Another low volume day for the market (the S&P 500 index has been in a 45 handle range for the past 2 weeks), and most of the options volume was once again in ETFs.
1. GLD – Gold hit its highest level in 3 weeks, though it stalled at its 50 day moving average, now near $127. Buyer of 10k of the July 129 calls for 2.10 in the morning, and more buying later in the day at 1.98. Over 20k traded in total. GLD last traded above $129 in mid-March, though it is up almost 10% year-to-date.
2. XRT – Buyer of 10k x 20k of the May23rd 83/80 1×2 put spread for $0.44 to open. XRT is trading right around its 200 day moving average, and the retail ETF is currently down 3.5% year-to-date. We discussed the longer-term outlook for XRT in last week’s Macro Wrap.
3. S – Trader rolled the May 7 calls out to the Aug 8 calls 46k times for 0.38. The Aug 7 puts also traded 46k times for 0.31. S introduced a cheaper plan in the pay-as-you-go market to compete with TMUS, likely in an effort by Sprint’s owner, billionaire Masayoshi Son, to show regulators that a merger with TMUS will not hurt consumers.
4. BTU – Seller of 20k of the June 20 calls at 0.31. BTU had its first negative 1%+ day since April 11th, though the recent strong run since mid-March has not mitigated all of BTU’s losses year-to-date, as the stock is still down around 5% in 2014. $17-$18 is important support after the strong volume on earnings.
5. NVDA – Company reports earnings on Thursday after the close. NVDA is up 16% already in 2014. Buyer of around 10k of the weekly 19 calls throughout the day for an average price of 0.38.