September 9, 2026
AAPL enters its biggest launch day in a decade
At 1pm ET today, John Ternus walks onto the Apple Park stage for the first time as CEO. Behind him sits a product lineup that includes the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and what last-minute leaks are calling the iPhone Ultra, Apple’s first foldable, equipped with two screens and an internal 7.8-inch display that opens like a book. For the options market, none of that is news. The market’s job today is deciding whether the gap between what was already known and what Ternus actually says is wide enough to matter.
He Doesn’t Buy Gold. He “Skims” It.
A former hedge fund manager ranked in the top 1% by Barron’s has developed a three-step strategy to profit from gold – without buying a single ounce.
His followers have had the chance to collect $2,975… $3,781… and even $6,786 at a time. With a 73% win rate.
He calls it “Gold Skimming.” And he’s just revealed the full strategy for the first time.
Apple’s most recent quarter delivered revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16% year over year, with EPS of $2.02. On the earnings call, management guided September-quarter revenue growth of 9% to 11% year over year, citing supply constraints and a roughly 2.5 percentage point foreign-exchange headwind, with gross margins projected at 47% to 48% as higher memory costs pressure profitability. That guidance gap is the live risk heading into pre-order weekend.
The Foldable Price Problem
TrendForce estimates a starting price of $2,099 to $2,299 for the foldable, with top-end configurations potentially exceeding $3,000. Early in development, Apple reportedly targeted $1,999, hoping to stay under the potentially controversial $2,000 barrier and replicate the debut of the iPhone X in 2017. Amid the global memory shortage, Apple is said to have recently discussed pricing the foldable at $2,199. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects roughly 0.5 to 1 million foldables to be assembled in the September quarter, against 20 to 22 million iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max units.
That supply constraint matters more than the form factor. The foldable’s first-run supply is widely reported to be limited, capping the near-term revenue impact even if demand exceeds expectations. TrendForce expects Apple to absorb part of the memory cost increase to protect shipment volumes rather than pass through the full price. The market is trading that margin squeeze in real time.
The Most Radical Transformation of Money in Modern History
If your money lives inside one bank, pay close attention. On December 1st, 2025, a Congressional committee published a report that documented at least 30 companies and individuals who lost their bank accounts between 2022-2024.
A government digital currency would make banks’ abilities to freeze accounts instant and automatic.
FedNow, created by the Federal Reserve, has been installed into over 1,500 banks already.
The rails for a digital dollar could already be live. But a parallel system already exists where no bank, no government, can freeze you, allowing you to opt out of any government control… or potential Digital Dollar.
Click here to learn more about the parallel system many of the elites are already using >>>
The Stock’s Track Record on Launch Day
Markets do not need a bad product. They only need a product they already priced in. The 2023 Wonderlust event saw AAPL fall about 1.76% on the day. The WWDC 2026 keynote in June followed the same script: the stock hit a fresh intraday high during the event, then reversed into the close. Ternus inherits a stock that has already pulled back roughly 8% from its July 29 high of $344.57. There will be no standard iPhone 18 this year, with Apple waiting until spring 2027 to launch the more affordable models, removing a meaningful demand layer from this cycle’s unit math.
Options Market: What Is Priced In
AAPL’s 30-day implied volatility sits around 25, against a 52-week range of 18 to 33, placing implied volatility in the upper half of its annual range. Elevated, but not extreme, consistent with a known binary event rather than an unscheduled shock. The options market is pricing roughly a 3% to 4% move into the September 18 expiration.
This is not an earnings event. A product event carries no guaranteed IV crush afterward. If the foldable reveal disappoints, the market can keep selling. If it exceeds expectations, the rally may be muted by pre-existing supply concerns. Both scenarios are structurally live.
Sub–$1 Copper-Gold Explorer Has Major-Company-Funded Drilling
Copper is at record highs. Gold just blasted to $5K. Yet one little-known Australia-focused copper-gold explorer still trades below $1 as it advances multiple projects across two premier mineral belts. Most importantly, drills are turning – with one of the world’s largest gold producers funding the work. Add a deep treasury, tight share structure, pending drill results, and potential new deals, and this under-the-radar small-cap has all the right ingredients for a major breakout.
Defined-Risk Framework
Bull case: For traders expecting a strong reveal and a positive foldable demand signal, a defined-risk call spread expiring September 12 captures directional exposure while capping premium cost in an elevated-IV environment. The asymmetry favors a spread over an outright call at current volatility levels. A structure centered around the $320 to $330 band aligns with where open interest is concentrated.
Bear case: If you believe the price point on the iPhone Ultra ($2,099 to $2,299 base) disappoints pre-order demand, or if guidance language on September-quarter margins adds to the existing compression concern, a defined-risk put spread in the $310 to $300 range captures the downside. Qualcomm supplies modem and connectivity silicon in some iPhone configurations; Foxconn assembles key iPhone models, and hinge complexity in a foldable design can add manufacturing risk that influences early supply. Both names face correlated exposure.
Neutral case: If you believe IV compresses without a directional resolution, a short strangle bounded by defined-risk wings captures theta decay while the market digests a known event with known specs. Position sizing is the control variable.
Risk Checklist
- Confirm IV rank before entry: 25 on a 52-week range of 18 to 33 is not cheap premium to buy outright.
- Pre-orders are expected to begin Friday, September 11 or possibly Saturday, September 12, with devices arriving September 19. Weekend pre-order data, not today’s keynote, will be the cleaner signal for unit demand.
- Apple guided roughly 9% to 11% revenue growth and gross margins near 48% for the September quarter, citing memory pricing as a primary constraint. Any comment from Ternus on cost absorption widens the range.
- A structure that expires September 12 captures the event and the first 24 hours of pre-order data without carrying excess duration through the following week.
