December Options Trades

Below is a list of some unusual options activity by day for December (starting on December 12th). The data is the beginning of my nightly research for my own personal trading and acts as a rough draft for my weekly unusual options activity posts for SeeItMarket.com. For the most part I typically won’t make note of many ETF/index trades, stock replacements, and shorter-dated activity that I feel has already played out or now offers unfavorable odds. You can follow me on Twitter and Stocktwits for more investing research.

December 12th
1. TTMI- Buyer of 5,000 June 2017 $17.50 calls for $0.65, average daily call volume of 65 contracts, call OI of 1,663 contracts, IV +11.3% to 46.99, call to put ratio of 21:1
2. ORIG- Buyer of 5,000 Dec $2 puts for $0.15, put activity was 30x the average daily volume. Earnings are due out on December 14th … Read More »

Unusual Options Activity

Monsanto (MON)- A likely rollout from 5,000+ May 29 weekly $125 calls ($0.55 credit) into 10,000+ May 29 weekly $123 calls ($1.10 debit). They are trying to acquire Syngenta (1st offer was rejected). Last week, there was sizable put selling in SYT.
Rice Energy (RICE)- 2,000 June $22 puts were sold for $0.60-$0.65. This morning, Canaccord Genuity reiterated their buying rating with a $31 price target.
Ralph Lauren (RL)- The May $130/$125 1×2 ratio bear put spread was put on 1,000 times for a $0.45 debit. Earnings are due out on May 13th. Zacks reiterated their strong sell rating on March 27th with a $122 price target.
Tower Semiconductor (TSEM)- The May $17/$18 bull call spread was put on 2,000 times for a $0.32 debit. Earnings are due out on May 13th (shares have moved higher on 5 straight reports).
Vulcan Materials … Read More »

 Unusual Options Activity

In today’s Unusual Options Activity Report we highlight call buying in BP p.l.c. (BP) and a call rollout in Rice Energy (RICE).

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Smart Money Report

AAL- 3,000 Oct 31 weekly $32.50 puts were purchased for $2.25 each, against open interest of 127 contracts. Earnings are due out on 10/23. The stock is on pace to close below the $32 support level from April. Given how the puts are in-the-money already it is unlikely to be a hedge on American Airlines.
CSCO- 7,500 Jan 2015 $25 calls were purchased for $0.48 each, against open interest of 85,742 contracts.
CSCO- 10,000 Dec $25 calls were purchased for $0.44-$0.47 each, against open interest of 6,291 contracts. Following the lower guidance from Microchip Technology (MCHP) this morning, maybe tech stocks including Cisco Systems had a sizable pullback.
CZR- 5,000 Dec $10 puts were bought for $1.65-$1.75 each, against open interest of 5,044 contracts. The casino stock bear market (Caesars Entertainment included) has been in place since late Q1.
RICE- A rollout … Read More »

Smart Money Report

AAPL- A likely rollout from 76,000 Sep 20 $105 calls (credit) into 20,000 Sep 26 weekly $103 calls (debit). Volume was above the open interest in the Sep 26 weekly $103 calls. The call to put ratio in Apple is nearly 3:1.
AGCO- A rollout from 1,800 Feb 2015 $55 puts (credit) into 3,000 Feb 2015 $50 puts (debit). Volume was above the open interest in the Feb 2015 $50 puts. AGCO shares have been trending lower since October (making new lows this week).
JPM- 9,772 Jan 2015 $60 calls were bought for $2.15 each, against open interest of 89,466 contracts. Open interest has gone from 49,611 on 8/21 to 89,466 before today’s action. Roughly 40,000 were bought from 8/21-8/26.
RICE- The Jan 2015 $30/$35 call spread was put on 2,970 times for a $1.50 debit. Volume was below the open … Read More »

Smart Money Report

ANET- 2,580 Sep $70 puts were sold for $0.95 each, against open interest of 9 contracts. Shares of Arista Networks are nearing a retest of the $80 resistance level.
HPQ- 10,000 Sep 20 $36 calls were bought for $1.04 each, against open interest of 11,594 contracts. The stock is hitting new 52-week highs after reporting Q2 EPS of $0.89 vs the $0.89 estimate and revenue of $27.59B vs the $27.06B estimate. Hewlett-Packard expects Q4 EPS of $1.03-$1.07 vs the $1.05 estimate and FY14 EPS of $3.70-$3.74 vs the prior guidance of $3.63-$3.75. Ideal buying opportunities have been on pullbacks to the 50-day EMA.
MRVL- Over 6,000 Nov $15 calls were bought for $0.35 each, against open interest of 4,563 contracts. Earnings are due out tonight. The stock has moved higher after earnings on 4 out of the last 7 reports. … Read More »

Unusual Options Activity

In today’s Unusual Options Activity Report we highlight a call rollout in Rice Energy (RICE) and call buying in Tibco Software (TIBX).

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