There is a kind of loss that stings more than any other in options trading, and in fifteen years of teaching I had thousands of traders ask me some version of the same question after they took it.

"How is it possible that I was right on the direction, and I still lost money?"

It is not a trick question. It happens every day.

A trader buys a call. The stock moves up. He logs in expecting a profit. The position is flat. Or red. Or gone.

The stock did exactly what he said it would do. He still lost.

The reason is a cost that most brand-new options traders do not realize is running against them from the moment they enter. It works against you every single day you hold, whether the underlying moves or not. Be right too slowly and you hand the trade back to the market.

You can pick the direction right, pick the catalyst right, pick the timing of the news right, and still lose. Because you never checked the one number that tells you whether the setup gave you enough room to be right in time.

Ten seconds to check before you enter. Almost no beginner does.

GET THE 60-SECOND CHECKLIST

That is one of the five. The others cover position sizing, the setup most beginners are taught to trade first and should not, why the stop-loss you are relying on can fail on the exact day you need it, and the one question the traders who last always ask before they click buy.

Under a minute to run. Every trade. Before a dollar goes on.

Normally $29.97. Today it's free, and it is yours to keep.

SEND ME THE CHECKLIST

Don Kaufman

Chief Derivatives Instructor, TheoTrade

P.S. If you have ever closed a trade at a loss and thought "but I was right," one of these five checks is the answer. It is the one about the silent daily cost. Read that one first.

Amgen Drops 10% on a Trial It Didn't Even Run

Submitted by Chris Markoch. Publication Date: 9/11/2026.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) delivered a strong earnings report on Aug. 4. AMGN stock rose approximately 17% from the Aug. 4 close through early September before reversing sharply.

One of the highlights of Amgen’s report was Repatha, the company’s approved PCSK9 drug, which posted $953 million in Q2 2026 revenue, a 37% year-over-year increase. But those gains have mostly been erased due to what can only be described as guilt by association.

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The event in question was a disappointing readout from a Phase 3 clinical trial conducted by Novartis (NYSE: NVS). The Swiss-based company reported that its cholesterol drug, Pelacarsen, failed to reduce cardiovascular events in a Phase 3 trial.

It’s not unusual for an entire sector to sell off after one company reports disappointing results. For example, even Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) stock dropped around 2%. However, there’s an important wrinkle that high-speed trading programs don’t consider.

Amgen Delivered Successful Trial Results

On the same day that Novartis reported its disappointing results, Amgen delivered a positive Phase 3 readout of its own. The company’s DeLLphi-305 trial evaluated the DLL3-targeted bispecific tarlatamab (Imdelltra) in combination with AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi (durvalumab) as first-line maintenance therapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. Amgen announced a positive readout, including a statistically significant overall survival benefit.

That didn’t stop investors from selling AMGN stock aggressively. However, the sell-off may have been driven by another wrinkle: the difference between Amgen’s cholesterol drug, Olpasiran, and Pelacarsen.

Olpasiran Vs. Pelacarsen: Same Target, Different Drug

Both drugs target lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), a genetically inherited cholesterol particle linked to heart attacks and strokes. Unlike LDL cholesterol, diet and exercise don’t significantly affect Lp(a) levels. That’s why drugmakers have spent years pursuing treatments for it.

But “same target” doesn’t mean “same drug.” Pelacarsen lowered Lp(a) by roughly 72% to 80% in earlier studies. Olpasiran, Amgen’s candidate, cut Lp(a) levels by more than 95% in Phase 2 testing. Some analysts think that difference in potency could be part of the story: Pelacarsen may simply not have suppressed Lp(a) deeply enough to show a benefit, rather than disproving the Lp(a) theory altogether.

Amgen also designed its trial differently. Olpasiran is dosed quarterly, compared with Pelacarsen’s more frequent schedule. Amgen also narrowed its primary success measure to exclude ischemic stroke, arguing that this outcome has a weaker genetic tie to Lp(a). Whether regulators and doctors accept that reasoning remains an open question, but it’s a meaningfully different approach from the one Novartis just tested.

None of this guarantees that Olpasiran will succeed. Amgen’s own outcomes data from the Phase 3 OCEAN(a)-Outcomes trial isn’t expected until 2028. The trial’s estimated primary completion date is March 31, 2028. Investors are being asked to wait years for proof, with the recent sell-off showing how much sentiment can shift in the meantime based solely on a rival’s results.

Repatha’s Growth Story Remains Intact

Here’s the distinction that got lost in the recent sell-off: Repatha and Olpasiran aren’t the same drug family at all.

Repatha is a PCSK9 inhibitor. It lowers LDL cholesterol, the “bad cholesterol” most people are already familiar with, and it has been on the market for years with a well-established track record. Olpasiran, by contrast, is an unproven, investigational Lp(a)-lowering drug that hasn’t finished its outcomes trial.

Pelacarsen’s failure says nothing directly about Repatha’s mechanism or results. Yet AMGN stock traded as if concerns about Amgen’s cardiovascular pipeline extended to Repatha as well. Repatha’s fundamentals didn’t budge: The drug grew revenue 37% year-over-year, with 35% volume growth, in Amgen’s most recent quarter.

A late-stage failure involving one experimental drug from a different company and using a different mechanism dragged down sentiment toward a commercial product that is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. For investors trying to separate the noise from the signal, Repatha is the clearest evidence that the sell-off was driven by a competitor’s headline, not by Amgen’s business.

AMGN Stock Remains Under Pressure

Despite selling off nearly 10% on Sept. 8, AMGN has failed to reverse its slide in subsequent sessions. The stock was down more than 12% in the five trading days ending Sept. 10, with most of the decline occurring during the initial sell-off. It’s now within about 6% of its 200-day simple moving average. If it drops below that level, the May lows around $323 could be in play.

The Amgen analyst forecasts on MarketBeat support investors with a “buy the dip” mindset.

At around $380 per share in recent trading, AMGN is trading roughly in line with its consensus price target.

However, since the Novartis-fueled sell-off, Wells Fargo has raised its price target to $435 from $400, Cantor Fitzgerald has reiterated its $400 target, and BMO Capital Markets has maintained a price target of $450, even after downgrading AMGN from Outperform to Market Perform.

That’s consistent with analyst sentiment since the company’s Q2 2026 earnings report.

It’s confirmation that institutional money is placing more weight on the company’s balance sheet than on algorithm-driven selling triggered by a test result that didn’t involve Amgen.

High Gas Prices Aren't Budging—Here Are 3 Stocks That Benefit

Submitted by Nathan Reiff. Publication Date: 9/7/2026.

Despite the Trump administration's best efforts to tamp down gas prices amid the ongoing Iran war, prices at the pump have remained stubbornly elevated. While this may hurt investors as they drive their cars, it also presents an opportunity. Rather than simply buying oil producers, thoughtful investors may seek out stronger opportunities among refiners, fuel distributors, and even convenience store and gas station companies.

Companies like Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), HF Sinclair (NYSE: DINO), and CrossAmerica Partners LP (NYSE: CAPL) stand to profit from higher margins and strong fuel demand. Each provides access to a different niche, with a unique link to gasoline prices and other factors. This can help diversify a portfolio in case of turbulence in another corner of the market.

Phillips 66 Is a Diversified Refiner That Stands Apart

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Refining is a major earnings driver for oil and gas companies, particularly during periods of elevated fuel prices. Phillips 66 has a core refining business that is thriving—it helped drive an $8.5-billion revenue beat and a major earnings beat in Q2 2026—but it also benefits from midstream assets, a chemicals business, export infrastructure, and much more.

This diversification can enable Phillips 66 to smooth out its results amid industry turbulence, even as it continues to benefit from expanding gasoline and diesel margins.

Crack spreads across the refining industry are lingering above historical averages because of supply disruptions related to the Iran war and other factors. This means Phillips 66 and other refiners can generate better margins on each barrel they process, leading to billions in quarterly profits and helping refiners buy back shares in large quantities.

With its Gulf Coast footprint, Phillips 66 benefits from both domestic and export markets. The company may continue to benefit if gasoline prices remain elevated because of constrained refining capacity. Analysts see this potential, as two-thirds have called PSX shares a Buy, even as they caution that the share price may fall somewhat in the near term.

HF Sinclair Brings Leverage to the Calculation

HF Sinclair relies more heavily on refining operations, meaning profits may grow rapidly when crack spreads widen. This also makes the company particularly sensitive to refining margins.

While this can be a positive under the right conditions, it also means HF Sinclair is more susceptible to margin pressure, which can result in steep earnings declines.

Recently, this has worked out very well for HF Sinclair. The company generated 53% year-over-year (YOY) revenue growth in the latest quarter alone, made all the better by adjusted net income that roughly tripled over the same period.

Higher throughput and operational execution also helped drive these results, while the company rounded out its performance with contributions from renewables and its lubricants and specialty products businesses.

Shares of HF Sinclair are already up 130% year to date (YTD), prompting analysts to speculate that the firm may reset downward somewhat. However, if gasoline prices remain high, the company may be able to prolong this rally.

A Retail-Based Approach Provides Variety

For investors seeking a different approach entirely, CrossAmerica Partners provides access to a master limited partnership that owns and leases fuel distribution assets and convenience stores across the country.

Retail gasoline margins may function somewhat independently of wholesale prices, but when fuel demand remains high, it can lead to higher volumes for these companies, along with strong in-store sales and increased rental income.

Fuel distribution is in many ways a defensive business, owing to consumers' reliance on gasoline even when the economy slows. This could insulate CrossAmerica Partners compared with some of its rivals when gas demand and prices eventually decline again.

The Case for Gas-Price-Linked Stocks Remains Strong

All of these companies appear poised to do well as long as gasoline prices remain high, and there are plenty of reasons to expect that may be the case. Geopolitical risks remain deeply enmeshed in the industry's performance. Global refining capacity is still constrained. Diesel markets are tight, with inventories reaching low levels that are helping push refining margins upward.

To be sure, other companies in the oil and gas business may benefit from continued high prices. Pipeline and midstream firms, for instance, benefit when production volumes are high, even if they are less directly linked to gasoline prices. When it comes to gas-price-linked shares, however, the three companies above may be the best place for investors to start.