I don't know how many of you are checked out for the holidays, but the market sure seemed to be today.

Most names saw a huge gap-down overnight. We anticipated either a decent bounce or continued selling, and we tried to position ourselves for one or the other. But we ended up in a choppy day with no real trend. Would have been a good day to take off.

All in all, a slow day ... but if you were patient, there were trades to be had.

SPY showed some volatility. If you played either end of the ranges you could have made some money, but we prefer to play our levels and it never really moved away from the 452 level all day.

Decent Short on MSFT

Microsoft (MSFT) offered up a clear short after the morning pop. It gained one whole watchlist level but there was no follow-through to the downside. The 320 puts went from $3.50 to $5 — not a huge move, but we were grateful to have something to trade.

Vaccine Gap-Ups Offer Two Big Shorts

Novavax (NVAX) and Moderna (MRNA) gapped up nicely overnight and provided short opportunities in a nice downward trend. Both tickers moved 4-5 watchlist levels.

NVAX 200 puts went from $7-$7.50 at the open to a high of $15.50. MRNA offered even more opportunity, with the 300 puts going from $4.50-$5.50 at the open to as high as $26.25. Nice to see something move on a slower day!

NVDA Goes Both Ways

NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) gave us a decent opportunity to go long, sitting right at our 272 watchlist level. It made a quick move to our 282 level within the first hour, only to offer up a short opportunity and give up most of its gains. The 280 puts went from $7.50 all the way up to $12.