Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares have a 21.7% year-to-date advantage, but they are already down 6.5% at 2024. The stock is on track for its third consecutive daily decline today, last falling 0.2% to $180.76, and recently dipped back below its usual pressure level of $166. AAPL hit a record high of $199.62 on Dec. 14 and thanks to a historically bullish trendline, may soon reach a new peak.

Apple stock is within one standard deviation of its 260-day moving average. According to Schaeffer’s Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, the stock has given similar signals three times in the past three years, defined for this study as trading north of that trendline 80% of the time in the past two months and on eight of the past 10 trading days.

Just one month after 67% of those instances, the security is up, up an average of 11.8%. A comparable move from its current position would take AAPL to a new all-time high of $202.08.

Now seems like a good time to speculate on options, which are also affordable. The 19% Schaeffer Volatility Index (SVI) of Apple stock is higher than the 19% performance over the past 12 months, which is relatively low.