The market’s been dead and the VIX is extremely low, and that single fact is driving my approach heading into the weekend. Most retail traders see a flat VIX and figure options aren’t worth touching. I flip that logic completely on its head.
When the VIX is extremely low — it’s currently under 15 while average volatility is a 20 — option prices are usually pretty cheap. That’s how implied volatility works…
When fear is suppressed, premiums tend to get crushed. That means we want to look for opportunities to buy options at a discount — not blindly, but where price action and technical signals support the trade.
Semiconductors are a good example. Nvidia (NVDA) made a strong move Thursday morning, showing that individual names can still produce opportunities even when the broader market feels quiet.
MU also delivered a great play after the Master Indicator flagged the setup. Tools like this can help identify momentum, trend alignment and potential entry points instead of relying on the low VIX alone.
Think of it as shopping for volatility exposure on clearance. If the underlying setup is strong and premiums are depressed, a later expansion in implied volatility can add fuel to the option’s value.
The weekend hold matters because volatility can change before Monday’s opening bell. Geopolitical headlines, unexpected corporate news or earnings surprises can quickly reset risk expectations.
We’ve seen weekends when an unexpected headline caused markets to gap and option premiums to reprice before traders could react. That can benefit a well-positioned buyer, but it can also produce a sharp move in the wrong direction.
Risk Management Is Nonnegotiable
This isn’t free money — hopefully you know by now that NOTHING is guaranteed in the stock market. Holding over the weekend involves gap risk, and you cannot exit while the market is closed. If volatility stays suppressed or the underlying stalls, time decay works against a long option position.
Position size, expiration selection and a defined maximum loss all matter.
The plan is straightforward: Run the scanners, focus on liquid tickers and use technical indicators to confirm which setups have real momentum. The goal is to buy selectively while premiums remain cheap, then potentially benefit from movement in the stock, volatility expansion or both.
This is exactly the kind of setup I look for in times like this — low volume, a low VIX and traders asleep at the wheel. Stay selective, respect the weekend risk and get positioned only when the setup earns it.
Let’s get after it.
The team at Lance Ippolito Trading
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P.S. Graham Just Release a Critical Market Update
If you’ve been watching the tape this month, you know volatility is creeping back in…
With institutional volume shifting, the window for high-octane opportunities inside open.
No wonder his Newton Software has been going haywire — and now it’s triggered three new alerts.
The last time Newton flashed a triple-alert cluster like this?
Now, we’re not saying today’s alerts will perform exactly the same. Markets don’t work that way, and we can’t make guarantees.
But the setup is eerily similar.
He’s laid out the full breakdown, including tickers, entry zones and the specific options contracts he’s looking at…
You can access that briefing completely free right here.
The market doesn’t wait…
We develop tools and strategies to the best of our ability, but no one can guarantee the future. There is always a risk of loss when trading past performance is not indicative of future results. The trades expressed today are based on signals from Graham’s Software with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight unless otherwise stated and must be considered hypothetical. There’s bound to be winners and loser along the way. Since this new dashboard is a tool for traders and not a trading service, profits and performance will vary among users. Never risk more than you can afford to lose.
