Here is some generally directional, untied options activity that caught my eye during Wednesday’s trading:
1. USO – the etf that tracks the price of wti crude saw continued put buying on a day that saw a 3% gain in the commodity. When the etf was 17.
2. AMAT – saw some way out of the money call buying,
3. INVN – saw opening put buying. When the stock was 15 a trader paid 1.
4. RAD – saw some call buying. When the stock was 8.
5. MU – reported Most active were May $27 Puts and May $30 Calls and the largest trade was a 7,023 lot of May $27 Puts.
after Wednesday’s close. Before then there was a lot of positioning in the options market.6. CBS – saw some bullish activity. A trader bought 8400 of the June 67.5 calls for 75 cents. More than 11,000 traded on the day. Also, a trader bought 10,000 of the Jan 52.5/65 risk reversals (bullish) for 77 cents. CBS reports earnings on May 7 and the stock is at a very important technical spot after having sold off to its 50 day moving average (and held for now) yesterday:
7. JCP – Financial media seems to have forgotten this story but it certainly looks like options activity is heating up as the stock tries to break out from its recent low range. Over 40,000 calls traded in general (5 times normal) and there was a large print in the Jan’17 4 puts as nearly 10,000 were purchased for .45. Those breakeven at 3.55! (the stock closed at 8.90) Those are more likely some sort of disaster protection against a long that a lotto ticket.