Options Flow Recap Oct 10

Macro / Thematic

iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund EFA - 2200 of the November 52 calls were sold at $1.66.
iShares MSCI Japan Index EWJ - 30,000 of the December / March 10 call spreads were bought for $0.20. Likely a roll of a bullish position out to March.
SPDR Gold Trust GLD - 6000 of the November 163 / 171 1x2 call ratio spread was sold at $0.10. The investor bought one 162 call and sold two 171 calls.
Direxion Small Cap Bear 3X Shares TZA - 10,000 of the November 45 / 50 call spread was bought for $3.00. The calls spread appears to be bought to open. (I could see the argument that TZA is at support but risk 3 to make 2? There are better ways to play this)
PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish UUP - 46,300 of the December 22 calls were sold at $0.38.  ($ bounce might be over... traders taking profits)

Option Flow Recap Oct 3rd

Macro / Thematic

IWM – 43,000 x 49,000 of the October 63 / 69 ratio put spread was sold at $3.87 (as if 1 to 1). The trade appears to be a roll down from the October 69 puts to the October 63s.

IYR – 20,000 of the December 60 puts were bought for $10.10. The puts appear to be bought to open.

SPY – 13,000 of the November 100 / October 115 put spread was sold at $3.55. The trade appears to be roll from the October 115 puts down to the November 100 puts.

UNG – 28,000 of the January 10 calls were bought for $0.35 tied to $8.95 stock.

XOP – 10,000 of the December 49 / 43 put spread was sold at $3.65 to buy 20,000 x 30,000 of
the December 40 / 30 ratio put spread for $0.13 (as if 1 to 1) and sold 20,000 of the December 52 calls at $1.12. The ratio put spread collar was an opening transaction.

Morning Note Oct 3rd

October 3, 2011


US equity futures are off the worst levels of the morning following Asia and Europe lower as continuing concerns over the banking sector and slowing global growth are once again highlighted after Greece admitted over the weekend it would miss it's Fiscal targets. With no resolution in sight to the EU debt crisis, anxiety continues to weigh on markets.

Options Flow Recap Sept 12

Macro / Thematic

EFA – 6000 of the September 49 puts were sold at $1.46.

SPY – 6000 of the October 110 puts were sold at $4.00

Options Flow Recap September 1st

Macro / Thematic

IWM - 10,000 of the October 71 / 63 put spread was bought for $2.34.

SPY - 10,400 of the September 102 / 112 put spread bought for $0.45; bought 5000 September 107 puts for $0.30 and bought 10,000 of the September 117 / 108 put spread for $1.00 as a package. 

XLI - 5000 of the December 34 calls were sold at $1.15 tied to stock at $32.16 on a 36 delta.

Consumer

DISH - 10,000 of the January'13 40 calls were bought for $0.95. The trade was tied to 158,000 shares and appears to be to open.

LIZ - 8500 of the October 4 calls were bought for ~$0.30. The calls were bought to open.

ZQK - 2500 of the September 4 calls were bought for $0.375. The calls were bought to open ahead of earnings on September 2nd (before the open)

Energy

BP - 4500 of thre October 34 puts were sold at $0.72. The puts were sold to open.

Industrials / Materials

AUY - 2500 of the January 15 puts were sold at $1.16. The trade was tied to stock at $16.05 on a 35 delta.

DOW - 3000 of the January 26 puts were bought for $2.14. The trade was tied to stock at $28.25 on a 34 delta.

X - 6500 of the October 33 calls were bought for $1.10.

Tech

ALU - 6245 of the December 3.5 puts and 5437 of the December 4 puts were sold at $0.40 and $0.70 respectively. Both trades appear to be sold to open.

LXK - 5200 of the October 32 puts were bought for $1.75. The puts were bought to open.

RIMM - 9200 of the September 29 / 42 risk reversal was bought for $0.27. The risk reversal was tied to 375,000 shares at $32.81

XRX - 15,000 of thhe October 8 / 9 strangle was sold at $0.68. The strangle was sold to open.

Financials

ETFC - 9000 of the September 11 / 13 strangle was sold at $0.78.

ITUB - 4000 of the Janaury'13 20 calls were sold at $2.52. The trade was tied to stock at $19.18.

Healthcare

IRWD -  6100 of the February 17.5 calls were sold at $0.20. The calls were sold to open. 

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.

Options Flow Recap Aug 25th

Macro

iShares Russell 2000 Index (ETF)   IWM: buyer 50,000 Oct 50/63 put spreads for 1.75 to sell 25,000 Oct 78 calls at .54


SPDR S&P 500 ETF   SPY: buyer 22,900 Sep 109/115 qrtly put spread 2x1 for .86


SPY: seller 5,300 Oct 108/114 put spreads at 1.36

Options Flow Recap Aug 17th

Macro / Thematic

QQQ PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 - buyer 17,000 Oct 47/52 put spread for 1.19


SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF   - 46,000 of the October 101 / 107 / 113 put fly was bought for $0.51. The put butterfly was bought to open.

Morning Note

August 16, 2011

US Equity futures are all trading lower despite a 3 day winning streak following a negative opening across Europe after Germany reported much weaker than expected GDP figures (+2.8% y/y vs consensus +3.2%). In addition to earnings, economic data, including July Housing starts followed by July Industrial Production before the opening bell.

Options Flow Recap Aug 15

Macro / Thematic

FXI iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index - 28,500 of the September 40 calls were bought to open for $0.50. A total of 40,609 traded on the day. Also a buyer of 23,000 Nov 42 calls for 65 

IWM iShares Russell 2000 Index – 32,000 of the November 57 / 63 / 69 put fly was bought for $0.62. The put fly was bought to open and has a maximum profit $5.38 if the IWM closes at $63.00 on November expiration, a decline of 12.2% from the current price ($71.76).


GLD SPDR Gold Trust : seller 11,500 Jan 135/150 call spread for 13.10


IYR iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate : seller 5,500 Aug 61 puts, seller 5,500 Sep 56 calls, collecting 7.20

Options Flow Recap Aug 10th

Macro / Thematic

EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx – 76,000 of the September 39 / 36 put spread was bought for $0.87. The trade was tied to stock at $39.50.

SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF: seller 70,000 Sep 112 quarterly puts at 5.84, selling 55,000 Sep 115 quarterly puts at 6.96

SPY: buyer 22,000 Aug 108 puts for 2.05

SPY: seller 15,000 Aug 109 puts at 1.95

Trade of the Day: Halliburton September $50/$55 ratio call spread

The Trade

A trader executed the September $50/$55 ratio call spread 5,000/10,000x for a debit $.24, $240,000 total. The trade is bullish with a zone of profit potential from $50.48 to $59.52.

Total risk for the trade is unlimited or going short at $55. Maximum profit potential is $2,260,000 at $55. The above graph shows this.

A strong name in its sector with call volume nearly 2x daily average. Currently below its 200 day EMA with support near $42, but hit highs near $57 after strong earnings a few weeks ago. This is shown in the chart above.

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.

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.

Options Flow Aug 8

Macro / Thematic

SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF - 20,000 of the September 121 puts were bought for $9.90 tied to $113.50. Separately, 22,900 of the August 117 puts were sold at $5.06 to buy 30,400 of the August 112 puts for $3.01. 33,000 of the August 119 puts were sold to buy 23,000 of both the August 112 and 113 puts.  Also, buyer of 78,000 Aug 123 calls for .45-.50

Options Flow August 3rd

Macro / Thematic

FXI – 20,000 of the November 46 calls were bought for $0.58. The calls were bought to open.

GLD – 10,000 of the August 159 / 167 risk reversal was bought for $0.23

IEF – 1500 of the August 99 puts were bought for $0.475. The puts were bought to open.

SPY – 20,000 of the August 127 / 132 put spread was sold at $3.57.

UUP – 5000 of the January 22 calls were bought for $0.37.

XLI – 10,000 of the September 32 puts were bought for $0.78. 39,000 of the September 34 puts were bought for $1.67. 49,000 of the September 36 puts were sold at $3.10.  Also a buyer of 5,000 Aug 34/35 call spreads for 26

JNK SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond - traded 14 times its usual volume after 10K Jan 10 calls traded on the offer.  There are just under 3K contracts outstanding so most of these trades are opening transactions.  ATM IV is about 10% compared to historical levels of: 8% (30 day), 9% (60 day), 7.8% (120 day).  Currently in the bond fund, there are 3.5K calls outstanding versus 43K puts. 

Options Flow Recap August 2nd

Macro / Thematic

TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Yr Treas.Bond  – 4500 of the December 100 / 95 put spread was bought for $2.52.

SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF: buyer 63,700 Nov 118/124 put spreads for 1.55, 

SPY (qrtly): buyer 30,000 Sep 128 puts to sell 25,000 Sep 132 puts, collecting 1.29, 

SPY: seller 20,000 Aug 128 puts at 2.27, 

SPY: seller 15,000 Aug 125/130 put spreads at 2.30, 

SPY: buyer 10,000 Oct 110/120 put spread vs 128.28, 15 delta for 1.43

(tough to read since they could be hedges on an overall portfolio, profit taking, or rolls) 

UUP PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish – 5000 of the January 22 calls were bought for $0.39.

XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR – 45,000 of the December 13 puts were bought for $0.44.

XOP SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explore & Prod. – 3000 of the August 60 / 65 strangles were sold at $1.95.

GLD SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) - buyer 5,730 Oct 170 calls for 2.28, opening

Morning Note

August 2, 2011

Equity futures indicate a lower opening following yesterday's disappointing ISM number and continued worries over potential US sovereign debt- downgrade.

The debt ceiling deal passes in House with more support than expected. The Senate will vote on debt deal at 12 EST. Given the size of the deal, the question remains whether S&P (or the other rating agencies) still cut the US credit rating.

Italian and Spanish yields hit new highs relative to German Bund yields – yesterday’s sell off blamed on concern that EFSF does not have enough funding.

Options Flow Recap August 1st

Macro / Thematic

EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx – 10,000 of the August 46 / 47 strangle was bought for $1.85, tied to 46.82 stock.

SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF – 30,000 of the August 131 / 121 puts spread was sold to buy the August 125 / 115 put spread with the investor collecting $1.89.

IWM iShares Russell 2000 Index – Over 200,000 of the September 87 calls were bought on the day for $0.24 to $0.26.

UUP PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish – 10,000 of the January 22 calls were bought for $0.22 & 10,000 Dec 21 puts trade on the offer for 55

Morning Note

August 1, 2011

Equity futures are trading well above fair value following the last-minute bipartisan debt agreement, although the risks of debt downgrade are still a possibility. The debt deal still must be approved by the Senate and House. A Senate vote could occur as early as this morning.


WHAT TO WATCH: The House plans votes today and the Senate may follow suit to consider the agreement reached last night to raise the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion and slash government spending by $2.4 trillion or more. An index of U.S. manufacturing probably slipped to 54.5 in July, economists said before the ISM report at 10 a.m. The People�s Bank of China signaled it�s too early to relax monetary policy. The Reserve Bank of Australia will likely keep the overnight cash rate target at 4.75 percent tomorrow, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Options Flow Recap July 25th

Macro / Thematic

FXY CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust - traded over 6x its usual volume after hitting its all time high of 126.25 today.  On the NSYE, someone traded 9K Sep 124 puts on the offer @ $1.10 in an opening transaction.  The trade has a 10 IV with a 33 delta.  If this was a buyer, it looks like they are looking for some downside in the currency after clipping $126.  The trader is not the only one in the boat as the top 9/10 positions right now are in puts: Jan 110P (25K), Jan 100P (9.7K), Jan 90P (6.6K), Sep 117P (4.1K), Jan13 90P (4K), Jan 80P (3.2K), Jan 95P (3.2K).    

XLE Energy Select Sector SPDR – 15,000 of the August 80 / 77 put spread was bought for $1.22.

XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR - 59,000 of the August 15 puts were bought for $0.325.

Options Flow Recap July 21st

Macro / Thematic

SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF: buyer 10,000 Aug 130 puts for 1.10

 XLP Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR : buyer 6900 Aug 33 calls for 05

EWZ iShares MSCI Brazil Index: buyer 2,560 Sep 76 calls for 76

EWJ iShares MSCI Japan Index - 10k Sept 11 calls bot