Option Block 704: The Streets Run With Blood

Trading Block: OCC Cleared contract volume up 15% in March. Highest first quarter volume and highest first quarter for equity options on record. Cleared futures average daily volume for quarter up six percent from Q1 2017. Odd Block: More Jan 2019 50 "Catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors (TSLA); put-palooza in SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI), call-palooza in GameStop Corp. (GME), and rolling puts in The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG). Mail Block: It's the finals! TastyWorks vs Lightspeed! Comment from MarkClydeBrant1 -Got free options from Robin Hood and very impressed! Super-fast but only cash secured trades for now. Ideal for newbies because everything is explained simply at every step. Pros will love the speed! App trading is the best! Remember SS futures? Ha-ha Comment from KToddMorgan - WNSSS, while a cool new name, haven't fared much better lately. I'm betting that changes, but as of yet, they're getting whacked too. Around the Block: What are we looking at for the rest of the week?