With the market entering crash mode, Apple, whose fundamental outlook is rapidly worsening, is seeing its stock start to accelerate away to the downside, and the 2nd tranche of Dec $200 Puts we bought just a couple of days ago at about $2.55 are already up to $9.20, after the stock lost 5% today. No action is required on our part at this juncture and we just wait and watch. Just today we had the bad news out that the iPhone Story Is Showing Cracks.

There are many things about Apple that point to a collapse in its stock price. They are – the loss of guiding force Steve Jobs, the massive extravagance and hubris of the Cupertino “donut” HQ, the huge margins on its products that are testing consumer loyalty to the limit – and beyond, the landmark $1 trillion dollar valuation achieved not long ago, the huge number of shares in issue approaching 5 billion, and last but not least the stock market crash which will lead to an economic depression that will slash the number of buyers willing to pay the extraordinary prices of some of their products. Bearing all this in mind, it makes you wonder who would be crazy enough to buy its stock around current levels – perhaps the answer is the people who stand in line all night outside one of their stores to be the first to get their hands on one of their new products, which come to think of it is good training for the Millennial generation for standing in line for a meal at a soup kitchen or a place in a flop house in a few years’ time, where they will hopefully have a decent wi-fi connection.

Apple Inc, AAPL on NASDAQ GS, closed at $194.17 on 12th November 18.

FOOTNOTE: the Tesla Dec $330 Puts, recommended in an Email alert a few days back at $9.30, are also starting to do well, as Tesla dropped hard today and these Puts surged to close at $18.10 bid. Today’s sharp drop in Tesla signals a trend change and there is thus no reason to sell the Puts at this stage.