The Trading Post | 12.16.25

December 16, 2025

Good morning,

Markets are frozen ahead of a rare jobs-report double-header, the AI trade is losing its shine as money rotates out of Oracle and Broadcom, Tesla is ripping to yearly highs on driverless hype, iRobot officially swept itself into Chapter 11, and PayPal suddenly wants to cosplay as a real bank. Santa’s sleigh looks suspiciously like a volatility spike.

Want to follow a proven options system with a 70%+ win rate? Robert Roy's Power Option Plays delivers twice-weekly trade alerts with clear entry and exit plans. 

Let’s jump in.

Pre-Market Performance

As of 12.15.25 market close.

Market News

Jobs Report Double-Header at 8:30am ET: October and November payrolls drop at once, creating a rare volatility event that algos will happily overreact to. Consensus sits at a muted +40k jobs with unemployment at 4.4%, which usually means someone’s about to be very wrong. Yahoo Finance

• AI Trade Shows Cracks: Nasdaq futures lag as capital rotates out of crowded AI winners like Oracle and Broadcom. This isn’t an AI collapse — it’s classic profit rotation after everyone piled into the same trades. Fortune

• Tesla Pushes to Yearly Highs: TSLA continues ripping after headlines around expanded driverless testing in Austin, keeping momentum traders engaged while skeptics wait for gravity to reassert itself. CNBC

• iRobot Files for Chapter 11: The Roomba maker officially enters bankruptcy, highlighting just how unforgiving the consumer landscape has become for discretionary hardware brands. Reuters

• Volatility Hedging Picks Up: Options markets are seeing increased VIX call activity as traders quietly hedge ahead of jobs data today and CPI later this week. Volatility isn’t loud yet — but it’s lurking. Schwab

A Message From Wealth Builders HQ

Trade Options with Confidence Using a Proven System 

Power Option Plays (POP) isn't just another options alert service—it's a complete trading education wrapped around real-time trade opportunities. 

Here's what makes POP different: 

Rob Roy personally analyzes hundreds of stocks every week, selecting only the highest-probability setups based on his Fibonacci and moving average system. You get twice-weekly recorded trainings that walk you through exactly why each trade setup works, so you're learning the methodology while following along. 

Since its founding, POP has maintained an average success rate above 70%, generating millions in profit in simulated trading accounts. The system focuses on repeatable patterns using the same core stock candidates, which means you're building pattern recognition with every alert. 

What You Get: 

  • Biweekly recorded training videos breaking down current market setups 

  • Trade alerts with specific entry points, position sizing, and exit strategies 

  • A proven tracking system that shows you exactly when to scale in and out 

  • Quarterly live Q&A sessions ("Mastering The Trade") to refine your approach 

  • Access to Rob's complete watchlist with bias indicators (bullish, bearish, or neutral) 

Whether you're swing trading or day trading, POP teaches you how to fish while giving you the best fishing spots. You'll learn to identify your own setups using Rob's Fibonacci-based system while following his alerts on proven candidates. 

Ready to trade with a plan? Check out Power Option Plays and start building your options trading confidence with a system that actually works. 

Earnings We’re Watching

  • Lemar Corp. (LEN) - Tuesday (AMC) 

Trade Ideas

Amgen Inc (AMGN), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Arm Holding plc (ARM), Broadcom Inc (AVGC)

Caterpillar, Inc (CAT), CIGNA Corporation (CI), CME Group Inc (CME), Cencora Inc (COR)

First Solar Inc (FSLR), iShare Russell 2000 Index Fun (IWM), Centrus Energy Corp. (LEU), Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG)

Lowe’s Companies Inc (LOW), Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC), NRG Energy Inc (NRG), QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)

Roblox Corporation (RBLX), Roku Inc (ROKU), Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW), Snowflake Inc. Class A Common (SNOW)

Simon Property Group, Inc (SPG), S&P 500 Bull 3X (SPXL), Atlassian Corporation Plc (TEAM), Texas Roadhouse Inc (TXRH)

Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), Valero Energy Corporation (VLO), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporation (VRTX), Vistra Energy Corp (VST)

Want to learn how we trade these? Learn the setup we call the “High Volatility Switchback” trade.

Get these ideas delivered to your inbox daily with Trade With Rob. It’s 100% free. Sign up here.

Daily Moment of Zen

❝

Governments never learn. Only people learn.

Milton Friedman

Why It Matters:

Markets love to pretend governments are rational, adaptive, and forward-looking. They’re not. Policy is reactive, political, and usually shows up late to the party — right after the damage is done. Traders who wait for governments to “figure it out” end up trading headlines instead of price.

People, on the other hand, can learn. They learn when liquidity dries up, when stimulus fades, when rate cuts don’t save bad balance sheets, and when volatility shows up uninvited. The edge isn’t predicting what policymakers should do — it’s recognizing when the market has already stopped believing them.

Governments repeat mistakes. Traders who survive learn to adapt faster than policy can react.