Major U.S. indices closed at another record high on Friday, and the S&P 500 index is now up 5.5% so far in 2014. Options volumes in single stocks remain subdued, though SPY options volumes picked up on Thursday and Friday.
1. SPY – Options traded about 1.5x the average 1 month volume, with over 2 million puts trading on the day. The Dec20th 155 puts traded over 100k, mostly buyer initiating in the morning, paying 0.91 to open. SPY last traded at $155 or below in April 2013. The next most active lines were the Jun21st 190 puts and the Jun21st 193 calls.
2. F – Calls traded over 200k on the day, as F traded above $17 for the first time since early December. Big roll, as the trader sold 45k of the Sept 17 calls to close and bought 50k of the Sept 18 calls to open, collecting $0.36 for the roll. Ford’s 5 year high is $18.97 from January 2011 (and the one year high is $18.02). With Ford’s rally over the last month, the stock is now up 10.5% in 2014 (compared to GM, which is still down 10.5% year-to-date).
3. QCOM – Large put seller to open, selling 20k of the Jan15 65 puts at 0.82. Trader collects $1.6 million for that put sale. QCOM last traded below $65 in early August. We initiated a new trade in QCOM last week – full details here.
4. JNPR – JNPR has been in a downtrend ever since the stock’s 2 year high of $28.75 set in late January. However, the stock is still up 10% so far in 2014. Seller of 14k of the July 24 puts at 0.37 in the morning. JNPR reports earnings in late July.
5. RAX – Stock has rallied more than $10 from its 52 week low of $26.18 a month ago after the stock announced that it is looking to sell itself. RAX is still down 5% on the year even with the recent rally. Calls were active, trading over 2x the average 1 month volume, with the Jun21st 40 calls, the July 42 calls, and the July 41 calls all trading over 2k on the day, buyers initiating.