Ctrip.com Call Options In Play As Shares Move Higher
by Option Review - January 13th, 2012 1:32 pm
Today’s tickers: CTRP, MBLX & MFC
CTRP - Ctrip.com International, Ltd. – The travel service provider’s shares, which failed to join in on the stock market rally at the end of 2011 and beginning of the New Year, continue to buck the trend today, rallying 2.5% to $24.40, on a mostly down day for equities. Options activity in the front month suggests at least one strategist expects CTRP’s shares to extend gains in the near term. Shares in the provider of information on hotel reservations, airline tickets and packaged tours for business and leisure travelers in China tanked during the prior 12-month period, with the stock down more than 50.0% off the 52-week high of $50.57 set back in April. An upgrade of CTRP to ‘positive’ from ‘neutral’ with a 12-month target share price of $37.00 at Susquehanna may have helped spur bullish action in the options today. Volume is heaviest at the Jan. $26 strike where more than 2,800 calls changed hands against open interest of 620 contracts. The majority of the calls were purchased for an average premium of $0.29 each, implying potential profits for buyers if Ctrip.com’s shares rally another 7.75% to exceed the average breakeven price of $26.29 at expiration next week. The front month calls expire ahead of the Company’s fourth-quarter earnings release scheduled for February 13.
MBLX - Metabolix Inc. – Shares in Metabolix more than halved Friday on news Archer Daniels Midland Co. ended a joint venture with the plant-derived chemical producer. The already badly-bruised stock is now down more than 55.0% on the day at a record low of $2.65 as of 12:00 PM in New York. Put options on Metabolix are changing hands more than eight times for each single call option in…
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DiggOptions On MetroPCS Pop Post Earnings
by Option Review - August 2nd, 2011 1:43 pm
Today’s tickers: PCS, CTRP, PLL & TLM
PCS - MetroPCS Communications, Inc. – Shares in the wireless communications provider dropped like a rock this morning after the company’s profits for the second quarter came in below analyst estimates. MetroPCS shares surrendered 35.5% at times this morning to secure an intraday low of $10.44. The sharp correction in the price of the underlying spurred frenzied options trading in the front month. Investors engaged diverse strategies on the pay-as-you-go wireless operator, with some traders positioning for the price of the underlying to rebound and others betting bearish momentum has not yet run its course. Strategists expecting shares to recover somewhat ahead of expiration this month picked up more than 2,200 calls at the August $12 strike for an average premium of $0.30 a-pop. Call buyers profit if shares in PCS bounce 17.8% off its lowest point of the day to exceed the average breakeven price of $12.30 by August expiration. Like-minded optimists scooped up some 675 calls out at the September $13 strike for an average premium of $0.31 each. Meanwhile, bearish players purchased 1,400 puts at the August $11 strike at an average premium of $0.51 apiece, and picked up another 300 puts at the lower August $10 strike for an average premium of $0.19 per contract. Investors long the puts profit in the event that shares in PCS edge beneath the average breakeven prices of $10.49 and $9.81 by expiration, respectively. Finally, pre-earnings put buyers have a lot to smile about today. It looks like investors purchased around 4,000 puts at the August $14 strike for an average premium of $0.24 each on Monday. Securing the right to sell MetroPCS shares at $14.00 each today costs $3.20 per put option. In other words, the value of those put positions increased more than 13-fold overnight.…
Value of Large Temple-Inland Call Spread Pops Post-IP Takeover Attempt
by Option Review - June 7th, 2011 4:10 pm
Today’s tickers: TIN, CA, CTRP & VPRT
TIN - Temple-Inland, Inc. – Just under two weeks ago we made note of a sizable bullish transaction on Temple-Inland in which one strategist purchased a call spread in the January 2012 contract to position for a huge rally in shares of the corrugated packaging producer by expiration. As it turns out, the run-up in the price of the underlying stock arrived far sooner than predicted by the spread, with shares soaring 42.6% at the start of today’s session to an intraday- and multi-year high $29.97 following a hostile $3.31 billion takeover offer from International Paper Co. The bullish investor paid a net premium of $1.10 per contract back on May 25 – when shares in TIN were trading around $22.81 – for the 6,425-lot Jan. 2012 $25/$30 call spread. Call open interest at these strikes indicates the trader is still holding on to the position. To purchase the same Jan. 2012 $25/$30 call spread in the aftermath of the takeover bid, one would need to shell out a net premium of $3.70 per contract at present, which is $2.60 per contract more than the investor paid less than two weeks prior. Meanwhile, options traders taking to Temple-Inland today are focusing their attention on nearer-term contracts. Frenzied put selling is taking place at the June $29 strike where it looks like at least 6,500 puts sold for an average premium of $0.17 each. Traders short the puts keep the full amount of premium received on the transaction as long as shares in TIN exceed $29.00 through June expiration. Approximately 9,100 puts appear to have changed hands at that strike against zero open positions as of 11:45am in New York. Temple-Inland’s overall reading of options implied volatility is currently 32.8% lower to arrive at 23.76%.…
Buy-Write Strategist Sinks Teeth into Apple Call Options
by Option Review - July 6th, 2010 5:19 pm
Today’s tickers: AAPL, AUXL, CSX, CTRP, SNDK, CPB & SLV
AAPL – Apple, Inc. – Options investors fluttered about the iPhone maker today populating the stock with various trading strategies and exchanged more than 234,000 contracts on the stock by 3:40 pm (ET). Apple’s shares are up 0.40% to stand at $247.95 with the final bell set to ring in approximately 15 minutes, but earlier in the session the stock rallied as much as 2.37% to touch an intraday high of $252.80. One strategist expecting the price of the underlying stock to increase sharply ahead of July 16 expiration day initiated a buy-write transaction today. It looks like the investor sold roughly 1,300 calls at the July $280 strike for an average premium of $6.00 apiece and simultaneously purchased Apple shares at an average price of $251.90 each. The premium received for writing the call options effectively reduces the average price paid to purchase shares of the underlying stock to $245.90 apiece. Thus, the covered call strategy positions the investor to walk away with maximum gains of 13.87% should Apple’s shares trade above $280.00 at expiration. Shares of the iPad manufacturer have not exceeded $279.01 in the past 52-weeks. But, the bullish player certainly reduced the cost of getting long Apple shares and is positioned to benefit nicely from upward momentum in the price of the underlying stock whether or not shares are called from him at expiration day in July.
AUXL – Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares of the specialty biopharmaceutical company fell as much as 6.85% during the trading session to attain a new 52-week low of $19.99. AUXL’s shares declined following a downgrade to ‘perform’ from ‘outperform’ at Oppenheimer this morning, and are currently down 4.3% to close the trading day at $20.54. The decline in Auxilium’s shares today inspired one options investor to purchase a plain-vanilla debit put spread on the stock. The trader purchased 2,000 now deep in-the-money puts at the July $22.5 strike for a premium of $2.85 apiece, spread against the sale of the same number of puts at the lower July $20 strike for a premium of $1.20 each. The net cost of the transaction amounts to $1.65 per contract, thus positioning the bearish player to accrue maximum potential profits of $0.85 per contract if shares of the underlying stock trade below $20.00 by July expiration day.
CSX – CSX Corp. –…
Gold Bull Buys Butterfly Spread
by Option Review - May 12th, 2010 4:24 pm
Today’s tickers: GLD, AA, KR, AMD, HAL, LOW, CTRP, STR & LPX
GLD – SPDR Gold Trust ETF – Gilded butterfly wings unfurled in the July contract on the GLD, an exchange-traded fund designed to mirror the performance of the price of gold bullion, in afternoon trading with shares of the underlying fund flying 1.30% higher at a new 52-week high of $122.24. Options investors exchanged more than 478,100 contracts on the gold fund as of 3:35 pm (ET). Overall, trading action on the GLD was dominated by bullish players tossing around more than 2 call options to each single put option in play today. One bullish individual expecting the price of gold bullion to continue to appreciate in the next few months purchased a call butterfly spread in the July contract. The investor picked up 6,500 calls at the July $123 strike for an average premium of $4.40 each [wing 1], in combination with the purchase of 6,500 calls at the higher July $143 strike for $0.63 apiece [wing 2]. The third leg of the trade centered at the July $133 strike where 13,000 calls were sold for a premium of $1.59 a-pop [body]. The net cost of the spread amounts to $1.85 per contract and represents maximum loss potential assumed by the investor responsible for the transaction. Shares of the GLD must rally at least 2.15% over the new 52-week high of $122.24 before the investor starts to make money above the effective breakeven price of $124.85. Maximum potential profits of $8.15 per contract are available to the trader should shares of the underlying fund surge 8.80% to settle at $133.00 by July expiration. The spread is a very efficient way for this individual to take a bullish stance because the potential rewards are 4.4 times greater than potential losses.
AA – Alcoa, Inc. – The sale of a large chunk of June contract call options may be the work of an optimistic investor initiating a covered call on the stock. The aluminum maker’s shares are currently up 2.80% to $12.47 with 10 minutes remaining the session. It looks like one investor sold 19,000 calls at the June $13 strike for a premium of $0.42 apiece at around 1:06:16 pm (ET) when shares of the underlying stock were trading at $12.45 each. If the calls were sold in combination with the purchase of 1.9 million shares of stock –…
Bullish Ddollar Index ETF Intrigues Once Again
by Option Review - November 12th, 2009 4:14 pm
Today’s tickers: UUP, VIX, FSLR, HMY, M, GMCR, CTRP & DOW
UUP – PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund – A pair of bullish risk reversals on the PowerShares US Dollar Bullish Fund suggests today’s sharp rally for the dollar will likely continue over the next several months. We observed massive bullish plays on the UUP over the past couple of weeks, some tied to machinations of whether or not the fund had enough shares in circulation. But today’s activity predicts far more extreme movements in the price of the dollar index. The UUP is current up 1.4% to $22.80, while the dollar index, which it supposedly tracks, is up just 0.7%. Investors sold 4,700 deep in-the-money put options at the December 29 strike for an average premium of 6.30 apiece, spread against the purchase of 4,700 calls at the same strike for one nickel each. The high-delta put options hold very little extrinsic value because expiration is just over one month away. Thus, investors are expecting the intrinsic value of the puts to decline. The only way this will occur is if the dollar rallies forcing the UUP to increase. If traders’ bullish predictions are correct, the value of the long calls will appreciate, while premium on the short puts erodes. Such a scenario allows investors to profit by buying back the puts for less than the 6.25 net premium received on the reversal. A similar uber-bullish strategy was employed at the January 2010 28 strike price where investors sold 4,250 deep-in-the-money puts short for about 5.30 each, and purchased the same number of calls for 5 cents apiece.
VIX – CBOE Vix index – With the equity market down and the dollar on the rise, investors across different asset classes today appear to be blaming one another for prevailing direction. No one seems to know why anything is moving in the fashion it is. The suggestion of course is that risk appetite is on the demise and fear is picking up. Compounding such indecision in the volatility class are trades suggesting ongoing disparate views on the fortunes for equities going forward. The so-called fear gauge is 5% higher at 24.90 today while trading has been two way. In the November options one investor loaded up on 25,000 call options at a 25 cent premium suggesting that the index will be above 25 when options expire next Tuesday. The…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
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