Options Flow Recap Aug 9th

Macro / Thematic

FXI – 25,000 of the January 36 puts were bought for $3.10. The trade was tied too 1.12 million shares at $36.71.

IYR – 50,000 of the December 50 puts were sold at $3.30.

SPY – 30,000 of the August 109 / 116 put spread were sold at $2.67 following the release of the FOMC statement.

XRT – 28,500 of the September 58 calls were bought for $1.50.

VIX saw 168% the normal volume with 568K calls and 324K puts traded.  Some large trades in the pit:

·         Seller 11,500 Aug 40 calls at 1.95 (4K), at 2.00 (5K), at 2.20 (2.5K)
·         Buyer 7,000 Sep 45 calls for 1.175
·         Seller 6,200 Dec 75 calls at .10
·         Seller 6,000 Dec 55 calls at .50
·         Buyer 5,000 Oct 24/Sep 25 put spread for .10
·         Seller 4,500 Nov 60 calls at .70
·         Buyer 4,000 Aug 35/37.5 call spread for .70
·         Seller 4,000 Oct 30 calls at 3.30
·         Seller 2,500 Aug 30 calls at 4.90
·         Seller 2,000 Aug 22.5/Sep 32.5 call spreads at 8.25
·         Seller 2,000 Aug 37.5 calls at 2.25

V Changes

Largest IV Increases: FXF, RADS, OIL, VGL, FXY, GLL< GLD, FXA, DMD

Largest IV Decreases: MR, HK, WYN, MFA, FAZ, XLF, MAKO, FAS, HCBK, TTWO

Consumer

KO The Coca-Cola Company – 10k of the January 67.5 calls were sold at $2.50. The position was tied to 400k shares at $65.21.

NWS News Corporation – 18,900 of the October 6 calls were sold at $0.625. The calls were sold to open.

SPLS Staples, Inc. – 13,300 of the January’13 15 calls were bought for $1.45. The calls were bought to open.

Energy

HAL  Halliburton Company– 5000 of the September 50 / 55 1x2 call ratio spread was bought for $0.36. The position appears to be to open.

SD SandRidge Energy Inc. – 10k of the September 9 calls were sold at $0.40. The position was tied to 320,000 shares at $7.34.

WFT Weatherford International Ltd.  – 14,100 of the August 18 / September 17 call spread was bought for $0.94.

Industrials / Materials

ABX Barrick Gold Corporation – 4750 of the January 42 / 50 strangle was bought for $5.95. The strangle appeared to be bought to open. Separately, 5000 of the January 46 puts were bought for $4.55.

MTW Manitowoc Company, Inc. – 850 of the September / December 15 call spreads were bought for $0.42. The December 15 calls traded 13,720 times and mostly appear to be opening activity.

VALE Vale (ADR)  – 3500 of the March 25 puts were bought for $3.15. The puts were bought to open.

GG Goldcorp Inc. - buyer 2,315 Jan 70 calls for 52

GD General Dynamics - a $22B U.S. Navy (primary) contractor for submarines, saw 10000 Jan13 90 calls purchased for 0.7 this morning, which sent the total option volume of SD today 9 times its average daily volume.  The second most active contract was Jan13 70C traded for 4.05, 6000X.  GD closed up 1.62 to 62.42.  This activity looks like a positive reaction to yesterday's news that Jason W. Aiken was appointed CFO of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (part of GD) on September 1st.  The stock traded between 58.12 and 62.56 today and its 52 week range is 55.46 – 78.27.  In September of 2010, it was trading in the $60 level and has been on the climb since then.  The top open interest position in GD right now are the Jan13 90 calls (10K) followed by the Jan 65P (5.3K).  The company reported on July 27^th and they announced 1.79 versus estimates of 1.724.

Tech

EQIX Equinix, Inc.  – 4600 of the August 75 puts were sold at $0.70. The position appears to be to open.

INTC Intel Corporation  – 34,000 of the September 20 straddle was sold at $1.90. The position was sold to open and tied to 325,000 shares at $20.36.

Financials

BX The Blackstone Group L.P.  – 31,000 of the January’13 15 calls were bought for $2.00 against a sale of 71,000 of the January’13 20 calls at $0.80. The trade appears to be to open.

WFC Wells Fargo & Company – 15,000 of the WFC January 25 / 30 call spread was bought for $1.79. The position was tied to 450,000 of the $24.02 and traded 30 minutes prior to the FOMC announcement.

Healthcare

BSX Boston Scientific Corporation  – 3000 of the January 6 / 7.5 1x2 ratio call spread was bought for $0.23.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/ 


 *Special thanks to Option Radar, BMO Capital, MEB Options, Bloomberg, Reuters, Optionistics, LiveVolPro, CBOE, AMEX, Option Monster, T.O.P. group, and all of the options desks and traders we work with to provide the option flow! 


 No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.