XLF Options Active After Buffett’s Thumbs-Up On BofA
by Option Review - August 25th, 2011 2:20 pm
Today’s tickers: XLF, LIZ, MRK & PSS
XLF - Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF – The financials ETF popped Thursday morning on news Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought $5 billion worth of cumulative perpetual preferred stock in beleaguered U.S. lender, Bank of America Corp. The XLF’s morning rally gave way to losses in early-afternoon trade as heavy selling in Germany and soaring yields on Euro-area sovereign debt reminded markets that the crisis overseas may worsen. Shares in the XLF stand 0.50% lower on the session at $12.64, erasing earlier gains of as much as 4.95% to $13.33. Nearly 430,000 option contracts have changed hands on the Financial SPDR, with traders favoring puts over calls roughly 1.8 times to 1. Much of the heavy options volume resides in contracts expiring in the next few months, but longer-dated contracts attracted sizable interest, as well. Fresh positioning in the March 2012 $13 strike call and put options suggests some strategists expect shares in the fund to stagnate. Traders appear to have sold roughly 20,000 of the March 2012 $13 strike straddle to pocket average gross premium of $2.98 per contract. Straddle-sellers may be taking advantage of inflated levels of options implied volatility on the fund, which currently stands well above historical, as well as the time-rich premium built into the price of both the calls and the puts. Investors selling the straddle benefit from the roughly .07 of a penny daily decline in the value of the position, according to the roughly -.0035 reading of Theta on both the calls and the puts. Additionally, subsiding levels of implied volatility may lower the cost of buying back the straddle at some point ahead of expiration. In seven months time, when March expiration rolls around, traders walk away with the full amount of premium received on the straddle as long as shares in the XLF settle at $13.00.…
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DiggOptions Point To Ugly 2011 Finale For JPMorgan
by Option Review - August 22nd, 2011 3:00 pm
Today’s tickers: JPM, BMC, LNCR & PSS
JPM - JPMorgan Chase & Co. – Put butterfly spreads on JPMorgan suggest shares in the banking institution may end the year substantially lower than their current level. The stock fell as much as 2.4% during the first half of the trading session to secure a new 52-week low of $33.54, but some options players appear to be positioning for the stock to drop another 31.0% before the end of 2011. Weekly options covering JPM are also gloomy, with traders selling calls at the August $35, $36 and $37 strikes ahead of expiration and Ben Bernanke’s speech on Friday. Investors dabbling in deep out-of-the-money put options expiring in December may be employing put butterfly spreads to either reduce the cost of taking an outright bearish stance on JPM, or to hedge positions in the underlying shares should the stock continue to slide in the months to come. It looks like investors picked up 4,709 puts at the December $28 strike for a premium of $1.59 each, sold 9,418 puts at the December $23 strike for a premium of $0.82 per contract, and purchased 4,709 puts at the December $18 strike at a premium of $0.44 apiece. The spreads cost an average net premium of $0.39 per contract. Bears buying butterfly spreads stand prepared to profit should JPM’s shares plunge 17.7% to breach the upper breakeven point at $27.61 by December expiration. Maximum potential profits of $4.61 per contract are available on the strategy in the event that JPMorgan’s shares surrender 31.4% of their value to settle at $23.00 at expiration in a few months. Shares in the financial services provider last traded around $23.00 back in March 2009. The stock has already lost roughly 31.0% since reaching its 2011 peak of $48.36 in February.
BMC - BMC Software, Inc. – Software vendor, BMC Software, popped up on our scanners today due to greater-than-usual activity in its put options. Shares in the Houston, TX-based company are up 0.95% to stand…
Earnings Beat Spurs Lively Trade In Schlumberger Options
by Option Review - July 22nd, 2011 3:45 pm
Today’s tickers: SLB, BSX, PSS & IFF
SLB - Schlumberger Ltd. – Shares in the world’s largest oilfield-services provider shot up 3.6% to $94.28 today after the company revealed better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. Schlumberger said profits in the quarter increased 64% on rising crude prices, which spurred more onshore drilling on U.S. soil. Options traders appear to be employing numerous strategies on the stock, from profit-taking to fresh bullish positioning, across several expiries. Trading traffic is heaviest in the front month, where at least one investor likely raked in substantial profits post-earnings report. It looks like the trader originally purchased a 2,500-lot August $87.5/$92.5 call spread at a net cost of $2.30 per contract on Wednesday when SLB shares were trading around $88.48. The sharp rally in the price of the underlying in the past couple of days sent call premium skyward, and it looks like the investor sold the spread today at a net $3.63 per contract. Matching up net premium paid initially against that received today yields net profits of $1.33 per contract or around $332,500 in just a few days. Meanwhile, an investor betting on continued gains in shares of Schlumberger through September expiration appears to have enacted a three-legged ratio spread on the stock. The trader sold 1,000 puts at the September $85 strike for a premium of $1.32 each, purchased 1,000 in-the-money calls at the September $92.5 strike at a premium of $4.75 apiece, and sold 2,000 calls up at the September $100 strike for a premium of $1.56 a-pop. The transaction cost a net $0.31 per contract and makes the most money for the trader if shares in SLB jump more than 6.0% to settle at $100.00 at September expiration. Options implied volatility on SLB is down 13.9% to arrive at 25.88% in early-afternoon trade.…
Straddle-Seller Sees Range-Bound Shares for Avanir Pharmaceuticals
by Option Review - September 3rd, 2010 5:09 pm
Today’s tickers: AVNR, S, ORCL, TSN, PSS, XRT & BX
AVNR – Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares of the pharmaceuticals firm fell as much as 9.6% this afternoon to an intraday low of $2.64 on news the company filed for a mixed shelf offering for up to $75 million. Options volume on the stock surged late in the session after one strategist sold a straddle in the December contract. The short straddle suggests the trader expects AVNR’s shares to trade within a specified range through expiration day in the final month of the year. The investor sold approximately 8,440 puts at the December $2.5 strike and sold 8,440 calls at the same strike to take in gross premium of $2.025 per contract. The straddle-seller retains the full amount of premium received if Avanir’s shares settle at $2.50 at expiration. However, the short stance taken in both call and put options expose him to losses should shares shift significantly in either direction away with from the strike price selected. Losses are certainly limited to the downside because shares cannot fall below $0.00. Thus, the investor faces maximum potential losses of $0.475 per contract in the event that Avanir’s shares are worthless at expiration. Losses could be more painful if AVNR shares suddenly fly upward. Shares would need to jump 71.4% to shatter the current 52-week high on the stock of $3.72 in order for losses to start to accumulate for the trader above the effective breakeven price to the upside at $4.525 by expiration. The strategy seems to indicate that the investor does not see AVNR shares collapsing to $0.00, but also suggests shares are not likely rally substantially any time soon.
S – Sprint Nextel Corp. – The wireless and wireline telecommunications company was one of the 10 most actively traded stocks on the New York Stock Exchange as of 1:00 pm ET this afternoon, and was also one of the most actively traded in terms of options volume today. Sprint’s shares earlier rallied 2.30% to record an intraday high of $4.44, but are currently up a lesser 1.15% at $4.39 as of 2:30 pm ET. Shares were perhaps higher on reports out this morning that suggested Sprint is currently looking at a possible November release date for Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet, which is a device aimed at rivaling Apple’s iPad. The vast majority of contracts exchanged on Sprint Nextel Corp.…
Gold Bulls and Bears Place Bets on Bullion
by Option Review - December 3rd, 2009 4:12 pm
Today’s tickers: GLD, MTG, ACN, BAC, HUN, PSS, ARO, HUN, APWR & FDO
GLD – SPDR Gold Trust ETF – Surprise, surprise…shares of the gold exchange-traded fund reached another record high by climbing up to $119.42 today. We observed one investor initiate a contrarian play in the January 2010 contract. The trader established a bearish risk reversal by selling 4,000 calls at the January 120 strike for 3.65 apiece, spread against the purchase of 4,000 puts at the same strike for 4.60 each. The net cost of the spread amounts to 95 cents per contract. The trader, if long shares of the underlying, enacted downside protection to hedge against potential declines in the price of gold through expiration in January. Perhaps this investor believes gold has peaked, at least as far as the next couple of months are concerned. In contrast, longer-term trading in the September contract was decidedly bullish. The trader sold 5,750 puts at the September 117 strike for 9.35 apiece in order to finance the purchase of the same number of calls at the higher September 140 strike for an average premium of 5.88 each. The investor banks a net credit of 3.47 per contract on the transaction, which he retains in full as long as shares remain higher than $117.00 through expiration. Additional profits amass if shares jump 17% to surpass the $140-level by expiration in September.
MGT – MGIC Investments Corp. – Bullish investors populated MGIC Investments Corporation with various optimistic option strategies throughout the trading day. Shares surged 20% to $5.10 after its Wisconsin regulator waived minimum capital requirements for two years. This permits the company to continue selling coverage despite nine straight quarterly losses. Investor reacted by picking up nearly 5,000 calls at the now in-the-money December 5.0 strike for an average premium of 30 cents apiece. Call-buyers will profit if MTG’s shares surpass the breakeven price of $5.30 by expiration. Additional bullish transactions appeared in the January 2010 and March 2010 contracts. Optimistic individuals shed 3,000 puts at the January 5.0 strike for 60 cents premium apiece. Investors retain the premium received on the sale if shares remain above $5.00 through January’s expiration day. Put-sellers stand ready to have shares of the underlying stock put to them at an effective price of $4.40 per share if the puts land in-the-money. Finally, another chunk of 5,000 puts were sold at the March 5.0…
Financial ETF Sees Sizeable Bull Call Spread
by Option Review - September 29th, 2009 4:19 pm
Today’s tickers: XLF, NKE, SLV, WAG, CVS, PSS, RYL & TCB
XLF - A large bullish trade just went across the tape on the Amex in the financial sector ETF in which a 50,000 lot call spread traded in the XLF at a 27 cent premium involving 17 and 19 strike calls. The underlying share price of $15.08 would need to rally 14.5% over the course of the next three months to allow this investor to break even. We make it mid-October last year that the XLF share price last popped above $17, while recent overhead resistance has restrained the bulls at $15.50. – Financial Select Sector SPDR –
NKE - Call options on the maker of footwear and apparel were in high demand today with shares of NKE up 1.8% to $60.02. Nike is schedule to release results for the first quarter after the closing bell today. Analysts are expecting the firm to report 97 cents per share on revenue of $4.9 billion. Option traders exchanged more than 17,400 calls at the October 60 strike on existing open interest at the strike of just 6,900 contracts. Approximately 8,100 of the calls were purchased for an average premium of 1.78 apiece. The October 60 strike calls have managed to land in-the-money this afternoon. However, investors long the calls will not begin to amass profits unless the stock rises another 3% to breach the breakeven point at $61.78. Another 6,050 calls were exchanged at the higher October 65 strike for an average premium of 40 cents apiece. The higher strike calls were both bought and sold by investors placing bets on Nike ahead of first-quarter earnings results. – Nike, Inc. –
SLV - One investor initiated a long-term bullish play on the silver exchange-traded fund amid a slight 0.25% dip in shares to $15.88. The trader looked to the November 16 strike to purchase 14,000 calls for an average premium of 90 cents apiece. At the same time, the investor spread the nearer-term purchase against the sale of 14,000 calls at the January 2012 20 strike for 2.80 per contract. The trader pockets a net credit of 1.90 per contract on the transaction. The investor is likely expecting the calls to land in-the-money by expiration in November. If this occurs, he may exercise the options and take delivery of the underlying shares for an effective price of $14.10 [$16.00 – 1.90 = $14.10]. If…
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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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