Too Many Options: ETFs Dominate, $VWO, $EEM, $SPY, $DXJ

by Enis June 6, 2013 5:27 pm • Commentary

Volatile intraday action, and options volumes were dominated by macro trades.

  1. VWO – Huge roll of the VWO Jun 42 puts out to the Jul 40 puts, selling 160k of the Jun to buy 235k of the Jul, around premium neutral.
  2. EEM – Essentially the same trade in EEM (the other emerging market ETF), as 200k of the June 42 puts were rolled down to 235k of the Jul 40.5 puts
  3. SPY – Interesting weekly put activity ahead of payrolls tomorrow, as the weekly 160, 158, and 161 puts all traded over 100k, with buyers dominating.  June22nd 160 puts also traded over 100k.
  4. VXX – Twice the 1 month average volume in VXX options today (and the highest volume in VXX since April).  The weekly 20 puts and Jul 17 puts were the most active lines.
  5. DXJ – Japanese shares were hit especially hard during U.S. hours as the yen ripped higher.  The Jul 47/50 call spread traded 10k times at 0.50.
  6. EWW – Trader sold 27k of the June 73 puts at 7.70 to close, paired against a EWZ trade.
  7. EWZ – Same trader bought 35k of the June 56 puts for 6.00 to close, closing out the pair trade.
  8. JNJ – Buyer of 5k x 10k of the Jul 82.5 / 87.5 1×2 call spread for 1.50, a short vol structure possibly paired against an existing long stock position.
  9. DOLE – Trader close out a risk reversal, selling the Jul 8 puts to close, 17k around 0.05, and bought almost 20k of the Jul 10 calls for 0.25 to close
  10. OXY –  Someone sold 5300 of the Aug 90 calls at 5.85, and 2250 of the Nov 100 calls at 3.40, likely to close.