QURE just went vertical. Biotech catalysts could be next.
Mornings like Wednesday are exactly why I wake up and do this play every day the market is open.
Unicure Nevada (Q) It opened around $43. It reached $48.88 during the day. It closed at a high of $47. Previous close: $26.99. Gains 81%, overnight.
Read that last number again. This stock almost doubled in one session.
Now, I can just say “what a move” and move on with my day. But that’s not what I do, and that’s not why you’re reading this. Here I want to share with you exactly what happened, why it happened, and – most importantly – why I actually traded it eight days before the rest of the market noticed.
Once we finish how it all comes together, I want to show you where the next one of these surprising discoveries could be hiding, because QURE is not an isolated incident. There are a host of biotech catalysts lurking out of sight of the headlines and I want them to be on your radar before they hit the tape.
From regulatory oblivion to Wall Street’s Darling Biotech Catalyst stock
To understand the story, I want to start with the company that is at the center of everything.
QURE is a Dutch-American gene therapy company currently focused on advanced treatment for Huntington’s disease.
If you’ve never heard of Huntington’s disease, consider yourself lucky. It is a rare, brutal, and inherited neurodegenerative condition that tends to take hold in adulthood and gradually erodes movement, mood, and cognition over time.
As of this moment, there are no approved treatments that slow the progression of the disease. zero. Not “limited options”. zero.
For months, investors assumed that UniCure faced a long and uncertain road ahead after the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) indicated that QURE’s new treatment AMT-130 may not have enough data to support approval.
So, come Wednesday morning when the FDA reversed course and said that same data was now acceptable to provide accelerated approval, that’s the kind of hit that could turn a stock left for dead into the best-performing biotech of the year in a single morning, triggering a 77% green candle drop on the chart.
My options scanner gave us advanced notice
This stock has been on a roller coaster ride since last fall, and it’s worth pausing for a second, because the ride is half the reason Wednesday hit as hard as it did.
At the beginning of March, the FDA appeared to have permanently closed the door on AMT-130 and required a larger randomized study. Stock prices fell from $25 to just $9 due to the news.
Over the next eight weeks, the price will recover as news of the leadership changes at the FDA reaches stocks. As a result, speculators flocked to the options chain, where it caught our attention Advanced notice The options scanner started flagging unusual buys of calls at strikes well above where the stock actually traded.
This activity was not a one-time trade or a wave of retail enthusiasm. Buyers kept showing up week after week, as truckloads steadily piled up long before the FDA signaled it might soften its stance. This was like deep-pocketed institutions quietly positioning themselves for a potential game-changing catalyst.
The call I made on June 9th
This is where I want you to focus, because this is the part that actually matters for your wallet, not just your curiosity…
on June 9, during Masters in Trading Live broadcastWith a QURE of approximately $26, I marked a trade. A multi-million dollar options order hit the tape during the strikes of October 33 and 43. No guesses. There are no subjective chart patterns. Undeniably real trades with institutional size and conviction, the kind of orders that wouldn’t come from someone “trying their luck.”
So I did my due diligence: I checked for deviation. The deviation was screaming. Calls roughly $10 above the stock traded at a steep premium to puts the same distance below. translation? Someone with a lot of capital thought this stock was going up, and they were willing to pay up to express it.
I laid out the trade clearly: buy the October 33 calls, and sell the October 43 calls for approximately $3 in total premium. Vertical spread. Specific risks, asymmetric rewards, based directly on where the smart money has already been placed.
QURE peaked just above $48 on Wednesday, and both strikes — the 33 and 43 — are deep in the money causing the spread to nearly double in just one week. If it remains above those strikes despite the October expiration, this spread will close at its maximum value of $10.
How to spot smart money in front of the public
The reason I was able to identify QURE before the FDA announcement was not because I had a crystal ball. It wasn’t because I knew someone at the agency. And it certainly wasn’t luck.
That’s because I’ve spent decades developing a repeatable process for reading options flow, identifying triggers, managing risk, and putting the odds on my side.
In fact, this is exactly what I am teaching within myself Masters in challenging options trading.
Over the course of one week, I walk traders through the same framework I use every day: how to spot unusual options activity, how to structure trades with specific risks, how to think in segments, and how to separate meaningful signals from market noise.
QURE is a great example of what is possible when these pieces come together. The goal is not to chase yesterday’s winner. The goal is to build the skills needed to recognize the next opportunity before everyone else is talking about it.
If you would like to join us, you can learn more about Masters in Business Challenge here.
Biotech catalyst stocks move differently
Biotech companies are not moving like the rest of the market. They don’t care what the Fed or the broader bar says.
They move on binary, dated triggers — FDA meetings, PDUFA dates, trial readouts — and in the days and weeks leading up to those events, people who know something tend to leave fingerprints in the options market. Unusual size. Misaligned pricing. This is what happened with QURE.
This is the whole basis of what I call the biotech catalyst board: look for names with a calendar-dated catalyst, read what the options market is telling you about the trend, properly size your risk, and let the gap do the work for you when it comes.
Full board: 5 nouns, 5 triggers
QURE is today’s headline, but it’s not the only name on my board, and frankly, it’s not even the name I was excited about when I first compiled this list. Here’s the full lineup, guys, and why each one earned their spot.
Silkweety Company (Save) – Smart money darling
Gedatolisib has an FDA decision due July 17 for PIK3CA wild-type breast cancer, and this is a perfect lesson in reading beyond the headline. The drug worked, the risk of infection was reduced by 50% compared to the comparison drug, it is statistically completely clean, and it reaches its primary endpoint. The stock is still crushed. Why? Expectation Gap, Not Drug Failure Progression-free survival numbers came in close to an earlier reading for Phase 1b, but slightly lower, and the market punished failure rather than taking credit for the win. Here’s what told me not to panic: Baker Bros., Perceptive, Avuro, and Soleus — the funds that actually understand this pathology — all stayed put throughout the entire withdrawal process. The FDA mechanism also remains fully intact, and both Breakthrough Therapy and Priority Review remain active. The only thing I’m seeing after approval is a $400 million increase in debt – that’s a business question, not a regulatory question.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company (ions) – the name of the double catalyst
I called this my favorite when I first put this palette together, and I’ll tell you why again: two separate, dated triggers instead of one. Olezarsen has an FDA decision due June 30 for triglyceride lowering, and then there is a second PDUFA decision behind it in September for zilganersen. Citi is a top pick with a price target of $115. This is the bull case, as clean as possible. But I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t point out a wrinkle that has emerged since then: Insiders have been net sellers worth roughly $57.8m over the last three months. It doesn’t kill the thesis. This means I’m watching the tape a little closer than I was the first time you mentioned that name.
Celdex Therapeutics Inc. (Cladex) – the smart money pile
The phase 3 data for Barzolvolimab in chronic spontaneous urticaria won’t come out until the fourth quarter of next year, and the last time I looked at this I told you straight up — I like the ownership of the fund, I don’t like the price of the options right now. This is still true. Wellington, Deep Track and Commodore are all grouped in this name, with Wellington alone holding double-digit position. There’s a $300 million raise behind them, and phase 2 readouts of the nodule are coming this summer which will serve as a preview before the real phase 3 event. The setting is good. Volatility is still high enough that I haven’t paid the premium yet – this is a name to keep on a watchlist, not chase October prices in June.
Traver Therapeutics Inc. (TVTX) – the person who has already won
I got over this quickly the first time because the catalyst was already in the rearview – FILSPARI got FSGS approval back in April. That’s nothing, it’s a stock that’s already gapped. The story now is very different: it’s commercial execution and, increasingly, the dining-out conversation. Citi and JPMorgan both rated Overweight. If you’re looking for the next regulatory fireworks, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a name where the hard part behind it is the question of how well they will sell the drug, or who will eventually buy the company, this is the name to watch.
Replimony Group Company (Reply) – return child
Love this indicator guys, I said it the first time and I’ll say it again. The resubmission of the BLA for RP1 followed the second full response letter, and the FDA joined the company on the path forward on May 29. This stock jumps and reopens at entirely new levels – it’s an options trader’s name, plain and simple, which is exactly why I traded it with the call spread instead of straight stocks. Baker Bros entered the mode, RTW rose nearly 9% on its positions, while Tang Capital gained as much as 125%. This is also the least convincing name I have on the board, and I want to be honest about that – measure this name like the binary outcome it actually is, because the chatter around it quickly shrinks when you don’t get your way.
Five names and five different stages of the same preparation that just paid off on QURE.
Follow the money. Respect history.
Using the same set of tools – skew, smart money flow, stimulating calendar – and asking a new question about them every day is how we stay creative as traders.
The creative trader wins.
note, Joe Austin has spent four decades looking for opportunities where the narrative of Wall Street deviates from reality. As a former hedge fund analyst, technology researcher, and portfolio manager overseeing billions in assets, he has built his career on discovering what the public is missing.
Now he’s teamed up with Wall Street veteran Mark Chaikin to unveil a new AI-powered tool designed to identify potential market winners before they become obvious to everyone.
