Robinhood (HOOD) Might Be a UFO!

Robinhood (HOOD) Might Be a UFO!
A green alien wearing a Groucho Marx disguise and a red hood and carrying a picnic basket while asking, “Is UFO?”

That strange lamb I was researching yesterday mentioned a recent “big score” which was just this red hood and picnic basket. I think it might be a UFO! But first…

What’s the Word on the Street?

The market is mostly up today despite last night's threat from the President to fire one of the Federal Reserve governors.

We're still waiting on Nvidia's earnings tomorrow that will shed light on how companies are spending on AI and whether or not there is a slowdown.

PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) releases on Friday and is considered the Fed's preferred inflation measure. Those results could affect how aggressive the Fed will be as it prepares to cut interest rates.

Robinhood (HOOD)

Robinhood Options Trading Promotional Image

What Is It?

Robinhood Markets, Inc is a financial services platform, which engages in the provision of retail brokerage and offers trading in U.S. listed stocks and Exchange Traded Funds, related options, and cryptocurrency trading, as well as cash management, which includes debit cards services. The company was founded by Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt in 2013 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. The listed name for HOOD is Robinhood Markets, Inc. Class A Common Stock. 

Why Is It a Possible UFO?

Primarily its current share price relative to its fair value and what other option traders expect are the reasons HOOD could be a UFO.

What About Recent News?

Robinhood was snubbed again yesterday when the S&P rebalanced. Interactive Brokers Group Inc. was instead added to the index after replacing Walgreens Boots Alliance. The market has been expecting HOOD to eventually be added and it has yet to happen, but it's only a matter of time.

What’s the Current Price?

Year to date line chart showing HOOD rising 176.57%

Obviously HOOD has had a great year so far. It's up ~65% in the past 3 months, but it's almost flat on the month and down on the week and day.

What’s the Fair Value?

Analysts fair value ratings for HOOD

I’d first like to emphasize that fair value is subjective. Many analysts at many banks and institutions rate stocks differently and assign fair value in their own unique way. So, what I like to do is take all the recent fair values since the most recent earnings report and average them. In this case…

Since HOOD’s most recent earnings report on 07/30/2025, it has received 8 ratings and taking the average, the fair value might be somewhere around: $119.25.

6 ratings are a Buy and 2 are a Hold. The lowest price target is $106, while the highest is $130.

What Do Options Traders Expect?

HOOD Calls and Puts for the October 3rd expiration

Calls are trading over equidistant Puts, which means traders think there is a chance to the upside. You can see because… forget about the green columns and focus on the red. Notice how on the right side for the $104 Put it says $6.95, it’s $7.80 for the equidistant Call at $109.

The premium (the credit you receive for executing the trade) is currently less for selling Puts, as opposed to selling Calls. Basically because of that, option traders expect the stock to go up, rather than down.

How About Volatility?

Line chart showing HOOD’s volatility over the past year

The IV rank (the purple line) for HOOD (stock price in blue) is currently hovering around 21.35, which is somewhat low (IV rank goes from 0-100). This makes short strategies (which are what I prefer) less attractive.

What's the Trade?

HOOD Calls and Puts for the October 3rd expiration, but this time showing the trade I took

My preferred trade is a variation of the wheel without the rolling, AKA cash-secured puts. I typically like to target stocks that offer a dividend and are below fair value. 

Why a dividend? If the trade results in assignment and I’m on the hook for X amount of shares, I can at least be satisfied knowing I picked a (hopefully under fair value) company that will pay me a small amount while I run the other side of the trade AKA covered calls.

HOOD does not offer a dividend, but that’s not a dealbreaker!

It’s a fairly low-risk strategy (all options trading is risky!), that has a higher probability of success, but requires a higher amount of collateral. 

So if you saw the most recent image above, I already STO (sold to open) 1 contract of the $90 Put for the October 3rd expiration. I like to have a DTE (Days To Expiration) that is around ~45 days.

When the trade reaches 50% profit I will buy it back. I don’t like to be greedy and go for more profit, because I would rather not waste my time being in a trade for too long.

What About Alternative Trade Ideas?

  1. If the collateral requirement is too high, another idea is a put credit spread. You would sell a put at a strike below the current share price and then buy a put at a lower strike than the put you sold. By doing so, you will avoid the collateral requirement of a cash-secured put, but the credit received will be smaller. Also, if the trade goes sideways, you will not be assigned shares so no collecting dividends and running covered calls afterwards.
  2. Just invest! 1 share or even fractional shares are a way to get a foothold in a stock that you think might increase in value.

Completed Trades

Lam Research Corp (LRCX) Might Be a UFO!
I discovered this fluffy creature and I think it might be a UFO, but more research is necessary. I picked this one up yesterday, but decided it was still worth writing about today. But before that... What’s the Word on the Street? It’s the day we were all waiting for!

BTC with 50% profit

Wait…Where Are the Candlesticks? And All the Other Indicators?

I know many traders love their candlesticks and a ton of indicators. I prefer simplicity. Candlesticks aren’t necessary unless you’re the kind of trader that wants to try and pick the perfect moment to execute a trade, and even then it’s not a sure thing. 

As for indicators, there are a ton. Some of them work sometimes. None are perfect. I don’t want to get bogged down with too many. You’ll drive yourself crazy looking at too many of them, so find a handful you like and stick with those.

Disclosures

  • I currently have an open trade with HOOD (as mentioned in this post).
  • No trade is a sure thing. There is always risk involved. 
  • This blog post is not meant to take the place of financial advice, but hopefully acts as a guide for learning or informational purposes.