Continue reading Long-Term Puts are Popular on Chesapeake Energy

Long-Term Puts are Popular on Chesapeake Energy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares of Patriot Coal (PCX) surged to a new annual high of $27.54 right out of the gate Tuesday, as traders cheered the energy issue's latest quarterly report.

Patriot announced that its fourth-quarter net profit dwindled 33% to $7.3 million, or 8 cents per share, from its year-ago results of $10.9 million, or 12 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter climbed 5% to $528.2 million, but selling and administrative expenses swelled 35% to $14 million. Likewise, Patriot's operating cost per ton increased 9.5% to $55.70.

Continue reading Patriot Coal Climbs Higher Despite Q4 Revenue Miss

Patriot Coal Climbs Higher Despite Q4 Revenue Miss originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Call options were in heavy rotation Monday on The Gap (GPS). Within the first hour of trading, 3,350 of these bullishly oriented options crossed the tape -- about four times the expected number of call contracts. The bulk of this activity took place at The Gap's January 2011 22.50 call, where 3,031 contracts were traded. Approximately 77% of these calls changed hands at the ask price, indicating they were purchased.

However, this skew toward calls simply continues a recent trend for GPS. During the past 10 days, speculators on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 5.99 calls for every put on the retailer. This ratio ranks above 75% of other such readings taken during the previous year, indicating that traders on the ISE have purchased calls over puts at a faster pace just 25% of the time.

Continue reading Call Players Place Their Bets on The Gap

Call Players Place Their Bets on The Gap originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Call Volume Soars Ahead of Earnings from H&R Block

Call Volume Soars Ahead of Earnings from H&R Block originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bank of America (BAC) has grabbed some headlines lately, for better or worse. Earlier this week, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed he would release documents next year pointing to an "ecosystem of corruption" at a major U.S. bank, and many journalists connected a trail of dots leading back to Bank of America. As a result, the stock slipped 3% on Tuesday.

However, Bank of America bounced back with the rest of the market on Wednesday, after one executive at the Charlotte-based bank downplayed the growing speculation. During the course of the session, call volume on BAC rose to two times the usual level, with about 593,000 contracts crossing the tape.

Continue reading Dissecting a Massive Call Spread on Bank of America

Dissecting a Massive Call Spread on Bank of America originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analysts at JPMorgan Securities are recommending that investors initiate long put spreads on Intel Corp. (INTC), according to Doris Frankel of Reuters. The brokerage firm suggests the bearish options trade for shareholders who are looking to hedge their bets on INTC, due to concerns about contracting gross margins.

Specifically, with INTC trading just shy of $20, JPMorgan recommends buying the January 2011 19-strike put and selling the January 16 put. Currently, the January 19 put is asked at $0.63, while the January 16 put is bid at $0.13. At these prices, the long put spread could be initiated for a net debit of $0.50 per pair of contracts.

Continue reading Should You Play an Intel Put Spread?

Should You Play an Intel Put Spread? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Option volume has ramped up on Regions Financial (RF) today, with 14,000 contracts changing hands by midday -- more than double the equity's average daily volume. Calls are dominating most of the action, as no fewer than 12,000 of these bullishly oriented options have been exchanged.

Traders appear to be adding new positions at RF's out-of-the-money November 8 and December 8 call strikes, continuing a recent trend in the options pits. During the past 10 days, the International Securities Exchange (ISE) reports that options players have bought to open 9.12 calls for every put on RF. This ratio arrives in the 94th percentile of its annual range, not far from an optimistic peak.

Continue reading Regions Financial Straddled Ahead of Earnings

Regions Financial Straddled Ahead of Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Put volume skyrocketed Tuesday on Newmont Mining (NEM), with roughly 22,000 contracts crossing the tape within the first 90 minutes of the session. By contrast, NEM was only expected to see about 1,800 puts change hands -- so this surge represents about 12 times the norm.

The equity's November 60 put is far and away the most active. By 11 a.m., this out-of-the-money strike had already seen in excess of 13,200 contracts exchanged, with 59% of these puts trading at the ask price. Implied volatility on this back-month option has climbed by 2.6 percentage points to 35.2%, so it seems likely that buyers are driving the bulk of today's volume.

Continue reading Put Players Flock to Newmont Mining

Put Players Flock to Newmont Mining originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Calls were the options of choice on Alcoa (AA) Thursday, according to data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE). During the course of the session, speculators on the ISE bought to open 1,255 calls on AA, compared to just 56 puts. The equity's single-day ISE call/put volume ratio of 22.41 underscores a distinct preference toward bullish bets over bearish.

Thursday's most popular strike was AA's October 12 call, where 1,669 contracts crossed the tape -- about 93% at the ask price, confirming they were most likely purchased. Open interest at this strike climbed overnight by 1,391 contracts, and now stands at 57,578 open positions.

Continue reading Calls Gaining Popularity as Alcoa Climbs the Charts

Calls Gaining Popularity as Alcoa Climbs the Charts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading JPMorgan Recommends First Solar Calls

JPMorgan Recommends First Solar Calls originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Call Volume Climbs on U.S. Steel

Call Volume Climbs on U.S. Steel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Put Writer Bets on Solid Support for Panera Bread Co.

Put Writer Bets on Solid Support for Panera Bread Co. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Put volume surged on CBOE Holdings (CBOE) Tuesday, with nearly 7,200 of these bearishly oriented options crossing the tape. This flurry of activity represented about seven times the stock's expected daily put volume. Meanwhile, fewer than 1,700 calls were exchanged during the course of Tuesday's trading.

The day's most popular strike, by far, was CBOE's July 30 put. No fewer than 6,443 contracts traded at this strike, with 83% changing hands at the ask price -- indicating they were most likely purchased. Implied volatility rose 7.2 percentage points by the close, and open interest at this strike swelled overnight by 3,175 contracts. In other words, it's a safe bet that new bearish positions were added at the July 30 put on Tuesday.

Continue reading July 30 Puts Are Popular on CBOE Holdings

July 30 Puts Are Popular on CBOE Holdings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Put Volume Spikes on Arena Pharmaceuticals

Put Volume Spikes on Arena Pharmaceuticals originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Traders Buy Plunge Protection on Transocean Ltd.

Traders Buy Plunge Protection on Transocean Ltd. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just one hour into Wednesday's session, call volume on Ford Motor (F) had already ramped up to 1.72 times the expected level, with roughly 17,000 contracts crossing the tape. The stock's 12-strike call options were popular in early trading, with roughly 5,000 contracts changing hands on Ford's July 12 and September 12 calls.

The majority of the call options at both strikes traded near the ask price, indicating they were most likely purchased, and implied volatility has climbed on both options. In other words, it appears that traders are buying new calls at these narrowly out-of-the-money strikes.

Continue reading Traders Stock Up on Ford Motor Calls

Traders Stock Up on Ford Motor Calls originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) has battled back from its brutal month-long sell-off, but it seems that traders aren't exactly confident in the market's fledgling rebound. According to data from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), options players are betting on additional turbulence by purchasing calls on the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX).

During the past five sessions, speculators on the exchange have scooped up 142,544 calls on the VIX, along with 126,391 puts. In other words, 1.13 calls have been purchased for every put on the VIX, which is meant to reflect investors' expectations for the SPX's near-term price action.

Continue reading Traders Bet on More Volatility with VIX Calls

Traders Bet on More Volatility with VIX Calls originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Call options have rarely been a more popular choice on Qualcomm (QCOM), according to data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE). During the past 10 days, speculators on the ISE have bought to open 39,180 calls on the equity, compared to just 6,705 puts. The stock's resulting 10-day call/put volume ratio of 5.84 reveals that nearly six times more bullish bets than bearish have been purchased during the past two weeks.

Traders' ravenous appetite for calls is a little surprising, considering Qualcomm's recent technical swoon. The shares have dropped about 25% year-to-date, and Qualcomm has underperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by more than 10 percentage points during the past 40 sessions, on a relative-strength basis.

Continue reading Call Buying on Qualcomm Nears Peak Levels

Call Buying on Qualcomm Nears Peak Levels originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Do High Gold Prices Mean Future Trouble?

Do High Gold Prices Mean Future Trouble? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Earlier today, Jeff Reeves argued the case for the ProShares UltraShort Gold (GLL) exchange-traded fund (ETF). This inverse ETF could be a solid investment for speculators who are anticipating a further correction in gold futures -- and judging by Thursday's heavy put-buying on the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), there are plenty of gold bears on Wall Street right now.

GLD's most popular options strike on Thursday was the July 93 put. With GLD trading near $115, this option is currently out of the money by more than 20 points. This put strike traded volume of 100,000 contracts yesterday, with 100% of these puts changing hands at the ask price -- revealing they were most likely purchased. Implied volatility on GLD's July 93 put rose 2.5% by the close, and open interest at this strike swelled overnight by 99,975 contracts. In other words, it seems safe to say that new bearish bets on gold were added at this strike yesterday.

Continue reading Options Activity Heats Up on SPDR Gold Trust

Options Activity Heats Up on SPDR Gold Trust originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 May 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.