Benzinga Options Outlook For The Week Of August 12: Enjoy The Summer While It Lasts

Markets have been in major chop under the hood as mentioned last week. The tail end of the week finally gave some inkling that markets are trading towards lower levels here, although shorts have not had an easy time. This action doesn't look like much "smart money" playing, more like sloppy retail money playing in a dull market. If you want to play in the chop, make sure to keep the mentality of 'short the rips and buy the dips.' With most big earnings out of the way, it's probably best to sit on the sidelines and see how markets want to respond. With VIX still sitting at relative all time lows, traders may want to play with at the money strikes to catch any scalp moves, but don't expect anything big. Big players are enjoying the summer, so should you!