Alibaba Options In Focus
by Option Review - March 3rd, 2015 2:02 pm
Options volume on Alibaba Group Holdings is poised to end at the session at approximately three times the average daily level, with volume in BABA contracts approaching 300,000 contracts versus average daily volume of 105,000 contracts and less than 30 minutes to go before the closing bell. Shares in BABA are down 3.0% as of the time of this writing to stand at $81.50, off the intraday and fresh 52-week low of $80.03 set earlier this afternoon.
Across all available expiries, the 80.0 strike put options are seeing notable activity, with cumulative volume in excess of 30,000 contracts. As for trading in BABA calls across available expiries, the 85.0, 87.5 and 90.0 strike contracts attracted the most action.
Chart – Above average day for Alibaba options volume
A Look At How BABA Options Are Trading
by Option Review - October 6th, 2014 5:07 pm
Alibaba (Ticker: BABA) options have been trading for one week. Let’s take a look at where options traders have accumulated the most positions in BABA call and put options. Per the below chart, the 90.0 strike calls and puts are by far the most held options contracts across all available expiries on the Chinese e-commerce giant. All told, it looks like there are approximately 52,000 contracts held at the 90.0 strike level, or roughly 17% of total open interest on the name of 312,000 contracts. The call/put interest ratio of approximately 1.5 on Alibaba indicates more of the open interest held of investors is in call options versus puts on the stock. Shares in BABA today are roughly flat on the session to stand at 88.20, and options traders have exchanged a little more than 22,000 contracts versus the stock’s average daily options volume of 99,000 contracts.
Chart – BABA Open Interest as of 10/06/14
IV Implodes On 4-hour YHOO Options As BABA Commences Trading
by Option Review - September 19th, 2014 1:02 pm
Investors are dumping shares in Yahoo, sending the stock down 5.0% to $40.08 after shares in Alibaba made their debut on the floor of the NYSE just before midday. Shares in BABA for their part initially traded up to a high of $99.70, a near 47% increase over the IPO price of $68.00. Typically, one would expect put options that are 5% out of the money with roughly 4-hours left to trade to see waning implied volatility. But, at the start of the trading session and ahead of the first trade for BABA, the Sep 19 ’14 40.0 strike put options were trading with 271% volatility or $0.30 per contract amid uncertainty as to how the start of trading for Alibaba would take shape.
After shares in BABA debuted, volatility in the 40.0 strike puts imploded, dropping almost immediately to 154% and sending premium on the contracts down to as low as $0.04 each. However, with shares in BABA at $90.70 as of 12:30 p.m. ET and having backed off of their intraday highs to trade below the initial traded price of $92.70, selling pressure on Yahoo is increasing and premium on those YHOO 40.0 strike puts has ripped to the upside. At last check, the 40.0 strike put options with just hours to go before expiration are changing hands at $0.60 apiece at roughly 150% implied volatility.
Overall volume in Yahoo options has surpassed 1 million contracts, more than twice the stock’s average daily options volume of 453,000 contracts.
Fabulous Friday – Our AliBaba Play Pays off Big!
by phil - September 19th, 2014 7:26 am
We're already up over 100% on Alibaba.
How, you may wonder? Well, two ways: Back in October of 2007, before Alibaba IPO'd in China, I was touting the company when it had an $8Bn valuation ($1.10 per share – pre-split). I was the first and only analyst in the US to point out the benefits of Yahoo's investment back then and our Members who play the Asian markets were able to take advantage of that and today should be the culmination of the white whale of investing – the 20-bagger as Alibaba is expected to IPO in the US at $160Bn just 7 years later.
YHOO, on the other hand, took the long and winding road but it should finally be getting to our $50 target and that's another 100% gain on the stock – though a very small consolation to those who didn't pick up AliBaba directly. Fortunately, at Philstockworld, we know how to BE THE HOUSE – Not the Gambler and, back in June, when the rumors of the AliBaba IPO began we came up with a way for our Members to make 400% playing YHOO into the AliBaba IPO.
From our Live Member Chat Room:
Submitted on 2014/06/30 at 12:03 pmYHOO/Albo – Why not just buy YHOO? YHOO is $35Bn and owns 22% of AliB while SFTBY is $91Bn and owns 33% of AliB, so you get a lot more bang for your buck with YHOO, whose forward p/e is only 19, than SFTBY, whose forward p/e is about 17 – so not all that significant. Of course, more significantly is the potential impact of (guessing) $50Bn worth of AliB on a $35Bn company!
So we don't even have to go crazy if we want to play the "YHOO is undervalued" game. The Jan $38/45 bull call spread is $1.60 on the $8 spread with 400% upside if YHOO gains 28%. I think that's worth $800 for 5 shares in the $25KP