Derivatives Insights for the Active Trader
Timely, informed market insights to help you stay ahead and make sharper decisions every single trading day.
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Even more quick reads, all in one place. Discover what's moving the market and why it matters.
JJ Kinahan brings more than three decades of trading and markets experience to his role at Cboe, where he leads the firm's retail expansion and alternative investment products strategy. A recognized authority on derivatives, options, and volatility, JJ translates complex market dynamics into clear, actionable insights for active investors and financial advisors. He is a frequent contributor on CNBC's Squawk Box and Bloomberg and has established himself as one of the most trusted voices on market structure and derivatives education. Today's Market Take is his daily commitment to keeping investors ahead of the market.
Some market forces take more than a morning brief to unpack. These pieces dig into the bigger themes shaping markets and what they mean for your trading strategy.
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Investors are taking a breather as they buckle down ahead of the weekend and as oil prices calm down after yesterday’s increase. In early trading, WTI Crude Oil prices eased to a tad below $89 a barrel. Yesterday they rose 6.17% to $92.29 a barrel, triggered by the escalating warfare in the Middle East.
The markets were under pressure in early trading as investor fears grow over heavy spending on artificial intelligence investments coupled with the heightening escalations in the Middle East. Alphabet and Tesla reported earnings late yesterday that outpaced Wall Street’s revenue expectations, but rattled investors as they both reported negative cash flows and ratcheted up their AI spending intentions. That’s setting the tone for AI spending across the board for mega-cap technology companies.
Investors were balancing the earnings-packed calendar that has a handful of potential market-moving results after the session ends with higher oil prices and the instability in the Middle East on a couple fronts. Given the market sentiment in recent weeks, at the end of the day the only thing that will truly matter to investors is how earnings results unfold.
Market volatility is a fact of investing. Prices rise, prices fall, and when uncertainty picks up, the question on many investors' minds shifts from "how do I grow my portfolio?" to "how do I protect what I've built?"
The options market experienced significant growth and dynamic shifts during the first quarter of 2026, marked by record-setting volumes across major index, ETF, and single stock contracts. There was robust activity in both established and newly launched products, as well as evolving regulatory and structural developments.
2025 was the sixth consecutive record year for U.S. listed options. Unprecedented industry participation was driven by strong equity performance, bouts of elevated volatility and increased retail and institutional flow. Total options volume topped 15.2 billion contracts in 2025, 26% above 2024 — the previous record.
