Too Many Options: $F, $EBAY, $AAPL, $DE, $HYG, $GLD

All of the major indices made new intraday all-time highs in the U.S. (except the Nasdaq, which is still below its high from the year 2000), though the Russell 2000 and the DJIA closed below their prior highs by the close.

1.  F – Rolling calls out, as a trader sold 50,000 of the Sept 18 calls at .28 to close, and bought 20k of the Jan15 18 calls for .63 to open when stock was 17.26.  F has not traded above $18 since January 2011.  The stock is up 11.5% in 2014.

2.  EBAY – The Jul19th 49/52.5 1×2 call spread traded 16.5k x 33k in the morning at a price of 1.00.  EBAY rallied above $50 yesterday for the first time since early June, approaching the declining 50 day moving average near $51.  The company reports earnings on July 16th.  We have this trade in EBAY.

3.  AAPL – Bullish roll in AAPL as it approaches the prior highs.  A trader sells 7,000 of the Jul19th 92.14 calls at 2.57 to close and buys 4800 of the Jul19th 95.71 calls for 0.88, also to close (so sold call spread), and bought to open 4500 of the Aug16th 97.86 calls for 1.84 and bought 150,000 shares for 93.97.

4.  DE –  Options volume in DE ended the day at about 4x the average 1 month volume. Someone bought 10k of the Sept 90 puts, paying 2.75 to open.  The Sept 97.5 calls were the second most active line trading over 4k at an average price of 0.50.  DE is down 1% year-to-date and reports earnings in mid-August.  

5.  HYG – There was a fairly bearish roll in HYG Sept puts yesterday.  Someone sold 13,000 of the Sept 90 puts at 0.35 to close, and bought 6,000 of the Sept 93 puts for 0.90 and 7,000 of the Sept 94 puts for 1.25 to open, so rolling the strikes up.

6.  GLD – A trader closes a bullish GLD 1 x 1.5 call spread, selling 5k of the Aug 128 calls at 2.18, and buying 7500 of the Aug 130 calls for 1.38.  GLD has found resistance near $128 this week.