Topics covered:
1) 0:00 Announcements
2) 0:15 Market Commentary and Index Review (Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, and Russell 2000)
3) 8:15 FOCUS LIST: NVDA, ARM, NTAP, LLY, MSFT, ISRG
4) 12:05 Stock Review – Software: IGV (ETF), SNPS, CDNS, NOW, APP, PANW, CYBR, APPF
5) 13:45 Stock Review – Semiconductors: SMH (ETF), TSM, AVGO, KLAC, LRCX, AMAT
6) 15:10 Stock Review – Medical Products: XBI (ETF), STAA, NTRA, TMDX, HALO, PRCT
7) 16:30 Stock Review – Watch List/General Ideas/Commentary: CRWD, NVO, DELL, MU, WING, CAVA, FTAI, LDOS, VRTX, AMGN, VRT, SMCI, CAMT, CLS, FN, DY, COHR, PSTG, PLTR, COIN
8) 23:10 Conclusion/Summary

Market Summary:
In this video, I review some of the recent price action. In early May, we started a new power trend when the Nasdaq Composite regained its 50-day moving average and held above it. That’s when I kept saying don’t overcomplicate things, stick with the trend, and use the 21-day as your guide. In the videos leading up to July, I discussed how we could see some seasonal strength during the first 2-3 weeks of July.

In my efforts to help members prepare and possibly anticipate near-term moves in the market, I discussed how I started taking profits into the strength last week. I even emailed everyone a Market Note to outline my thoughts and reasoning: 1) We are heading into the second half of July and August, two seasonally weaker periods. 2) We haven’t visited the 50-day moving average in a while. It’s not an exact science, but we usually visit it approximately every three months. 3) Many stocks were extended, as I haven’t presented too many stocks near buyable ranges in recent videos. 4) Many sentiment measures are near the higher-end of their bullish ranges.

As I discussed last week, I am expecting a normal pullback over the next 3-6 weeks. A few points I would like to stress: 1) I am not bearish, just defensive. For me, defensive means using smaller position sizes and raising cash. 2) I think this will be a normal pullback, and I’m by no means calling for a crash. 3) If we do see a pullback, I’m not expecting it to go straight down. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us zig-zag down with 2-3 days up, 2-3 days down, etc. In other words, a choppy environment and nothing sustained over the near-term. 4) I will always be open-minded. If things stabilize, I can always adapt and change my mind. 5) If we do see a pullback, I will be looking to put cash to work in some of the relative strength names or newer names that show up on my screens.

From here, please know your timeframe and stick to your OWN plan. If you don’t have a plan, work on fine-tuning one and defining yourself. Good luck for the remainder of the week!

Unusual Option Activity:
7/17/24 Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) buyers of 5000 Aug 30th (W) $475 puts today $3.8M
7/17/24 Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) buyer 1500 March 495/550 call spreads
7/17/24 Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF (SOXL) sees 1000 Jan 2026 $40 puts sell to open $10.40 to $10.15
7/17/24 S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) large opening sale 1500 Jan 2026 $170 puts $9.30
7/17/24 Bitcoin ETF (BITO) buyer 2000 September $21 calls $2.50
7/17/24 TJX (TJX) with 900 Sept $105 calls bought $11.40 as Julys adjust
7/17/24 Tesla (TSLA) 1750 November $330 calls bought $12.30 to $12.50
7/17/24 Lyft (LYFT) sees 2300 Aug $12 puts sell to open $0.81 to $0.77
7/17/24 Shopify (SHOP) sees an opening seller of 1450 October $75 ITM puts at $12.91
7/17/24 CleanSpark (CLSK) 10,000 August $30 OTM calls bought $0.75
7/17/24 Coinbase (COIN) with over 30,000 August $250 calls bought $22.40 as the $230 long calls adjust
7/17/24 Goldman Sachs (GS) sees 330 Jan 2026 $600 calls sell to open $33.50
7/17/24 Goldman Sachs (GS) also some buyers of 200 March $530 puts at $47.20
7/17/24 Morgan Stanley (MS) opening seller 1000 June 2025 $105 puts for 8.45
7/17/24 Eli Lilly (LLY) with 200 March $1140 calls buy at $35
7/17/24 Eli Lilly (LLY) also buyers of 450 August $910 calls at $41
7/17/24 Caterpillar (CAT) buyer 250 January 2026 $400 calls for $36.45 offer
7/17/24 Crowdstrike (CRWD) sees buyers for 1250 Aug 2nd $370 calls at $7.30 to $7.70
7/17/24 Synopsys (SNPS) dip buyer for 300 Jan 2026 $660 calls at $78
7/17/24 Marvell Tech (MRVL) 8800 September $60 puts sell to open 1.22
7/17/24 Nvidia (NVDA) 30K August 23rd (W) $100 puts sell to open 1.18
7/17/24 Nvidia (NVDA) 2000 Aug 30th (W) $125 calls bought and 4000 of the $145 calls bought
7/17/24 Nvidia (NVDA) seeing buyers of 1800 Aug 23rd $123 calls at $6.30 in large lots
7/17/24 Super Micro (SMCI) 500 October $540 puts bought $13.50 to $13.70
7/17/24 Taiwan Semi (TSM) 3700 August 30th (W) $145 puts sell to open 1.79
7/17/24 Taiwan Semi (TSM) large buyers of 1400 March $175 calls at $25.30 to $26.13
7/17/24 Broadcom (AVGO) opening sales of 1900 Aug 9th $159 puts at $5.10 to $5.30 as July $155 adjust
7/17/24 ASML (ASML) 150 January $950 puts sell to open 84.50
7/17/24 Meta (META) with 700 January 2026 $570 calls buy at $64.75, over $4.5M
7/17/24 Salesforce (CRM) opening sales of 1500 Dec $270 calls at $16.40 to $16.80
7/17/24 Micron (MU) sees 5000 February $100 puts sell to open $6.25
7/17/24 Vistra (VST) sees 3500 Aug $85 calls sell to open $4.00
7/17/24 Vistra (VST) also seeing over 3000 August $70 puts sell to open $2.55
7/17/24 Google (GOOGL) massive opening seller of 10,000 March $185 ITM puts at $16.10, over $16M and similar to MSFT put sales in March yesterday
7/16/24 S&P 500 ETF (SPY) with 2000 Jan 2026 $565 puts sell to open at $32.26
7/16/24 Russell Value ETF (IWN) buyer 6055 Nov $175 calls $6.15 to $6.20
7/16/24 Healthcare ETF (XLV) with 4000 Sept $151 calls buy at $2.96 as the August $146 calls adjust
7/16/24 Bitcoin ETF (BITX) seeing large buys of 1700 December $37 calls at $9.50 to $9.70
7/16/24 Semiconductors ETF (SMH) 2500 August 30th (W) $245 puts sell to open $3.35
7/16/24 Keurig (KDP) 2300 August $33 calls bought for 0.74
7/16/24 Chipotle (CMG) buyer of 2000 Dec $56 calls at $6.10
7/16/24 Coupang (CPNG) sees 15,000 Nov 25/30 call spreads bought for $0.67
7/16/24 Exxon (XOM) 10,000 December $115 calls opening $6.88 as July adjust
7/16/24 Marathon Petro (MPC) opening sales of 500 Dec $165 puts at $11.10
7/16/24 Coinbase (COIN) buyer 1000 August 2nd (W) $240 calls for $15
7/16/24 Coinbase (COIN) large buyer of 500 Dec 2026 $450 calls at $64.20
7/16/24 Coinbase (COIN) 500 Nov $400 calls bought 9.45 to 10.15
7/16/24 Goldman Sachs (GS) buyer 100 January 2026 $540 puts $70.50
7/16/24 Blackstone (BX) 1900 October $140 calls bought up to $6.35 offer
7/16/24 CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) 1100 August $65 calls bought $2.70
7/16/24 Vertex Pharma (VRTX) buyers of 450 October $500 calls at $23.80 to $25.20
7/16/24 United Health (UNH) with 370 July 2026 $600 calls sell to open $54 to $53.65
7/16/24 Eli Lilly (LLY) buyers of 325 Feb $1180 calls at $31.05 to $31.40
7/16/24 Amgen (AMGN) buyer 1200 Aug 2nd (W) $327.50 calls for $9.25 adjusting July $325
7/16/24 Micron (MU) with 1185 August 9th (W) $130 puts bought $5.85 to $6.60
7/16/24 Reddit (RDDT) with 4000 August 9th (W) $67.5/$60 put spreads bought
7/16/24 Microsoft (MSFT) 10,000 March 2025 $460 puts sell to open $33.10
7/16/24 Broadcom (AVGO) 3500 Sept $146 puts sell to open 2.39
7/16/24 Dell (DELL) 4500 September $105 puts sell to open 1.95 to 1.90
7/16/24 Palantir (PLTR) 5000 November $30 calls bought $3.15 offer
7/16/24 Google (GOOGL) 2300 July 26th (W) $177.5 puts sell to open 2.88
7/16/24 Arm Holdings (ARM) large opening seller 1000 January $150 puts for $16.91
7/16/24 Celestica (CLS) 3500 February $42.5 puts sell to open 1.95 as Dec. 22.5 short puts adjust
7/16/24 On Semi (ON) 250 June 2025 $105 puts sell to open $29.40
7/16/24 On Semi (ON) 1000 January 2026 $75 puts sell to open $12.14
7/16/24 Nvidia (NVDA) buyers of 5000 Aug 9th $119 ITM calls at $10.35 offers
7/16/24 Constellation Energy (CEG) with 2720 August $175 puts sold to open 1.40 to 1.35
7/15/24 Regional Banks ETF (KRE) 10K October $60 and $65 calls sell to open
7/15/24 Small Cap Bull ETF (TNA) buyer 2000 August $43 calls $3.47 to $3.56
7/15/24 Semiconductors ETF (SMH) buyer 1000 August 9th (W) $270 puts $7.60
7/15/24 Oil Services ETF (OIH) buyer 1500 August $345 calls $4.10
7/15/24 Tesla (TSLA) 3000 August $315 calls sold to open $6 to $5.75
7/15/24 Rivian (RIVN) buyer 1000 Sept 2025 $30 max strike calls $2.93
7/15/24 Ulta (ULTA) large buyers of 425 August $395 ITM calls at $14.80 to $19
7/15/24 Disney (DIS) 1150 Aug. 23rd (W) $98 calls with buyers $3.95 to $4
7/15/24 Uber (UBER) buyer of 1520 Nov $85/$105 call spreads for $2.25
7/15/24 Floor & Decor (FND) sees 2000 Jan $65 puts sell to open $1.90 to $1.80
7/15/24 Schlumberger (SLB) sees 10,000 Sept $52.50 calls buy up to $0.85 offers
7/15/24 Valero (VLO) with 10k December $175 calls buy at $3.90 as the Sept $180 calls adjust
7/15/24 Chevron (CVX) 225 Dec 170 puts sell to open 15.15
7/15/24 Occidental (OXY) buyers of 2000 Dec $62.50 calls at $4.20 offers
7/15/24 Occidental (OXY) 1000 Aug 9th (W) $62 puts sell to open 1.34
7/15/24 Cheniere Energy (LNG) 400 June 2025 $155 puts sell to open $5.20
7/15/24 Coinbase (COIN) buyers of 1500 Sept $320 calls at $7.07 as the July 26th $240 calls adjust up and out
7/15/24 Coinbase (COIN) buyer 400 June 2025 $350 calls $39.30
7/15/24 Coinbase (COIN) with 1100 August $310 calls buying at $4.50 to $5.50
7/15/24 Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) more bull flow as 570 Dec. 2025 $120 puts sell to open 17.50 to 17
7/15/24 Amgen (AMGN) midday opening sale of 5000 Aug $345 calls at $7 to $6.95
7/15/24 Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) opening sales of 1000 Aug $50 puts for $3.60 bids
7/15/24 Dell (DELL) 4200 Aug 30th (W) $105 puts sold to open 1.15 to 1.10
7/15/24 Super Micro (SMCI) 175 Oct 740 puts sold to open $50.80
7/15/24 Oracle (ORCL) buyer 1000 August 30th (W) $145 calls $5.05 offer sweep
7/15/24 Nvidia (NVDA) sees buyers of 15,000 Sept $129 puts at $11.80 to $12
7/15/24 Nvidia (NVDA) block of 2000 March $115 puts sells to open 12.85
7/15/24 Apple (AAPL) large buyers of 5900 Sept 2025 $230 puts at $17.95 to $18.20, over $10M
7/15/24 Constellation Energy (CEG) opening seller of 3400 Sept $180 puts for $3.29