Apple Is Now Dead Money - SELL!

How the WWDC Snoozefest Proved It’s Time to Cut the Mag 7 Down to Six

They used to camp out overnight.

I mean real tents. Sleeping bags. Folding chairs. Just to be first in line for whatever Apple was launching.

Now?

You could drive a Zamboni through the crowd outside Apple Park and not bump into anybody.

WWDC used to move markets. Back in 2010, Steve Jobs unveiled FaceTime and the iPhone 4 — shares popped nearly 3% in a week. That kind of move mattered.

Now it barely moves hearts.

Yesterday marked the third year in a row Apple dropped its big "look-at-me" event... and the market barely blinked.

No buzz. No bump. No boom.

And if you watched it, you know why.

Apple isn’t leading anymore. It’s playing catch-up.

They teased their new Glass UI like it was the second coming of Christ... but it looked like something a bored intern mocked up in Figma over lunch.

They rolled out "Genmoji," a gimmick so desperate it makes Bitmoji look cutting edge.

Group message backgrounds? A calendar app update? That was their big AI push?

It felt less like a tech event and more like watching your grandpa explain TikTok.

The Trade Nobody Wanted to Hear

Back on July 18, 2023, I made a call.

"Sell your Apple shares, now."

It was a contrarian call in a euphoric moment. Wall Street was pounding the table.

Apple was the crown jewel of every portfolio. The idea of bailing? Sacrilege.

Shares had just hit an all-time high. $202. The media was giddy. Retail was piling in.

But something didn’t sit right.

I watched the influencer crowd turn. The Apple fanboys weren’t celebrating. They were sighing.

They were tired of defending a company that hadn't shipped anything new in years.

They just didn’t want to say it out loud.

So I said it for them.

The hate rolled in.

"You're an idiot."

"Have fun being poor."

"You don't understand innovation."

Well... here we are.

Almost a two full years later and the stock closed yesterday at $202.67.

Weekly Chart of Apple

Flat. Dead money.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up 34%.

If you held Apple while everything else ripped... you missed it.

When Giants Get Lazy

Here’s what’s really happening:

Apple is trying to be everything to everyone.

They are shoving apps into your phone like clowns into a circus car.

Mail. Maps. Calendar. Health. Wallet.

Now they are chasing ChatGPT with something called "Apple Intelligence" that is just Siri with a wig on.

Meanwhile, their big swing last year—the Vision Pro headset—flopped harder than a fat boy off a high dive.

Nobody bought it.

And nobody wants to say it, but I will: it’s failing.

Apple's lost the script.

They need to cut the fat. Focus on what made them great. And stop pretending they can fake their way into an AI war that's already left them behind.

This isn’t 2007. They’re not hungry. They’re full. And it shows.

The Setup Right Now

We have been watching the flow.

And it’s ugly.

Options order flow is showing churn. No conviction. Equity order books look soft.

Apple’s not a high-conviction short. It won’t crash. But it will underperform.

If you’re holding Apple inside a "Magnificent 7" basket?

Cut it.

This is how professionals make money from dead money stocks.

Make it the Mag 6 and short Apple.

There are better horses to bet on in this race.

Another smart trade?

Sell a call spread and a put spread. That means selling both bullish and bearish option spreads — collecting premium from both sides, expecting shares to drift without making a big move either way.

This is a classic "dead money" setup. That means premium sellers eat while everyone else waits.

Shares will likely churn sideways or drift lower. That’s where we get paid.

You don’t need a moonshot to win here. You just need to not be stuck holding the bag.

This is the turning point for Apple. Don’t get left holding the bag.

Apple is not the stock of the future anymore.

And this WWDC may go down as the moment the market finally woke up to it.

Watch this trend.

Trade smart. Until tomorrow,

Josh Belanger