Too Many Options – AAPL 6 of the 10 Most Traded Lines

by Enis October 18, 2012 4:41 pm • Commentary

Let’s start with the big kahuna today, as Oct options in AAPL dominated the most traded board:

  1. AAPL – AAPL was one of the few tech names already trading lower when the GOOG earnings news hit the tape midday (VZ’s low iPhone sales caused the stock to gap lower).  AAPL ended down 2%, and the Oct 640 and 645 calls were most traded in the morning, while the Oct 630 puts traded the most in the afternoon as the stock fell.
  2. MSFT – Had 3 lines trade in the top 15, as the Oct 29 puts (the line Dan bought after the GOOG announcement) were bought aggressively in the afternoon and were the most traded, and the Oct and Nov 30 calls both traded more than 30k as well.
  3. JNPR – There were rumors that the company might be bought (possibly EMC), though the stock pulled off its highs posted right after the open.  The Nov 20 calls traded more than 10k, initiated by aggressive buying in the morning, and the options traded almost 10 times normal volume.  Earnings report is on Oct 23rd.
  4. XLF – Someone bought the Nov 16 / 15 put spread for 0.14, 15k times.  Breakeven would be down around 3%.
  5. WMB – Someone sold 33,750 of the Oct 36 / 38 call spread at 0.16 to close, after buying this spread on Sept 13th for 0.46.
  6. RIG – Traded almost 4 times normal volume, as the stock made 2 month highs.  RIG disclosed a favorable fleet status report.  Most traded line was the Nov 47.5 calls.
  7. RRD – Options traded more than 25% of its total open interest, 80% on the put side, after GOOG said it was RRD’s fault for the early release.  The Jan11 and Oct 10 puts were the most traded lines, but the easy trade is not always the right trade, as RRD stock ended almost flat by the close (after being down by as much as 6%)
  8. AIG – The Nov 35 puts traded 36k, as a buyer paid $0.41 for them around 1:46pm.  AIG is up 16% just in the month of October.
  9. JNJ – Someone likely rolled up their put protection, selling 25k of the Jan13 60 puts at 0.05, and buying 25k of the Jan13 67.5 puts for 0.385.
  10. GOOG – Traded abnormally high volume as well due to the premature release.  The Oct 700 calls and puts were very active, as traders might be expecting a big round number pin of 700 tomorrow.