45 Investing Insights & Observations to Celebrate Schaeffer's 45th Anniversary
Quantitative signals, viral tweets, and contrarian signals oh my!
Thursday was Schaeffer’s 45th anniversary. Founder and CEO Bernie Schaeffer started the company in a garage on the west side of Cincinnati, before the internet, ETFs, and ‘buy the dip’ were words in our vocabulary. Before options volume hit record-setting growth for six-straight years.
The best way to celebrate our anniversary isn’t with some back-patting and self-congratulatory post. We’re going to do what we always do: give retail traders the edge they needed to compete.
Our 45th anniversary stock pick report is now available. Consider it our gift to you, for sticking with us all these years.
Below, I scoured the internet, quantitative tables, and socials to find 45 actionable stock market nuggets to unpack over the weekend.
These are 45 rapid-fire notes, with no real rhyme or reason; just 45 threads to possibly pull on, something to spark an idea.
SpaceX (SPCX) has lost $1 trillion in market cap since peaking at $225.64 on July 16. The only other stock to lose $1 trillion in market cap value? Amazon.com (AMZN), back in 2021-2022.
AMZN traded as low as $81 in December 2022, and has obviously made that up and then some.
SpaceX IPO performance is the top searched stock on Google Trends in the last seven days.
Anthropic’s IPO is rumored to be October. Here’s our recent study on broken IPOs.
Speaking of drawdowns, AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) and Rocket Lab (RKLB) have shed xx% off their respective May xx highs. Space, meet ground.
11.02. That’s the 10-day put/call volume ratio of Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI), despite a 15% year-to-date gain. Caterpillar (CAT) is XLI’s top holding.
Other ETFs with a notable put skew? iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM) and iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF (NYSEARCA:IYR), with respective 10-day p/c ratios of 7.38 and 7.80. Those ratios are in the 99th and 85th percentile.
CAT, meanwhile, closed below its 80-day moving average on July 20 for the first time since May 2025. But it is the best-performing Dow stock in 2026, up 55%.
Coinbase Global (COIN) thanks to a mid-week pop, crossed over its 50-day moving average. The 10 prior signals have averaged a 10.9% return and 60% win rate.
Carnival (CCL) is testing its 24-month moving average, and the previous five tests in the last decade have averaged a 17.6% return and 80% win rate.
The only stock that reports earnings next week with a 14-Day Relative Strength Index (RSI) in the 30s is Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS).
On the other end of the spectrum? Electronic Arts (EA), with a RSI of 76.
Nebius Group NV (NBIS) has seen a 3,063% increase in short interest in the last month.
Tesla (TSLA) short interest has risen 33% from 60 million shares in March to nearly 80 million as of Wednesday, before the EV maker’s earnings report.
The largest company that reports next week with 10% or more of its total available float sold short? Carvana (CVNA).
Coinbase is second-largest. But it’s also running into a historically bearish trendline.
British-based eVTOL is getting interest from the UK military.
We saw a little bit of a drone rally this week. Ondas (ONDS) is up xx% this week.
ICYMI, Apple (briefly) overtook Nvidia (NVDA) as the world’s most valuable company.
21.9%: The percentage of SPX Components with a 10-Day put/call ratio above 1.0.
Bitcoin (BTC) cleared its 50-day moving average last week.
The World Cup Final drew a record 63 million viewers. Can’t wait to dig into the impact on the likes of Nike (NKE), Coca-Cola (KO), the lot.
Gold is back above $4,000 and held strong this week. The largest gold miner, Newmont (NEM), successfully tested its 320-day moving average and $100 million market cap level.
In case you forgot, 45 was Jordan’s number in high school. He played 25 games with it. Other notable no. 45s in sports: Pedro Martinez, Rik Smits, and Mario Balotelli.
PayPal (PYPL) formed a double-bottom on the charts, but is staring up at its 320-day moving average, a historically bearish trendline.
Tesla earnings, woof. Will point out though, that $330 was the site of an early-April pullback, and weekly 7/24 330-strike puts were the most popular options contract traded on Thursday.
This is a dumb month.
OddStats@OddStatsI hereby declare this... THE STUPIDEST JULY EVER ▪ End of SPX June 7499.36 ▪ Today's SPX close 7498.96 ▪ July SPX return thru the 22nd -0.005%8:19 PM · Jul 22, 2026 · 16.7K Views12 Replies · 3 Reposts · 205 LikesThe VIX hasn’t closed below 15 all year. Just saying.
Last month, we recommended an Exxon Mobil (XOM) August 130 call in our June Option Advisor. We liked the 200-day moving average stepping up as support, plus options-related support at $135, home to peak put open interest. XOM bounced back with resurgent oil prices, allowing subscribers to collect their 102% target profit in just three weeks.
Anniversary promo break: You can get 45 months of our flagship, OG newsletter, Option Advisor, for $450.
The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) indicates the percentage of bullish investors surveyed is under 30% for the first time since September 2025.
On Thursday, over 10,000 puts crossed the tape for SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), 14 times the average daily volume. Almost all of the action at the August 80, and September 85 puts. XRT is fresh off a 4% weekly loss.
More broadly, ETF trading volume is at record-high levels.
At record low levels: live cattle.
Two tech names that bucked the broad market carnage? SK Hynix (SKHY) and Micron Technology (MU).
Defense stocks quietly on the rise again. Will dig into their post-earnings reaction, rest-of-year outlook soon. Watch this space!
CME’s FedWatch tool shows a 62.1% chance the central bank keeps rates steady next week.
Fast forward to September’s meeting though, and there’s a 55.1% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike.
Citigroup (C) is down 6% this month, but the pullback is caught so far at the 80-day moving average. The last seven returns have yielded an average 6% return and 71% win rate.
0DTE options volume is spiking, per friend of the program Henry Schwartz over at Cboe.
If you want to take a flier on same-day trades, we’re offering a special Anniversary Credit: $3,000 Off Dynamite Day Trading Signals.
Underrated AI-adjacent earnings report I’m watching next week: Reddit (RDDT). Gapped lower by 7.3% after reportedly discussing cutting Google’s access to its content for AI use. The options market is pricing in a 16.2% post-earnings move.
Non-AI name to watch: Hershey (HSY). Cocoa prices are making a return back to 5,000 amid weak European demand. HSY has lost 28% off its March 3 record high of $239.48.
Sometimes, all you need is the chart.
Brew Markets@brewmarketsWhat a chart.
2:57 PM · Jul 23, 2026 · 12.9K Views29 Replies · 29 Reposts · 190 LikesAfter fuel costs tripped up American Air Lines (AAL) earnings on Thursday, the stock’s RSI breached 30.
META formed a death cross in December 2025. Other big names that have formed death crosses in the last six months? Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), and Palantir Technologies (PLTR).
Speaking of Netflix (NFLX), the stock is down 26% year-to-date. But don’t tell that to call traders, where there’s a 50-day p/c skew of 3.12. The last five times that ratio was in the 90th percentile (as it was last week), the stock averaged a nearly 6% loss the following 21 days, with a meager 20% win rate.
Visa (V), meanwhile, just formed a golden cross. Really intrigued by that earnings report next week (after the close, Tuesday).
If AI capex concerns you, get familiar with Ed Zitron.
Keep on keepin on.