Names that report this week were generally the most active.
- FB – Call to put ratio was over 3 to 1 today ahead of its earnings report on Jan 30th. The weekly 34 calls, weekly 36 calls, and Feb16th 35 calls all traded over 60k.
- YHOO – volume over 175K in options going into earnings after the close. Calls to puts 1.5:1 which is below the current average of 2.4:1. IV30 was up almost 25% today and the pre-earnings IV30 is a high for the year at 36. Weekly at-the-money options were trading around 70 vol. The most active lines were the Feb01 weekly 20 calls and puts, the Feb16 21 calls and the Jan ’14 25 calls and 15 puts. It looks like some were part of a risk reversal 6200 times. The Jan’14 20/15 put spread also traded 6000 times. Open interest was sufficient on all lines.
- F – Reports tomorrow morning. The weekly 14 calls were the most active, trading over 20k.
- HRB – The Apr 20 / 25 risk reversal traded, more than 20k times, not clear if call or put was bought. Apr 25 call traded at 0.17 and Apr 20 put traded at 0.20. My guess is someone buying protection given that the stock is up more than 20% to start 2013.
- DDD – someone really didn’t like the 3D printer stocks today. DDD, SSYS, and PRLB were all down. DDD was down 11% and IV30 was up almost 9 points. Over 30K options traded versus an average of 8K. Most trading was in the Feb 55, 60, 65 puts and the 65 and 70 calls. There didn’t seem to be any real news, only commentary on Seeking Alpha and Motley Fool saying that perhaps the recent run-up was overdone. There had been some excitement after demonstrations at CES.
- PETM – over 18K options traded versus an average under 1000, mostly puts after a downgrade from Nomura. Stock was down $6 and volatility up 11 points to 28. The most trading was in the Mar 60/65 put spread which traded throughout the afternoon over 4000 times. This appears to be opening.
- RIMM – solid option volume in RIMM today and IV30 up 7% to 103. The Feb01 weekly 18 calls and 17 puts were the most active lines. The Feb01 weekly implied volatility went up about 25 points. IV30 is at highs for the year. Excitement is mounting about the reception of the Blackberry 10. Stock has been up in January, but was down $1.20 today.
- HLF – 145K options traded today, over three times the average. Stock took an 8% hit today as the FTC announced a major action against another multi-level marketer Fortune High-Tech. Nu Skin was down as well. HLF IV30 was up 19 points. Most trading was in the weeklies, primarily the Feb01 40 and 42.5 puts.
- GE – Someone bought 9k of the Mar 21 call for $1.49, and sold 6k of the Mar 20 call at $2.44, likely rolling their position up 1 strike.
- AAPL – Call to put ratio was around 1.45 today. The weekly 450, 460, and 455 calls all traded more than 20k.