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From The Momentum Bloodbath To The SpaceX IPO

Portfolio Armor's Photo
by Portfolio Armor
Saturday, Jun 13, 2026 - 12:31

A bull and bear enjoying a SpaceX launch.

Trading A Volatile Week

This week had everything.

A continuation of the prior Friday’s momentum correction. Another round of AI-bubble FUD. Tomahawk missile strikes on Iran. An Iranian drone taking out an American Apache attack helicopter. The helicopter pilots rescued with the help of a drone boat. The first serious signs that a U.S.–Iran peace deal may be close.

And then, to cap it off, the largest IPO in history: SpaceX.

So how do you trade a week like that?

You don’t freeze. You don’t chase. You narrow the aperture.

Still Bullish, More Selective

We started the week with that basic stance: still bullish, more selective.

The AI buildout thesis didn’t break because momentum names got hit. But the tape changed. When the tape changes, the filters have to change too.

So we tightened our screens and focused on names that still had strong technical profiles after the selloff. The goal was not to buy every dip. The goal was to use the correction to add defined-risk exposure where the theme, technicals, and option pricing still lined up.

That was the framework behind Monday’s alert:

Back Into Intel, And Back Into The AI Buildout

On Tuesday, we went back into Intel.

That wasn’t a generic “buy the dip” trade. Intel was our system’s #1-ranked name, and it had already worked for us earlier this year.

The broader point was that the AI trade is not just one stock, one chipmaker, or one narrow story. It runs through semiconductors, memory, servers, optics, networking, power, cooling, and data-center infrastructure.

That’s where we kept looking.

Rejecting The FUD, But Raising The Bar

By Wednesday, the FUD machine was running hot again.

Some of it was the usual “this is 1999” argument. Some of it was more specific: worries that the SpaceX IPO, Anthropic IPO, and eventually OpenAI IPO would suck liquidity out of the rest of the market. Some of it was AI-infrastructure-specific, including questions about co-packaged optics and power-roadmap timing.

We didn’t ignore it. We filtered it.

The distinction matters. A serious claim can change how selective we are without changing the entire thesis.

So we kept placing bullish trades, but only where the setups still passed.

From FUD To Filters

Thursday’s alert made the adjustment explicit.

In a calmer tape, a decent setup can be enough when the theme and pricing line up. In a violent momentum correction, we want stronger confirmation.

So we leaned harder on technical filters, looked for stronger evidence of buyers taking control, and continued using elevated option premium to define downside and finance upside.

That’s one of the advantages of using options in this kind of tape. Volatility is not just something to fear. If you structure trades correctly, it can help pay for your exposure.

Then Came SpaceX

Friday was supposed to be the day the space trade got its biggest validation yet.

SpaceX went public in the largest IPO ever. It was a historic deal and a defining moment for the public space economy.

But the market’s reaction in related speculative names was more complicated. A lot of space and space-adjacent stocks sold off instead of ripping higher. The IPO appeared to suck some air out of the very names that had run ahead of it.

That didn’t kill the theme. It did remind us that even great catalysts can become sell-the-news events in high-beta names.

So Friday’s trades were selective: memory, energy storage, and space, with defined risk and option structures designed for a tape that was still volatile.

Exits: Harvesting Premium, Not Forcing Trades

On the exit side, we didn’t have any stock or ETF exits this week.

Most of the options exits were short-call buybacks inside hybrid combos. Those are not always the flashiest exits, but they’re important. Buying back short calls after most of the premium has decayed removes the cap from the long-call side and leaves us with uncapped long-call exposure if the stocks keep working.

We also had one put spread assigned and exercised at max loss during the correction. That’s why we define the risk on those legs. Even when the tape gets violent, the downside is capped.

Options

  1. Put spread on Photronics (PLAB 3.25%↑). Entered at a net credit of $1.48 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 5/4/2026; the put spread was assigned and exercised at a net debit of $5.00 on 6/11/2026. Loss: 100% of max risk (238% on premium collected). Signal: Market Watchers.

  2. Short call on Helmerich & Payne (HP 1.00%↑). Sold-to-open the June 18th, 2026 $42.50 call for $0.85 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 4/14/2026; bought-to-close that call for $0.20 on 6/9/2026. Profit: 76% on premium collected. Signal: PA Top Names.

  3. Short calls on AtaiBeckley (ATAI 3.42%↑). Sold for $0.73 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 4/20/2026; bought to close for $0.10 on 6/11/2026. Profit: 86% on premium collected. Signal: Multibaggers.

  4. Short call on Solstice Advanced Materials (SOLS 2.20%↑). Sold-to-open the June 18th, 2026 $95 call for $2.45 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 4/28/2026; bought-to-close that call for $0.20 on 6/9/2026. Profit: 92% on premium collected. Signal: Market Watchers.

  5. Short call on Zoom Video Communications (ZM 1.90%↑). Sold-to-open the June 18th, 2026 $110 call for $4.25 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 2/9/2026; bought-to-close that call for $0.20 on 6/9/2026. Profit: 95% on premium collected. Signal: Anthropic Exposure.

  6. Short call on Planet Labs PBC (PL -6.42%↓). Sold-to-open for $4.57 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 4/27/2026; bought-to-close for $0.20 on 6/12/2026. Profit: 96% on premium collected. Signal: Top Names.

  7. Short call on nLIGHT (LASR -0.34%↓). Sold-to-open the June 18th, 2026 $95 call for $7.01 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 3/20/2026; bought-to-close that call for $0.20 on 6/9/2026. Profit: 97% on premium collected. Signal: Market Watchers.

The Lesson Of The Week

This was not a week for autopilot.

The right posture was to stay bullish where the thesis was intact, tighten the screens where the tape demanded it, and use option structure to avoid turning volatility into open-ended risk.

That’s what we tried to do.

We added exposure when the correction gave us better prices. We harvested premium where time decay gave us exits. We avoided forcing exits in names where the clock was still on our side. And we kept our risk defined in a week that included a momentum bloodbath, missile strikes, a drone-boat rescue, peace-deal rumors, and the biggest IPO in history.

That’s the kind of week where process matters more than prediction.

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