Option Flow Recap Feb 22

Macro / Thematic

SPY - 5,000 April 130 / 122 put spreads bought for $1.33

EEM - March 43 / 38 puts spread traded was bought 30,000x for $0.93

XLI – 9200 April 37 puts were bought for $1.15.

IWM – 10,000 March 81 puts were sold at $1.96.

Consumer

SVU – 17,000 of the March 8 puts were sold at $0.15.

TGT – 10,000 of the March 52.5 puts were sold at $2.06

COST – 18,000 March / July 70 put spreads were bought for $1.66. It appears to be an investor rolling out a hedge to July.

ORLY – 5000 of the March 55 puts were sold at $1.15 to open.

Energy

HERO – 10,000 January 2.5 puts were bought for $0.25

LNG - 4000 June 13.0 Calls were bought for $0.70 to open.

MRO – 10,000 April 43 / 50 call spread appeared to be sold 10,000x

Industrials / Materials

GR – 4000 March 90 calls appear to have been bought for $0.75. This comes a week after the company announced plans to increase its stock repurchase plan to $1.1 billion from $500 million.

IP – 6300 March 27 puts were bobught for $0.75 to open.

IVN – 2000 September 21 puts were sold at $ 1.05 to open

Tech

HPQ – 2500 March 48 / 45 1x2 put ratio spread was bought for $0.43. It appears to be a short term hedge going into earnings.

CVC - 20,000 June 38 / 42 call spreads appeared to be bought for 1.80. It appears to be an investor rolling an overwrite to a higher strike.

T – 1000 January’13 25 / 35 call spreads were bought for $3.32.

Financials

BAC – 5,000 March 13 synthectic shorts went off for10,000 April 13 puts were bought via a multi exchange sweep for $0.29.  

BX – 4800 January’12 15 calls were sold at $3.40

Healthcare

CLDA – Following the news that FRX is buying the company for $30. An investor bought the June 31 /30 puts spread for $0.725, 10,500x.

*Special thanks to Flotilla Partners, Option Radar, BMO Capital, MEB Options, LiveVolPro, CBOE, Option Monster, 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.

EEM Put Fly Buyer

Today we saw @RMBrenna tweet about a buy of the EEM Jun $36 Puts. When reviewing LiveVolPro for some background, we saw another interesting trade that stood out from the rest of the order flow.

The trader stepped in and bought a Mar 40/43/46 put fly 5,000x for a 65c debit. Note the elevated vol in the April series relative to May. Skew chart provided by LivevolPro

EEM has been consolidating since November, after having made a run from around $40 in August to $48 at the end of October. Check out the chart below from LivevolPro

The trader will win out with the stock at $43 by March expiration. The $43 level would be very close to the 61.8% retrace from the swing high as shown above. As a trade, it is an interesting way to gain exposure to the downside while being short vol.

Option Flow Recap for Febuary 9 2011

Macro / Thematic

IWM – 30,000 of the April 72 puts were bought for $0.95 to open.

GDX – 10,000 of the February11 (weekly) / February (regular expiration) 57 call spread was bought for $0.43. The weekly option appeared sold at $0.25 to open and the regular February option appeared bought for $0.68 to open. The investor is betting the shares of GDX remain below 57 for the rest of the week before moving higher into next week’s expiration.

FXI - 7,500 Feb 41/42 put sreads bot to open

EEM - 20,000 May 36 puts sold @ .40 10,000 April 43 puts bought @ 1.1 (possible roll up and out)

Consumer

JCP – Over 5000 of the March 35 / 31 1x2 put spreads were bought to open as the stock hits a new 52-week high. The trade appears to be a short term hedge as the stock has made a 15.6% move over the past four days.

M – Options were active in Macy’s today with almost 20,000 calls and 7700 puts trading. Most of the early action was bullish with call buyers active in the February 25 and 26 calls.

SCSS – An investor sold 6000 June 7.50 puts at 0.275

F – 15,000 March / May 17 call spreads traded for $0.48. The trade appears to be a roll out two months.

SLE – 17,000 March 17 puts appeared bought today (99% traded on the offer). The company’s stock has been under pressure since the company announced that it was planning to split into separate companies rather than put itself up for sale.

BBBY - 1500 March 50 calls bought at $1.18

Energy

EPD – Bearish trade in Enterprise Products Partners where May 40 - 44 bullish risk reversal, bought at 40 cents, 3800x after news of a fire at a Houston plant.

SOLR – February 10 calls were active today with 6500 trading on the day. While early action appeared to be call buyers, the overall action appeared to be both ways.

PPL – 800 July 24 puts were sold to open at $1.05

HNP – 700 March 22.5 calls were sold $0.30.

TMT

ATML – Bullish post earnings trade: 25,000 lot block of May 17 calls bought for 1.40 versus a sale of 15,000 Feb 13 calls for 3.40.

NOK – 6000 July 10 / 8 put spreads were bought for $0.275

ALU – February 3.5 calls are active today with 7800 trading. The company reports tomorrow 2/10.

NTAP – 8000 of the February 65 calls appeared sold at $0.35. earnings on 2/16

YHOO – 10,000 April 17 / Jan 17.5 call spread was bought for $1.10,

Industrials / Materials

USG - An investor apparently sold 2,250 February 17.5 calls at $1.425 to appear to buy to open a May 19 / 22.5 calls spread for $1.30

PCX – 4000 March 25 calls were bought for $1.40

YRCW – 37,000 April 2.5 puts were bought for $0.27. The puts were bought to open

Financials

CBOE – Speculative call buying was active in CBOE following news the NYSE Euronext (NYX) and Deutsche Boerse are in advance merger talks. Almost 15,000 calls and 5000 puts traded on the day. 

KFN - Buyer of 3k March 10 calls @ $0.60 and 5k March 11 calls @ $0.20

Healthcare

THC – Over 5000 of the March 7 calls appeared bought in a multi exchange sweep.

*Special thanks to Option Radar, BMO Capital, LiveVolPro, CBOE, Option Monster, and all of the options desks and traders we work with for pointing out the option flow!