Butterfly Spread Calls For Further Gains In EEM
by Option Review - August 9th, 2012 2:36 pm
Today’s tickers: EEM, ETFC & S
EEM - iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF – Shares in the EEM increased roughly 7% in the past two weeks and a large call butterfly spread initiated this morning suggests one options market participant is positioning for the price of the underlying to tack on another 7% in the next six weeks. The one-by-two-by-one limited risk strategy could pay off handsomely at September expiration if shares in the EEM rally to their highest since early-April. Shares in the ETF are currently up 0.50% on the day at $40.55 as of 1:25 p.m. in New York. The butterfly spread was constructed through the purchase of 40,000 calls at each of the Sept. $42 and $45 strikes, marked against the sale of 80,000 calls at the Sept. $43.5 strike, all for a net premium outlay of $0.22 apiece. The trade starts making money in the event EEM shares rally 4% to surpass the breakeven point at $42.22, with maximum possible profits of $1.28 per contract available given a 7.3% move higher in the share price to $43.50. The risk-reward ratio works in the trader’s favor; losses are limited to $0.22 per contract but maximum potential profits are nearly six times that amount should the ETF’s shares settle at the central strike price by expiration next month.
ETFC - E*Trade Financial Corp. – News that online broker, E*Trade Financial Corp., gave CEO Steven J. Freiberg the pink slip was well-received by investors today, with the shares trading up as much as 7.2% to an intraday high of $8.60 in the first half of the session. Options on ETFC are more active than usual Options volume on the e-broker, pushing 9,000 contracts just before midday in New York, is more than two times the average daily volume for the stock. Calls are far more active than put options with a call-to-put ratio hovering around 7-to-1. Fresh interest building in short-term upside calls…
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Traders Ramp Up Activity In Research In Motion Options
by Option Review - August 8th, 2012 2:38 pm
Today’s tickers: RIMM, S & HPQ
RIMM - Research In Motion Limited – Shares in the troubled mobile phone maker rallied sharply Wednesday morning on comments from Jefferies & Co. analyst, Peter Misek, regarding the possibility that Samsung Electronics Co. is considering licensing Research In Motion’s new BB10 operating system or buying the company. RIMM is well off its highs of the session at present, up 4.9% at $7.67 as of 11:45 a.m. in New York, down from an initial 12.9% spike in the shares to an intraday high of $8.25. Traders flocked to RIMM options and drove the number of contracts traded to more than three times average daily volume. Heavy put buying in the weekly options suggests gains in the price of the underlying may be short lived. More than 25,000 in-the-money puts changed hands at the Aug. 10 ’12 $8.0 strike versus open interest of just 460 contracts. It looks like most of these put options were purchased in the first hour of the trading day for an average premium of $0.34 apiece. Put buyers profit at expiration this week in the event the Blackberry makers settle below the average breakeven price of $7.66.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – The third-largest U.S. wireless carrier’s shares have been on a tear in recent months, having nearly doubled since the end of May. Sizable prints in Sprint call options this morning suggest at least one trader is positioning for the price of the underlying to continue its run during the next few months. The stock today is up 5.0% to stand at $4.53 as of 12:20 p.m. in New York. The sale of a block of 11,129 Aug. $4.0 strike calls for a premium of $0.44 apiece spread against the purchase of a block of 11,148 calls at the Nov. $5.0 strike at a premium of $0.27 each may be the work of an investor rolling up a bullish position. A review of…
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Short-Term Bullish Bets Mount As Las Vegas Sands Extends Rally
by Option Review - January 25th, 2012 2:18 pm
Today’s tickers: LVS, S & PG
LVS - Las Vegas Sands Corp. – Weekly call options on the casino operator continue to see heavy action as shares in Las Vegas Sands extend their sharp run to the upside. The stock is up more than 12.0% year-to-date and some options traders are positioning for the momentum to continue, abandoning concerns that slowing growth in China may curtail activity in Macao. Optimism the Chinese New Year will boost revenues in the Asian gambling hub is also helping the stock’s fast-and-furious drive toward the February 3, 2011, 52-week high of $50.65. Shares are currently up 2.9% on the day to arrive at $49.31 as of 1:30 p.m. in New York. Traders exchanged more than 3,200 now in-the-money calls at the Jan. ’27 $49 strike, with much of the volume generated by buyers shelling out an average premium of $0.43 per contract. Investors long the $49 strike calls may walk away with profits at week’s end as long as shares in LVS exceed the average breakeven price of $49.43. Bullish positioning spread to the higher Jan. ’27 $50 strike where more than 1,300 calls were purchased at an average premium of $0.17 apiece. Weekly call buyers profit if shares in the owner of casino resorts extend gains heading into the weekend, but are not exposed to the reaction of shares following Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s earnings release next Thursday.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Big prints in Sprint puts made the wireless communications company one of the most active names by options volume today. Shares in the wireless provider are down 1.4% at $2.14 in early-afternoon trade, hovering just four pennies above the October 10, 2011, multi-year low of $2.10. Options volume on Sprint Nextel…
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Intel Bulls Eye Fresh Highs In Chip Maker’s Shares Come Springtime
by Option Review - November 30th, 2011 1:24 pm
Today’s tickers: INTC, S & ACN
INTC - Intel Corp. – A spate of buying activity in Intel Corp. call options this morning suggests some options strategists are positioning for substantial bullish movement in the price of the underlying over the next four to five months. Shares in Intel are certainly heading higher today, with the stock currently up 5.5% to stand at $24.86 as of 12:10 PM in New York. Fresh prints in March 2012 contract calls indicate investors may profit if Intel’s shares rally to their highest level in at least five years. Traders taking a bullish stance on the chip maker picked up more than 4,200 calls at the Mar. 2012 $28 strike for an average premium of $0.43 each. Like-minded optimists paid an average premium of $0.28 per contract to purchase roughly 9,100 calls at the higher Mar. 2012 $29 strike, as well. Investors long the call options may profit at March expiration in the event that Intel’s shares surge 14.4% and 17.8% to surpass the average breakeven prices of $28.43 and $29.28, respectively. Looking out to options expiring in April 2012, it appears some 8,800 calls changed hands at the $29 strike against open interest of 2,037 contracts. Investors purchased most of these contracts for an average premium of $0.45 a-pop. Finally, short-term bulls are dabbling in Intel Corp. weekly calls. It looks like investors that got in ahead of the week’s rally are taking profits off the table today. Open interest patterns in the Dec. ’02 $24 strike suggest traders purchased around 3,500 of the calls for an average premium of $0.10 each one day prior to Thanksgiving. This morning these calls were sold roughly 3,500 times for an average premium of $0.64 each, or approximate one-week gains of 540%.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Shares in the wireless carrier joined in on the broad market rally today, rising 3.6% to $2.59 in early-afternoon trade. However, a large transaction in weekly puts on the stock indicates one strategist is prepared should the music stop. It looks like the investor purchased around 27,000 puts at the Dec. ’02 $2.5 strike for a premium of $0.07 apiece. The trader may profit at expiration this week if shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. drop 6.2% from the current price of $2.59 to breach the effective breakeven point at $2.43. Immediate-term bearish options activity in the weekly puts contrasts with a much…
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Call Buying On Sprint Amid Session Lows Well-Played As Shares Rebound
by Option Review - October 4th, 2011 2:09 pm
Today’s tickers: S, GS, RIMM & CCL
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Seemingly well-timed call buying on Sprint in the first hour of the trading session has seen the value of options held by one or more bullish investors appreciate intraday. Shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. fell as much as 17.6% this morning to touch down at a new 52-week low of $2.25, but have since fought their way back to rally 2.2% to $2.79 just after 12:35 pm EDT. The stock tumbled this week on news the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier is committed to buying at least 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years, a deal estimated to cost around $20 billion, as reported in today’s Wall Street Journal. Concerns regarding the terms of the deal were reflected in the steep selloff that ensued in Sprint shares. But, activity in Jan. 2012 contract call options this morning suggests some traders were ready to position for a rebound in the battered stock. It looks like investors purchased around 18,400 calls at the Jan. 2012 $2.5 strike for an average premium of $0.57 apiece, against previously existing open interest of 9,650 contracts. The calls that had earlier cost an average of $0.57 to purchase now require $0.76 per contract roughly two hours later. Premium on the calls should continue to rise should Sprint’s shares extend their recovery in the months remaining to January 2012 expiration. Options traders populating Sprint Nextel Corp. are trading roughly three calls on the wireless provider to each single put in action. Options implied volatility is up 30.3% to arrive at 119.8% this afternoon.
GS - The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Shares in Goldman Sachs are well off their lows of the session, having earlier dropped as much as 6.45% to a 31-month low of $84.27. The stock remains firmly in the red, however, down 2.1% at $88.18 as of 11:30 am in New York. Not surprisingly, options on financial stocks and the XLF are some of the most active…
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Call Spreader Eyes Near-Term Turn-Around In Valeant
by Option Review - August 5th, 2011 3:15 pm
Today’s tickers: VRX, DISH, GE & S
VRX - Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares in Canada’s largest drug maker have lost roughly one-third of their value in just over one week’s time, and it looks like one options player is prepared to see the stock recover somewhat in the next couple of weeks. Valeant’s shares currently trade 6.15% lower on the session at $38.34. The stock fell sharply on Thursday after the company reported lower-than-expected profits for the second quarter. Massive prints in August contract call options point to one player’s optimism for a speedy, albeit limited, rebound in the price of the underlying by expiration this month. It looks like the investor initiated a bull call spread, buying 25,000 now in-the-money calls at the August $38 strike for a premium of $1.75 each, and selling the same number of calls up at the August $43 strike at a premium of $0.45 apiece. The net cost of the trade amounts to $1.30 per contract, thus preparing the options strategist to profit should shares in Valeant increase 2.5% over the current price of $38.34 to surpass the effective breakeven point on the spread at $39.30 by expiration day. Maximum potential profits of $3.70 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if shares in the drug maker gain 12.2% to trade above $43.00 by expiration in two weeks. Options implied volatility on the pharmaceuticals company stands 25.6% higher this afternoon at 67.51% as of 1:40 pm on the East Coast.
DISH - DISH Network Corp. – The sharp pullback in shares of DISH Network today appears to have paid off handsomely for one strategist holding put options on the stock. It looks like the investor more than doubled his money in the past 48 hours by selling puts originally purchased on Wednesday. Shares in…
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Wild Weekly Wrap-Up (Part 1) – Our Billion Dollar Oil Shorts!
by phil - June 11th, 2011 6:08 am
That’s how much money our oil futures trade ideas generated over the past two weeks and I certainly hope everyone got a piece of theirs but, out of curiosity, how did our other trade ideas do in this terrible market? We track our virtual portfolios but we have many trade ideas during members chat on both sides of the fence so let’s take some time to review what worked and what didn’t work as the Dow dropped 500 points since the holiday.
Keep in mind this is just virtual performance and I’ll do my best to not miss anything and I’m going to include the Friday before the holiday weekend so we can review what our mind-set was as we set ourselves up for the long weekend as well as how we handled the moves since in both our daily posts and our Member Chat. I’m not going to narrate each day, that’s what Stock World Weekly is for – I’ll just make quick comments on the trades when appropriate. Keep in mind, with all options trading, once you make a quick 20%, you should be looking for the exits (see our Strategy Section) by setting stops (and we also stop out with a 20% loss of course) – we are just lucky when we happen to do better.
TGIF – Dollar Done Diving or Destined to Drop?
In the main post (main post trade ideas can be read daily by Report Members or higher – the rest are in our Private Member Chat), I discussed shorting oil futures off our $101.90 (at the time) target. We didn’t like waiting for $102 because sometimes it failed. Oil finished at $99 this week but was as low as $97.24 as we put pressure on the NYMEX pump crew by accepting their bogus offers to buy oil over $101 per barrel. This post was the first one where I decided to go public with what we were doing, hoping to break the back of the market manipulators at the NYMEX by letting as many people as possible in on the trade. This is also where I laid out our bearish fundamental case for oil so good for review. My comment in the morning post was:
As I mentioned yesterday, this week’s action is
…
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Bulls Prep for Continued Run-Up in Sprint
by Option Review - May 24th, 2011 4:03 pm
Today’s tickers: S, SMH, AEM & XRT
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Shares in the third-largest U.S. mobile provider hit a new 2-year high today, rising as much as 5.9% earlier in the session to $5.90. The communications company’s share price took a big hit after AT&T and T-Mobile announced plans to merge back in March, but the stock has sky-rocketed in the two months since then, gaining 41.5% off its post-deal announcement low of $4.17. Perhaps shares were helped higher on news Leap Wireless International joined “team Sprint” in opposing the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. Shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. may also be higher ahead of the Thursday release of Google’s mobile-payment service, which will operate on Sprint’s phones. Investors positioning for the uptrend to continue over the long term initiated bullish plays in the November contract. It looks like traders are employing ratio call spreads, buying roughly 2,500 calls at the November $7.0 strike for an average premium of $0.31 each, and selling around 5,000 calls up at the higher November $8.0 strike at an average premium of $0.14 apiece. Net premium required on average to establish the trade amounts to just $0.03 per contract. Ratio call spreaders stand prepared to make money in the event that Sprint’s shares surge 19.2% over today’s high of $5.90 to surpass the average breakeven price of $7.03 by expiration day in November. Maximum potential profits of $0.97 per contract are available on the transaction should the price of the underlying stock jump 35.6% to settle at $8.00 at expiration. Sprint Nextel Corp. shares last traded above $7.03 back in September 2008. The sale of twice as many of the higher-strike calls substantially lowered the price at which call spreaders break even, but also ups the amount of risk undertaken on the position. The uncovered short calls may result in losses in the event that shares spike above the upper breakeven price of $8.97 at expiration in November. Options implied volatility…
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Netgear Options Pop as Shares Fly to All-Time High
by Option Review - April 29th, 2011 4:09 pm
Today’s tickers: NTGR, GT, DOW & S
NTGR - Netgear, Inc. – The maker of networking products for at-home and small business use reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday after the closing bell, and projected second-quarter sales of $270 million, which beat the consensus estimate of $240.3 million. Shares in the San Jose, CA-based company subsequently jumped 28.4% today to secure an intraday- and new all-time high of $43.67. Investors expecting the price of the underlying to trend higher through the next couple of months traded more than 2,800 calls at the June $45 strike on just 10 lots of previously existing open interest. The majority of the call options were purchased for an average premium of $1.35 each. Call buyers make money if shares in Netgear rally another 6.1% over today’s high of $43.67 to surpass the average breakeven price of $46.35 by expiration day in June. Meanwhile, pre-earnings report buyers of May contract call options have seen the value of their positions sky-rocket today. One trader appears to be taking profits, selling 50 now deep in-the-money calls at the May $31 strike for an average premium of $10.38 each, which he appears to have initially purchased for just $3.60 apiece on Thursday. Open interest levels at the two highest-available strike prices in the front month indicate call buyers paid as much as $0.35 per contract to buy fewer than 100 calls at each of the May $37 and $38 strikes earlier in the week. Today, these same calls tout asking prices of $4.60 and $3.80, respectively. Approximately 4,200 call and put options have changed hands on Netgear just before 1:00pm on overall previously existing open interest of 5,678 contracts on the stock.
GT - Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. – Shares in the largest U.S. tire manufacturer shot up…
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Caterpillar Call Options Active Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - April 26th, 2011 4:24 pm
Today’s tickers: CAT, CLX, S & ELX
CAT - Caterpillar, Inc. – Signs of bullish sentiment on the machinery maker appeared in the options market this morning with the price of Caterpillar’s shares rising as much as 3.1% to an intraday high of $112.20. Strong earnings from a number of big industrials-names this week helped CAT’s shares higher in the face of the company’s own first-quarter earnings report ahead of the opening bell on Friday. In weekly options on the stock, the April ’29 $105 strike put options are most active. Two-way trading in the puts suggests mixed sentiment in the days leading up to CAT’s earnings. Buyers of the puts may be wary of an earnings miss, while sellers of the contracts seem to be saying they at least expect shares in the name to remain above $105.00 through expiration on Friday. Meanwhile, the May contract is a-buzz with activity as well. Call options are more heavily populated than puts in early-afternoon trade. Bullish players positioning for the price of the underlying stock to continue to climb ahead of expiration day next month bought calls and sold puts. Volume is heaviest in the May $115 strike calls, where around 6,300 contracts have changed hands, fewer contracts than the 11,355 lots of previously existing open interest at that strike. Buyers of the options are dominating, paying an average premium of $1.60 per contract for the right to buy the underlying stock at $115.00. Investors long the May $115 strike calls profit at expiration if shares in CAT rally another 3.9% over the current price of $112.20 to exceed the average breakeven point on the upside at $116.60. More than 1,100 call options were picked up at each of the May $120 and $125 strikes at average premiums of $0.52 and $0.17, respectively. Caterpillar’s shares recently hit an all-time high of $113.93 on April 4, 2011. Options players traded more than 55,000 contracts on the machinery manufacturer by 1:20pm in New York.…
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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...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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