From January 2015, she started to practice leetcode questions; she trains herself to stay focus, develops "muscle" memory when she practices those questions one by one.
2015年初, Julia开始参与做Leetcode, 开通自己第一个博客. 刷Leet code的题目, 她看了很多的代码, 每个人那学一点, 也开通Github, 发表自己的代码, 尝试写自己的一些体会.
She learns from her favorite sports – tennis, 10,000 serves practice builds up good memory for a great serve. Just keep going.
Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.
Based on data from late January 2026, selling a $190 put on Oracle (ORCL) with a 3-week expiration is a
high-risk, tactical move, as the stock has recently experienced significant downward pressure, dropping below $180.
Here is an analysis of why this strategy is risky, given that Oracle (ORCL) closed at $173.88 on January 21, 2026.
Key Considerations (as of Jan 21, 2026)
Deeply In-the-Money (ITM): With ORCL trading around $174, a $190 strike put is already over $15 in-the-money. This means if you sell this put, you are highly likely to be assigned and forced to buy the shares at $190, even though they are trading significantly lower.
High Risk of Assignment: A sold put is "assigned" if the stock price is below the strike price at expiration. Given the current price of $174, the probability of assignment is very high.
Significant Unrealized Loss: If assigned at $190 while the stock is at $174, you would immediately have an unrealized loss of roughly $16 per share ($1,600 per contract), minus whatever premium you collected.
Weak Support Levels: Recent analysis indicated that if the $176 support level was broken, there might not be strong support until the $153-$156 range.
Is it a Good Idea?
No, this is likely not a good idea unless your specific goal is to acquire ORCL shares at a "discounted" price compared to higher prices earlier in the month.
If you want the stock: You are better off buying the shares outright at $174 rather than promising to buy them at $190.
If you are looking for income (premium): While the premium will be high, the risk of assignment and a $1,600+ loss makes it a dangerous, non-defensive play.
If you are bearish: You should not be selling put options (which is a bullish or neutral strategy).
Technical Context (Jan 2026)
Down Trend: The stock has shown major weakness, with recent reports highlighting a 17% drop in 5 days, showing "wild" volatility.
Lower Support: Recent data shows the stock falling below $180, potentially toward $170.
Conclusion: Selling a $190 put when the stock is at $174 is a aggressive bet that the stock will sharply rebound back over $190 in just 3 weeks, which contradicts the current downward momentum.
To avoid a gap down (a sharp price drop) that often occurs after the regular market close, the most effective strategy is to close your stock position during active trading hours before the 4:00 PM EST closing bell. Gaps are primarily caused by after-hours earnings reports, news announcements, or, for foreign stocks, overnight developments.
Here are the specific, actionable ways to close a position and avoid a gap down:
1. Close Before the Closing Bell (Pre-emptive Action)
Market-on-Close (MOC) Order: If you want to exit near the final price, place a market-on-close order, which executes at the closing price.
Stop-Loss Orders Before 4 PM: Set a sell-stop order during the day. If the stock falls to your price, it turns into a market order. While this doesn't protect against a gap that happens exactly at 4:00 PM, it protects you if the stock starts failing just before the close.
Cut Position Before Earnings: If a company reports earnings after the bell, close the position entirely before 4:00 PM to eliminate all overnight risk.
2. Trade in Extended Hours (After-Hours Session)
After-Hours Selling: If you cannot sell during regular hours, use your broker’s extended-hours trading session (typically 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM EST).
Use Limit Orders: When trading after hours, only use limit orders. The spread between the bid and ask price is wider, and liquidity is low, meaning a market order could fill at a significantly worse price.
3. Use Protective Instruments
Buy Put Options: Buying a put option on the stock gives you the right to sell at a certain price, acting as an insurance policy against a large downward gap.
Scale Out/Partial Sale: If you are unsure if a gap down will occur, sell 1/3 or 1/2 of your position before the close to reduce your exposure to risk.
4. Technical Strategy: Using Stops Correctly
Trailing Stops: Implement a trailing stop that moves up with the stock price. This allows you to lock in profits while protecting against sudden reversals.
Support Levels: Set your stop-loss just below a known support level or a percentage below your purchase price (e.g., 5-15%) to automatically trigger a sale if the price breaks.
Key Considerations:
Gaps cannot be fully avoided: No strategy guarantees you can avoid a gap, but these methods help manage the risk.
Stop-loss limitations: If a stock gaps down below your stop-loss price after the market closes, the order will execute at the new, lower price.
Avoid Emotional Trading: If a gap down happens, avoid panic-selling immediately at the open. Sometimes the price rebounds, so it is better to have a premeditated plan.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) stock is trading below its one-year low prices, along with heavy out-of-the-money call and put option activity. This is a major bullish signal, especially given Netflix's strong free cash flow results released yesterday.
NFLX is at $83.29 in midday trading on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, down over 4.6%. This price is well below its one-year low prices of $85.59 on April 4, 2025, and $86.67 on March 10, 2025.
The New Warner Bros. Deal
Netflix also announced yesterday that it changed the terms of its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to an all-cash bid of $27.75 per share. The announcement did not specify the cost to Netflix. But, based on its enterprise value, it would value Warner Bros. at $82.7 billion.
This offer includes an increased debt component of $42.2 billion, according to a Variety report, up from $34.0 billion as of December 19, 2025 (although down from $59 billion in the original deal).
Nevertheless, this is still lower than the $30.00 per share all-cash offer from Paramount Skydance. The company said that its bid valued Warner Bros. at $108 billion, according to Forbes.
Their deal would not include a spin-off of Discovery Global, as the Netflix deal entails. This division includes cable TV networks like CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV, TNT Sports, and Discovery+, according to Variety.
WBD is trading higher at $28.55, implying that some investors may be expecting a higher offer for the company from Netflix. WBD shareholders are now set to vote on the deal by April in a special shareholder meeting.
Paramount may decide to challenge that meeting as it is planning a proxy fight for WBD's board. Therefore, the fight goes on between these two bidders. That uncertainty may be causing the huge volatility in NFLX stock.
Strong Results from Netflix
Nevertheless, Netflix reported strong Q4 results yesterday. For example, revenue rose 17.5% in Q4 over last year, and free cash flow (FCF) was up +35.9%.
This can be seen in the company's summary table on the first page of its shareholder letter.
In addition, the trailing 12-month (TTM) FCF results were higher. Stock Analysis reports that its TTM FCF was $9.461 billion, up 36.7% from a year earlier. That was also up +5.5% from the prior quarter's TTM FCF of $8.967 billion.
Moreover, the Stock Analysis site shows that the TTM FCF margin rose to 20.94% of revenue, up from 17.75% of revenue a year earlier, and even up from the prior quarter's 20.57% FCF margin.
The point is that the company is continuing its strong performance. In addition, Netflix reported over $9 billion in cash on its balance, along with a slightly lower $13.5 billion in long-term debt.
The point is that the company should be able to afford the new $42.2 billion in debt from the proposed WBD acquisition. However, that is still making investors nervous.
Nevertheless, this provides some opportunities for some investors. This can be seen in Barchart's Unusual Stock Options Activity Report today.
It shows that some large call options activity at the $84.00 strike price expiring Jan. 30, 2026. It shows that over 10,400 call options have traded, or over 104 times the prior number of calls outstanding at the strike price and expiry period.
That implies that a large number of buyers, willing to pay $1.69 at the midpoint, believe that NFLX could rise over $85.69 by the end of the month.
Moreover, sellers of the calls are willing to sell shares at $84.00, making a yield of over 2.0% (i.e., $1.69/$83.47 spot price), plus a potential total return of +2.659% (i.e., $85.69/$83.47-1).
Also, short-sellers of the May 15, 2026, put options at the $73.00 strike price, which is over 12.5% lower than today's price, are able to receive $2.37, or a yield 3.25% over the next 3.8 months (114 days).
That also means that they would be happy to buy NFLX stock at a net breakeven price of $69.63 (i.e., $72-$2.37), or -16.6% below today's price. That is another bullish signal at today's depressed NFLX stock price.
The bottom line is that this heavy out-of-the-money put and call option activity implies that some investors are now willing to invest in today's depressed NFLX stock price.
On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake, CFA did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
