Options Know-How: Texas Instruments, Deere

How much do you know about playing the stock market with options?

The following are highlighted options insights and ideas from TheStreet.com.

From Call Buyers Target January Despite Earnings Miss:

January calls in Texas Instruments (TXN Quote) are unusually active today [Oct. 21], despite the chipmaker falling to a five-year low on the back of an earnings miss and forecasted slump in sales of analog chips. January calls at the 20 strike have changed hands more than 20,000 times today, nearly four times the open interest at this strike. This suggests new positions are being entered as traders avail themselves of a 52% discount in the value of calls due to the sluggish share price action.

Read the full version of Call Buyers Target January Despite Earnings Miss (RealMoney access required).

From Dykstra: Owning October:

On Friday [Oct. 17], I [Lenny Dykstra] won twice, once with Deere (DE Quote) and the other with Halliburton (HAL Quote). I bought Deere March $30 calls (DECF). After only two days, I was ringing the register to the tune of $2,100. My win was more than $1,000 because the stock price fell rather quickly after my pick and I added 10 more contracts on Thursday, bringing my average cost down to $11.50. On Friday, the option shot up well past my goal of $12.50 and brought me home a winner.

With Halliburton, I took home the victory after only a few hours.

Read the full version of Dykstra: Owning October.

Editor's note: Lenny Dykstra will explain his deep-in-the-money call options at TheStreet.com Investment Conference on Saturday, Oct. 25. Limited seating. Act now.

Jud Pyle (Mad About Options, ONN.tv):

Manic Monday. The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX), commonly regarded as the "fear index," made major news Monday. The VIX lost nearly 25% of its closing value from Friday, dropping to 53.29!

Just last Thursday -- three trading days ago -- VIX 100 calls were changing hands at $1.50 per contract, with the VIX trading in the high 70s. In Monday's session, the October 45 and 50 puts were bustling with activity -- more than 35,000 contracts traded of the two combined.

Evidently, plenty of option traders think this volatility index has further to fall before Wednesday morning's settlement of these front-month options.

Mad About Options: Garmin Limited (Video, Oct. 21)

Jud Pyle and Matt Buckley review Jim Cramer's recent bearish comments about Garmin Ltd. (GRMN Quote) and offer an appropriate options strategy. Pyle and Buckley also offer options ideas for Key Energy (KEG Quote) and E-House Holdings (EJ Quote).

To watch the video, click the player below:

Plus, don't miss these other recent options videos on TheStreet.com TV: Mad About Options: GE Update (Oct. 20), Mad About Options: Philip Morris (Oct. 20) and Mad About Options: Home Depot Update (Oct. 17).

For more information about Mad About Options, visit www.ONN.tv.

For more on options, bookmark and visit TheStreet.com's Options/Futures page.