Too Many Options – $BAC, $WMB, $FB active

by Enis January 9, 2013 7:32 pm • Commentary

Single stock options trading had no major themes today in a quiet macro market.

  1. BAC – By far the most active name, as the stock was down 4.5% in a gradual bleed over the course of the day after an analyst downgrade.  The May 11 puts were the most traded line, trading almost 50k on the day
  2. WMB – Buyer this morning of 20k of the Jan14 40 / 45 call spread for 0.67.  Stock has only traded above 40 for a brief period in 1999.
  3. FB – Volume massively skewed to calls, as call to put ratio was almost 3.  The Jan 30 calls, both weekly and regular expiry were the most active lines, both trading more than 25k times.
  4. KORS – Buyer of 5k of the Jan 52.5 calls for 2.35 to sell 7500 of the Jan 55 calls at 1.25.
  5. AVP – Unusually active call trading, looked like a long call owner rolling from Jan to July:  Opening buyer of 14,500 of the Jul 19 calls for 0.75, and sellers of the Jan 15 and 16 calls, 11k times each.
  6. XLU – Call buyer of 25k of the Jan15 38 calls for 0.80 and buyer of 25k of the Jan15 40 calls for 0.36, spending almost 3 million in premium for a 2 year bullish bet.
  7. LCC – Airlines have been on a roll, and LCC made a 4.5 year high intraday today.  Customer paid 0.22 for 14k of the Jan 15 / Feb 16 call diagonal.
  8. NOK – Someone bought the Jul 2.5 puts for 0.17, 13k times.  The stock closed down 7.5%
  9. XOP – Trader bought 13,500 of the Mar 45 puts for 0.17 on the oil and gas stock ETF.
  10. AAPL – Call to put ratio at 1.5, even though stock closed down 1.5%.  Weekly 525 calls most active.