical volatility, the purple lines show each HV measure’s highest high and the lowest low over the past year.

You can see how volatility expectations have changed since August. In the chart on the left, you can see that the expectations (the yellow dots) were well below the average historical volatility.

In the chart on the right, you can see that now expectations are near the extremely high historical volatility.

If you have been a subscriber for long, you know that we have highlighted stocks that have made some very profitable moves. On JD today, it may be time to take some of those profits off of the table. That is NOT to say we recommend exiting completely! As we have highlighted, investors still expect JD is likely to move even bigger than it has in the last two years.

Be sure to read our ODDS Online Daily Option Trade Idea to get our specific ideas for locking in some profits on JD today.

To access Odds Online Daily and be able to see any stock you are tracking in this software, click here.

Thank you,

Don Fishback