Before We Get Started…
A Quick Word of Gratitude
Before we turn the page on the year, thank you for being here. I’m genuinely grateful for the trust, the attention, and the thoughtful questions you’ve brought to The Option Premium. I’ve worked hard to build something that’s honest, transparent, practical, realistic, and repeatable, and your engagement is the reason it’s grown into what it is.
This issue is also a first for me: my first annual “Best Of” edition, where I’m sharing your favorite articles from each weekly section of The Option Premium…education, mindset, and strategy, so you’ve got the most useful work in one place.
Looking into 2026, I’m expanding what I deliver: more live webinars and Q&A, more step-by-step training modules, more walkthrough videos, and deeper portfolio coverage across different styles and risk profiles. That buildout takes real time and resources, so pricing will increase in January.
If you’ve gotten real value from what I’ve built for you this year and want to upgrade before 2026, I’d be honored to have you. And if you join before the price change, you lock in your current rate as long as you stay active, no gimmicks, no theatrics, no marketing emails, just a straightforward promise to early supporters.
Either way: Happy New Year! Here’s to a more disciplined, more confident, and more educational 2026!
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📰 Market Commentary & Snapshot
This was one of those “quiet-but-telling” weeks.
Prices barely moved day-to-day, volume was holiday-thin, and the major indexes essentially drifted into year-end with the kind of calm that makes traders itch to do something. But the tape’s message was pretty clear: the uptrend is still intact, and the market is behaving like it believes the next shock is not imminent.
The headline: the S&P 500 is now within striking distance of the psychological 7,000 area, capping a strong 2025 run. Even more important for us as options traders: volatility kept bleeding, VIX closed the week around the mid-13s. That’s not “danger,” but it is “thin premium.”
So the “edge” right now isn’t about forcing trades. It’s about being selective:
If you’re selling premium, you want better entry points (pullbacks, IV pops, or cleaner ranges).
If you’re already in positions, you want boring (theta doing the work without drama).
And if you feel the urge to “manufacture action” in low IV… that’s usually the market charging you tuition.
📊 Weekly Market Stats
Market | Last | Week | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|
S&P 500 | 6,929.94 | +1.4% | +17.8% |
Dow Jones | 48,710.97 | +1.2% | +14.5% |
Nasdaq Composite | 23,593.10 | +1.2% | +22.2% |
Russell 2000 | 2,534.35 | +0.2% | +13.6% |
VIX (spot) | 13.60 | -8.8% | |
10Y Treasury | 4.14% | -2 bps | |
Gold | $4,529 | +3.85% | +70% |
Bitcoin | 87,358 | -0.9% | -6.53% |
📰 Weekly In-Depth Articles
🗓️ Tuesday, December 23rd - The 15 Best LEAPS Articles of the Year: Stock Replacement + PMCC Income Playbook
🗓️ Thursday, December 27th - The Complete Poor Man's Covered Call Library: 21 Essential Articles
🎓 Options 101: The First Steps to Trading
Options 101: The 15 Most Important Options 101 Articles of the Year
The 15 Most Important Options 101 Articles of the Year is the “learn it once, use it forever” path for anyone who wants to stop dabbling in options and start understanding them.
Most beginners don’t fail because they’re not smart. They fail because they learn options like flashcards, terms and definitions, without building the mental model that turns knowledge into good decisions. This guide fixes that. It’s organized the way real competence gets built: concepts → mechanics → first strategies → professional mindset. Use it like a curriculum, not a scroll.
If you know someone who’s curious about options but keeps getting burned (or overwhelmed), send them this guide. And if you want weekly market context plus practical, probability-based education that builds on these foundations, subscribe to The Option Premium (free).
🧠 Mental Capital
Train not just your trading system, but your trading self.
The Ultimate Guide to Options Trading Psychology: The 10 Essential Articles of the Year is your reset button, because most traders don’t lose money from “bad strategies.” They lose money from perfectly human mistakes that show up at the worst possible moment: chasing, freezing, doubling down, revenge-trading, getting cocky after a win streak, or changing the plan mid-trade because it feels urgent.
This guide pulls the ten Mental Capital pieces that matter most and lines them up like a real training plan: beliefs first, then bias defenses (FOMO, sunk costs, overconfidence), then the math that rewards consistency, then the execution habits that keep you out of trouble when the market gets loud. It’s not meant to be read once and forgotten, it’s meant to be used the way pros use checklists: before you trade, when you’re tempted to break rules, and after you make a mistake you don’t want to repeat.
If you’ve ever watched yourself sabotage a good setup, bookmark this guide and share it with one trader who’s serious about getting better.
The Implied Truth: Weekly Table Overview
Unlock the Full Picture - Upgrade to access the complete table, including all 100 equities (AAPL, META, AMZN, NVDA and more)
Every number tells a story. Each week, we decode the landscape across the most liquid ETFs, because this is where retail traders get the cleanest signals and the least slippage. But the power isn’t in the data, it’s in how you interpret it.
Below is your edge: a strategic overview that reveals where the premium is overpriced, where price action is exhausted, and where the highest-probability setups exist for the coming week.
This section is here to help you choose what works for your strategy. The numbers are facts, not opinions. Whether you sell premium, buy directional spreads, or trade reversals, the edge begins with understanding volatility and momentum. Let’s dig in.
What This Table Tells Us
Use this weekly to guide your trade ideas, not predict outcomes.
The data is factual. There’s no opinion in this grid, only opportunity.
Choose what aligns with your timeframe, risk appetite, and edge.
Week Ending December 26, 2025
Premium is still thin in the big index ETFs (SPY, QQQ, DIA all showing single-digit IV Rank), but there are pockets where volatility is actually paying you.
SLV is the clear outlier: maxed-out IV Rank (100) with RSI(14) in the mid-80s. That’s rich premium, but it’s also a stretched tape, great for risk-defined structures and disciplined profit-taking.
GLD + GDX are in a similar “hot trend + real premium” zone: RSI(14) elevated (GLD 80 / GDX 72) with strong trend strength (high ADX). This isn’t a spot to fight momentum, this is where premium sellers win by structuring range and defining risk.
EFA stands out for a different reason: IV Rank 85 / IV Percentile 99. That’s unusually “priced up” volatility for a broad ETF, worth attention for defined-risk income if you like the underlying.
URA is also elevated (IV Rank 75) while RSI(14) is hovering just under 50. That’s a more balanced “premium + uncertainty” profile, often better for patient entries than chasing.
Message: The market isn’t paying much for calm index exposure. It is paying in metals and a few volatility-rich ETFs.
2) RSI Extremes
This table is screaming the same thing in multiple places: short-term overbought is widespread, but it’s not uniform across every asset.
SPY / QQQ / DIA: RSI(2) in the 90s = short-term stretched, even though the intermediate trend is still intact (RSI(14) above 50).
SLV / GLD / GDX: all “extended” across multiple RSI timeframes, this is where traders get sloppy if they chase.
KRE is the opposite extreme: RSI(2) 10 (washed out) while RSI(14) remains above 50, one of the cleaner “snapback potential” profiles on your list.
Message: When RSI(2) is in the 90s, premium sellers should think “patience,” not “more size.”
This is the danger zone for premium sellers: price stretched + IV Rank dead. You’re taking real directional heat for very little pay.
SPY / QQQ / DIA: overbought short-term, IV Rank 2.
SMH / XLK: strong momentum, but IV Rank is still low relative to where it’s been.
Message: If you sell here, the edge needs to come from strike discipline (farther OTM), smaller size, and quicker profit-taking, not from “juicy premium.”
4) VIX & Market Volatility
VIX 13.6 keeps telling the same story: the market isn’t pricing fear.
That doesn’t mean “no risk.” It means the market is underpaying you for risk in the broad indexes, so your process has to do more of the work.
Message: Low VIX environments reward traders who don’t overtrade and don’t get bored into bad entries.
A few underlyings show useful “odd pairings” that can create better setups than the headlines.
KRE: extreme short-term oversold (RSI(2) 10) with RSI(14) above 50 and strong ADX. That’s a legitimate “mean-reversion window” inside a broader trend.
EFA: very high IV Rank/IVP for a broad ETF, premium is priced up, which is unusual here.
Energy weakness: XLE / XOP are below RSI(14) 50 with elevated ADX, translation: trend pressure is real, and put-selling needs extra respect unless you’re truly comfortable owning.
TLT: RSI(14) below 50 with ADX elevated, still not a clean “rates relief” trend.
Message: The best trades often come from “good premium + clear structure,” not from the most popular ticker.
6) Final Signals from The Implied Truth
Index premium is cheap, and the tape is short-term stretched. That combination is where traders typically overtrade and under-collect.
The higher-quality premium opportunities are concentrated: metals (SLV/GLD/GDX), select volatility-rich ETFs (EFA, URA), and a possible short-term mean-reversion watch (KRE).
If you’re putting new trades on in this regime, your edge is:
smaller size + farther strikes + defined risk + faster profit targets.
If you want, I can also convert this into 5 “trade lanes” (Wheel candidates, PMCC-friendly, defined-risk spreads, neutral income, no-touch zone) using only tickers from your table.
👉 For a deeper dive each week, including a full breakdown of the most liquid optionable ETFs and an in-depth analysis of 100+ highly liquid equities, check out The Implied Perspective, our paid service that turns this data into structured, high-probability premium ideas.
As always, this section is meant to be an educational lens on the current landscape, not personal advice. The edge comes from matching the strategy to the regime, keeping position sizes small, and letting a large sample of disciplined trades do the heavy lifting over time.
Quick Reference
Field | Meaning / How to Use It |
|---|---|
Imp. Vol (IV) | Implied volatility. Higher IV = richer option premiums and wider expected moves. |
IV Rank (IVR) | Where today’s IV sits vs. the past year (0–100%). Rule of thumb: >35% favors premium-selling strategies. |
IV Percentile (IVP) | % of the past year that IV was below today’s level. Confirms whether elevated IV is persistent (not a one-off spike). |
RSI (2/5/9/14) | Momentum gauge. >80 = overbought, <20 = oversold. Shorter lookbacks (2/5/9) react faster; 14 is steadier. |
ADX (9/14) | Trend strength (0–100). <20 range-bound, 20 to 25 forming, 25 to 35 established, >35 strong trend. |
📚 Educational Corner: Options Deep Dive
The 11 Essential Educational Corner Articles is the fastest way to go from “random options tactics” to a real, repeatable playbook. Instead of chasing the next spread idea, you’ll build the same foundation professionals use: risk management first, then core income engines (Wheel + CSPs), then capital-efficient income (PMCCs), then defined-risk tools (verticals + multi-leg structures), and finally the practical timing and account rules that keep it all executable.
If you’ve ever felt like options should work better than they do, this is the missing piece: one organized reference you can return to any time you’re picking a trade, managing a position, or tightening your process.
If this helped, share it with one trader who’s tired of guessing. And if you want weekly, plain-English market context plus probability-based options setups built around the same framework, subscribe to The Option Premium (free).
🔗 Let’s Stay Connected
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Thanks again for reading. I hope you found today’s insights valuable and worth your time.
Trade Smart. Trade Thoughtfully.
Andy Crowder
Founder | Editor-in-Chief | Chief Options Strategist
The Option Premium
Educational use only. The Option Premium is a publication for educational purposes and does not provide personalized investment advice. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Always confirm details and manage risk prudently.