There is one trade that traders are told to never make.
It violates every rule in every options book. The premiums are too expensive, the risk is a coin flip on a single news event, and one bad headline can take you to zero overnight.
I made that trade yesterday afternoon.
I closed it for a winner this morning within just 24 hours.
Here is what happened, and how you can read the same setup the next time it shows up.
What I Bought and Why
Costco (COST) stock had been getting hit for three straight sessions. It had pulled back almost 9% from its early-May high, sellers were leaning on it ahead of Thursday’s earnings report, and a competitor had spooked the consumer retail space with a warning about pressure on shoppers.
Most traders avoided the stock entirely.
The ones who didn’t could merely place a bet on what the earnings number would say.
I don’t call that trading… I call it guessing.
Yesterday afternoon, I sent Post-Market Profits members an alert to lightly buy the $1,000 calls expiring this Friday on Costco.
This morning, before the market had even been open for an hour, I sent the alert to take profits.
The trade closed within 24 hours. And the key part is, we were out before earnings – and breakfast.
What a Stock Flip Actually Is
A stock flip is exactly what it sounds like.
You buy something the market has temporarily punished, and you sell it back when the market comes to its senses.
The only difference from a normal trade is the timeline. We aren’t holding for months or even a week.
We get in late in the trading day after a stock has had an ugly session, and we get out the next morning when it bounces.
The reason it works is simple. Stocks overreact to bad news, particularly when a major event on the calendar is looming.
Then the panic clears, bargain hunters step in, and the stock bounces back to where it should have been all along.
That bounce is the trade.
Why Costco Was the Setup
Costco didn’t suddenly become a worse company over the last week. The business is fine. April sales were up 13% year over year, and the membership numbers have been strong all year.
But the stock was getting hammered anyway because traders were nervous about the earnings report and a competitor had warned about consumer pressure.
That’s the dictionary definition of a great stock on an ugly day. Nothing was wrong with the business.
The market was just nervous.
When you see that setup approaching a key technical level, and you have ten years of data showing the bounce happens 87% of the time, predicting the earnings number stops being the point.
You just need to be in the trade when the bounce comes… and out before the news drops.
We were in at 3:30 pm yesterday and out by 9:45 am this morning.
How’s that to start your day?
YOUR ACTION PLAN
This setup shows up almost every week. Sometimes it’s a stock you’ve heard of, like Costco. Sometimes it’s a name you’ve never traded.
The signal doesn’t care which one. It only cares about the setup.
After another Costco winner this morning, the system’s track record is red-hot fire. Eight out of nine stock flip winners on the year…
And my Dark Ticker trades are six-for-six this month alone.