Monday’s Notable Options Activity: $CMCSA, $WMT, $BABA, $AMAT, $COH, $BBRY

by Enis November 11, 2014 6:41 am • Commentary

Single stock options volumes were a bit more active yesterday even though overall stock volumes remained anemic.

1.  CMCSA – The April 57.50 / 62.50 call spread trades 80k at 0.825 near the close, looks like to close based on existing open interest of around 90k.  CMCSA closed down 4% yesterday after the President pushed for Net Neutrality in the FCC’s upcoming decision.  Our CotD post offers more details.

2.  WMT – Buyer of 18k of the Jan15 82.5 calls for 0.64 to open.  WMT neared a 6 month high around $80 yesterday, and closed within 3% of its all-time high from late 2013 of $81.37.  The company reports earnings on Thursday, Nov. 13th before the open.

3.  BABA – BABA calls traded very actively as the stock closed Monday 4% higher.  The weekly 120 call line was the most active, trading over 20k.  Farther out in maturity, the Dec 120 and the Jan15 125 call lines both traded over 10k.  30 day implied volatility closed around 45, near the level it was prior to earnings last week.  CC discussed how to handle the recent BABA call butterfly idea in yesterday’s post.

4.  AMAT – Bullish call roll in AMAT.  Trader sold 10,000 of the Jan15 22 calls at 1.70 to close and bought 11,500 of the Apr 24 calls for 1.42 to open when the stock was 22.62.  30 day implied volatility is at a 2 year high in the mid-40’s ahead of the earnings announcement on Thursday.

5.  COH – Trader sold 17,000 of the Jan15 31 puts at 0.50 to close, when the stock was 33.96.  COH hit its lowest level since 2009 last week.

6.  BBRY – Calls were active as BBRY closed at a 3 month high.  The Nov14th weekly 9.5 and 11 calls saw active call buying, with 4k and 2k bought to open respectively.