Weekly roundup: Geopolitical tensions rise, Japan in flux, Mag-7 earnings coming soon — markets stay in “wait-and-see” mode

Moo Options Explorer wrote a column · Jan 26 02:47

Hello mooers 👋

Last week, U.S. stocks turned choppy and slightly weaker: the Dow/S&P 500/Nasdaq fell about 0.53% / 0.36% / 0.06% on the week. Geopolitical risk heated up as Trump ramped pressure on the EU over Greenland and took a tougher stance toward Iran, lifting risk-off sentiment. Meanwhile in Japan, sharp moves in bonds and FX — plus political uncertainty ahead of the Feb 8 election — also weighed on global risk appetite. On the earnings front, Netflix beat slightly but guided cautiously, while Intel’s weak outlook triggered a sharp selloff.

Weekly roundup: Geopolitical tensions rise, Japan in flux, Mag-7 earnings coming soon — markets stay in “wait-and-see” mode

What’s trending?

(1) Nasdaq’s new rule: 3 days a week for stock 0DTE (9 stocks selected)

Nasdaq rolled out a new rule that enables three weekly expiration days for single-stock options, with 9 names included in the initial batch.

According to @Monta HONG CFA, This is a massive step toward full daily expirations for individual stocks. More expiration dates = more trading strategies = more opportunities.

What This Means for Traders?

– More flexibility for 0DTE and 1DTE strategies

– Tighter event-risk targeting around news and catalysts

– Better alignment for momentum and structure-based plays

– Faster theta decay opportunities throughout the week

– New gamma positioning dynamics for market makers. Read more>>

(2) Geopolitical risk boosts safe-haven demand: precious metals keep ripping

With geopolitical tensions driving risk-off flows, precious metals continued to surge, and gold & silver hit record highs. @Moomoo Macro Moover shared:

The rally is being fueled by a trifecta of drivers: geopolitical friction, physical scarcity, and a massive leverage imbalance in the derivatives market.

She also added: The bearish case for a total collapse is weak. The structural deficit cannot be fixed in a quarter. Building new mines takes years. As long as the global energy transition mandates solar and AI hardware, Silver’s conductivity makes it irreplaceable. Even if we see a sharp correction, the long-term price floor has been irreversibly raised. The era of "cheap silver" is over. Read more>>

Trading Insights

@Invest with Sarge shared his take on Microsoft’s technical setup and a potential options idea. He spotted a death cross (50-day SMA dropping below the 200-day SMA), which is typically a bearish signal. He also pointed out MSFT may have formed a double-top reversal, with a downside pivot around 492.

Options traders with a relatively bearish stance going into earnings would likely employ a bear put spread in this scenario. That's where you buy one put and sell another with a lower strike price but the same expiration date. More details on how to construct the strategy please refer to the original post—Read more>>

@CNNT updated her view on Tesla’s upcoming earnings. She thinks the core logic for Tesla is the duel between a Car Company and a "Robot" Company.

The "Robot" Narrative: Musk wants you to value Tesla as a "Tech Sovereign"—a company that owns the "brains" (AI5 chips) and the "body" (Optimus robots) of the future. If you believe this, the current price is just a "down payment" on a massive future.

The "Car" Reality: Right now, most of Tesla's money comes from selling physical cars. Professional investors usually "punish" the stock when car sales slow down, regardless of how cool the robots are. About more projected scenario of Tesla's post-earnings price move—Read more>>

Riding the Wave 🌊

The Greenland-driven dip created a “buy-the-dip” opportunity. Then Trump quickly TACO’d (you know the meme 😄), and the rebound followed. @carlton Griffiths used index/ETF 0DTE options to scoop the bounce and reportedly delivered nearly 100x returns! Read more>>

User @Tomato Ketchup caught the silver breakout triggered by geopolitical stress and used 0DTE options to ride the move — turning OTM into ITM and doubling up with ease. Read more>>