Bearish Signals Appear in Japan ETF Options
by Option Review - March 23rd, 2011 4:23 pm
Today’s tickers: EWJ, GIS, XING & DLTR
EWJ - iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund – A couple of bearish options trades on the EWJ caught our eye today with shares in the fund dropping nearly 2.0% at the start of the session to an intraday low of $10.42. Shares in the ETF pared some of the morning’s losses this afternoon, and currently stand 0.95% lower on the day at $10.53. The price of the underlying shares at $10.53 represents a 13.0% recovery off of the EWJ’s post-earthquake low of $9.24. One investor appears to have taken a medium-term bearish stance on the fund by selling calls to offset the cost of buying put options. The trader sold 14,250 calls at the June $11 strike for a premium of $0.31 each, and purchased the same number of puts at the lower June $10 strike at a premium of $0.44 apiece. Net premium paid for the spread amounts to $0.13 per contract. The investor profits if the EWJ’s shares decline 6.3% in the next few months to slip beneath the effective breakeven point to the downside at $9.87 by June expiration. Meanwhile, substantial volume in April contract calls today appears to be the work of an investor taking down one leg of a bullish risk reversal initiated last Tuesday. Around 105,000 calls sold today at the April $11 strike for a premium of $0.08 per contract. Most of the volume at that strike likely represents the closing sale of some 102,500 calls that were originally purchased last week. The original transaction involved the sale of 102,500 puts at the April $8.0 strike for a premium of $0.10 each, against the purchase of the same number of calls at the April $11 strike at a premium of $0.14 apiece. Perhaps the trader is less optimistic about the prospects for a near-term rebound in the price of the underlying fund today than he was eight days ago. Over 260,000 option contracts have changed hands on the EWJ as of 1:30pm in New York.…
Visa, Inc. Call Options Fly Off the Shelves
by Option Review - June 21st, 2010 4:34 pm
Today’s tickers: V, AXP, GIS, HNZ, AFFY, REV, AA & ORCL
V – Visa, Inc. – Frenzied call buying ensued on global payments network, Visa, Inc., this afternoon with the price of the underlying shares rallying as much as 8.76% to secure an intraday high of $83.79. Visa’s shares are currently up a more modest 4.90% to stand at $80.82 as of 3:10 pm (ET). The sharp rally in Visa’s share price likely stems from news that U.S. politicians reached an agreement on the regulation of interchange/”swipe” fees on credit and debit card transactions. Investors flooded the near-term July contract on Visa, Inc. to initiate bullish stances on the stock. Options traders expecting continued upward movement in the price of Visa’s shares by July expiration picked up approximately 6,800 calls at the July $85 strike for an average premium of $1.41 each. Investors long the July $85 strike calls make money only if shares of the underlying stock trade above $86.41 ahead of expiration day next month. Buying interest spread to the higher July $90 strike where some 4,300 calls were purchased at an average premium of $0.46 each. Call buyers at this strike price accrue profits if the firm’s shares surge 11.9% from the current price of $80.82 to trade above the average breakeven point to the upside at $90.46 by July expiration day. Finally, investors honed in on the July $95 strike to take ownership of 1,300 calls for an average premium of $0.19 per contract. Options players populating Visa, Inc. this afternoon displayed a clear preference for bullish calls on the stock by exchanging more than 2.3 call options to each single put contract in play thus far in the session. But, some optimistic individuals utilized puts to take a near-term bullish stance on Visa. Investors sold at least 1,400 puts at the July $80 strike to receive an average premium of $2.81 per contract. Put sellers keep the full premium pocketed on the transaction as long as Visa’s shares exceed $80.00 through expiration day next month. Investors short the puts are apparently happy to have shares of the underlying stock put to them at an effective price of $77.19 each in the event the puts land in-the-money at expiration.
AXP – American Express Co. – The global payments company appeared on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this afternoon after one options strategist initiated…
Chinese ETF sees more call option action
by Option Review - March 18th, 2009 4:46 pm
Today’s tickers: FXI, XL, AIG, WYE, EEM, JAVA, GIS, BK, SLM & C
FXI iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 – Shares are up by approximately 1.5% to stand at $27.96. The Chinese ETF appeared on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after one investor purchased 40,000 in-the-money calls at the March 27 strike price for an average price of 55 cents per contract. The investor snagged the chunk of calls at a low premium earlier today relative to the current premium on the calls of 1.35. It looks like this trader offset the cost of the purchase by selling 40,000 calls at the April 30 strike price for a premium of 63 cents. Thus, he pockets a credit of 8 cents on the trade. As long as shares remain above $27 by Friday, this investor will have the right to collect 4,000,000 shares of the underlying stock at the strike price. But, by selling the calls in April this trader has capped upside gains at a maximum of 3.0 if shares happen to rally to $30 by expiration. The sale effectively provides him with an exit strategy in April.
XL XL Capital Limited – Shares of the property and casualty insurance firm have rallied 7.5% to $4.43 on the heels of AIG’s surge today. One investor looking for further upside gains purchased 6,400 calls at the March 5.0 strike price for 13 cents apiece. If shares can continue to rebound in this fashion and rise by 12% from its current price, then this trader would begin to profit at the breakeven share price of $5.13.
AIG American International Group – Outrage at $165 million in bonuses paid out to employees of the firm’s financial products division while taking in TARP funds at the same time apparently could not detract from AIG’s share price, which is soaring upwards by 40% to $1.35. While government appointed CEO Edward M. Liddy is getting reamed out at the Congressional hearings today, options investors have been busy trading calls across multiple contracts. Traders were heavily favoring the call side and skewed the call-to-put ratio to more than 4.5 calls to every put in action today. At the April 3.0 strike price, optimists picked up 3,700 calls for 10 cents each. Despite the huge rally today, shares would need to continue upwards by another 129% in order to reach the breakeven point at $3.10 by…