The stock market rally can keep going despite Friday's pullback. How to stay long while hedging slightly

The S & P 500 celebrated its 18 th new all-time for 2026 and its remarkable seventh record thus far in the month of May. This nearly 20% parabolic rally has pushed all three major U.S. stock indexes firmly into the green, with the S & P 500 and Nasdaq closing at fresh record levels. RSI (relative strength index) levels in State Street SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) have signaled overbought conditions in recent weeks and this morning's profit taking makes sense. However, I believe the rally has more room to run and I want to produce some income with an attempt to capture this spike in volatility (VIX +6%) by using options. .SPX YTD mountain SPX year to date The S & P 500 has endured a tremendous snapback from the end of the March selloff (10% correction in March) to this week's achievement of momentarily vaulting 7,500. FOMO and investors who flinched in March have been a significant input of this one-way and dominating trade for equity bulls. Emotions have been driving the market for sure, but earnings have been the undercurrent as investors witnessed a historic quarter of growth and corporate profitability, YoY growth of 27% for the S & P 500 in Q1. For context, the 10-year average for the S & P 500's year-on-year growth sits at 8.6%. We are currently in a "Foundry Renaissance" where semis (led by my Essential 40 ETF (ESN) 's top holding of 2026, Intel ) are growing at 95% and the "Magnificent Seven" is expanding at 60%. …