Demand for Puts Pops at Regions Financial as Shares Slide Lower
by Andrew Wilkinson - November 18th, 2010 4:25 pm
Today’s tickers: RF, YHOO, ORLY, CTV, HNZ, STX, SMH & GT
RF - Regions Financial Corp. – Bears are piling into put options on Regions Financial Corp. today after Fitch Ratings cut Alabama’s biggest lender by two levels to –BBB, citing concerns the firm may post additional losses. Regions’ credit rating was also downgraded two notches to Ba3 from Ba1 at Moody’s yesterday. Shares have been hammered lower over the past four weeks, and today declined as much as 7.22% to touch an intraday- and new 52-week low of $5.14. Today’s low of $5.14 marks a 46.5% decline since October 21, 2010, when shares touched an intraday high of $7.53. Investors expecting shares to extend losses over the next several months purchased large numbers of put options on the stock. Bearish players picked up at least 9,000 puts at the December $5.0 strike for an average premium of $0.28 each and purchased approximately 10,000 puts at the lower December $4.0 strike at an average premium of $0.20 apiece. Lower-strike put buyers are positioned to profit should Regions’ shares slide another 26% below today’s intraday low point of $5.14 to breach the effective breakeven point on the downside at $3.80 by expiration day in December. Pessimism spread to the January 2011 $4.0 strike where another 3,800 put options were coveted at an average premium of $0.20 a-pop. The surge in demand for put options coupled with growing uncertainty regarding the fate of RF’s shares going forward helped lift the stock’s overall reading of options implied volatility 27.4% to 90.77% by 3:50 pm in New York.
YHOO - Yahoo!, Inc. – Shares in Yahoo! are up 5.35% to $17.01 as of 2:40 pm in New York, but earlier rallied as much as 6.315% to hit an intraday high of $17.17. Call options on…
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Bull Buys Debit Call Spread on Bank of New York Melon Corp.
by Andrew Wilkinson - May 27th, 2010 4:24 pm
Today’s tickers: BK, CHRS, YHOO, WFC, RF, NTAP & BPOP
BK – Bank of New York Mellon Corp. – Global financial services company, Bank of New York Mellon, received a vote of confidence by one options investor who appears to be positioning for a significant increase in the firm’s share price by July expiration. BK’s shares are currently trading 1.75% higher on the day to stand at $27.82 as of 12:20 pm (ET). It looks like the bullish trader purchased a debit call spread, buying roughly 12,500 calls at the July $29 strike for a premium of $0.94 apiece, and selling about the same number of calls at the higher July $32 strike for a premium of $0.14 each. Net premium paid for the spread amounts to $0.80 per contract. The call spreader makes money if shares of the underlying stock rally at least 7.1% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $29.80 by expiration day in a couple of months. Shares must surge 15% over the current value of the stock and exceed $32.00 each in order for the investor to pocket maximum potential profits of $2.20 per contract by July expiration. BK’s shares last traded above $32.00 on April 29, 2010, when the stock touched an intraday high of $32.17. The current 52-week high for shares of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is $32.65, attained on April 13, 2010.
CHRS – Charming Shoppes, Inc. – Optimistic options traders are selling short put options on Charming Shoppes just one week before the firm is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings before the opening bell on Thursday June 3, 2010. Charming Shoppes, Inc. is a multi-brand apparel retailer with market share in women’s plus-size specialty apparel. Investors exchanged 6,981 contracts on the stock by 12:30 pm (ET), which is more than 6.3 times greater than previously existing overall open interest of 1,106 contracts. Bullish trading patterns initiated on CHRS were perhaps inspired by the 4.6% jump in the price of the underlying stock to $4.79. Investors sold approximately 5,600 in-the-money puts at the October $5.0 strike to pocket an average premium of $0.77 per contract. Put sellers keep the full premium received on the sale if shares of the underlying stock rally above $5.00 by expiration. Charming Shoppes’ shares traded above $5.00 as recently as May 20, 2010, when the stock touched an intraday high of $5.08. Investors short the…
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Options on Emerging Markets Index fly Amid New 52-week High
by Andrew Wilkinson - April 6th, 2010 4:05 pm
Today’s tickers: EEM, CNX, GDX, EK, IYR, CMC, SYNA, RF, BP & IGT
EEM – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF – Shares of the emerging markets fund, which tracks the price and yield performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, rallied 0.40% to touch a new 52-week high of $43.79 during the trading session. Options players have exchanged more than 315,000 option contracts on the fund with less than two hours remaining the trading day. A number of options players appear to be bracing for a potential pullback in the price per share of the emerging markets fund, while other investors may be positioning to benefit from greater options implied volatility on the fund during the next several months. One trader enacted a three-legged bearish options combination play in the May contract. The options investor sold 10,000 calls at the May $47 strike for a premium of $0.26 apiece in order to partially finance the purchase of a debit put spread. On the put side, the trader picked up 10,000 lots at the May $41 strike for a premium of $0.60 each, and sold the same number of puts at the lower May $37 strike for $0.16 apiece. The net cost of the bearish transaction amounts to $0.18 per contract. Therefore, the investor is prepared to accrue maximum potential profits of $3.82 per contract if shares of the EEM plummet 15.4% from the new high of $43.74 to reach the lower strike price of $37.00 by May expiration. Further along in the June contract, another options player appears to have invested in a long straddle on the fund. The trader responsible for the straddle purchased 10,000 calls at the June $44 strike for a premium of $1.75 apiece in combination with the purchase of 10,000 in-the-money puts at the same strike for a premium of $2.06 each. Net premium paid by the investor amounts to $3.81 per contract. The nature of the straddle strategy indicates the trader expects the price of the underlying fund to shift dramatically in either direction ahead of June expiration. The investor makes money if shares surge at least 9.3% to exceed the upper breakeven point at $47.81, or if shares decline at least 8.1% to breach the lower breakeven price of $40.19, by expiration day in June.
CNX – Consol Energy Inc. – Multi-fuel energy producer and energy services provider, Consol Energy, Inc., attracted…
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Bearish Put Butterfly Spread Materializes on Emerging Markets Fund
by Andrew Wilkinson - March 10th, 2010 4:13 pm
Today’s tickers: EEM, GE, PXD, STI, VLO, UPS, RF, NWL, HNT & FFIV
EEM – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF – A contrarian options trader established a large-volume bearish put butterfly spread in the June contract this afternoon even though shares of the emerging markets exchange-traded fund, which looks for investment results that correlate to the price and yield performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets index (an index designed by MSCI as an equity benchmark for international stock performance), are trading 0.65% higher to $41.47 as of 2:30 pm (ET). The massive pessimistic play yields maximum benefits to its owner if shares of the underlying stock plummet more than 15.50% from the current price to $35.00 by June expiration. The investor enacted the butterfly by purchasing 20,000 puts at the June $31 strike for a premium of $0.24 apiece [wing 1] in conjunction with the purchase of another 20,000 puts at the higher June $39 strike for $1.41 each [wing 2]. Finally, the body of the butterfly spread involved the sale of 40,000 puts at the central June $35 strike for a premium of $0.58 apiece. The net cost of the ‘fly amounts to just $0.49 per contract. Therefore, the bearish player is positioned to reel in maximum potential profits of $3.51 per contract – total net profits of $7.02 million – should shares of the underlying fund slip to $35.00 by expiration day. Shares of the EEM must surrender at least 7% of their current value by June expiration in order for the investor to breakeven at $38.51. The transaction is a very efficient way for this investor to establish a pessimistic stance on the emerging markets fund because maximum potential gains trump maximum possible losses on the position. The parameters of the butterfly spread represent a reward-to-risk ratio of more than 7-to-1.
GE – General Electric Co. – The diverse conglomerate’s shares are standing 0.30% higher on the day at $16.55 with one hour remaining in the trading session. General Electric’s shares have rebounded 6.30% in the past month since dipping to $15.57 on February 12, 2010, but one big options strategist is positioning for continued bullish momentum in the price of the underlying stock through expiration in May. The optimistic investor initiated a large-volume bullish risk reversal play by shedding 20,000 puts at the June $15 strike for an average premium of $0.37 apiece, spread against…
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Weak Weekly Wrap-Up
by Phil - November 21st, 2009 8:26 am
This chart says it all (thanks Jesse).
In last week’s wrap-up I said: "Since early September our upside targets for the indexes have been: Dow 10,087, S&P 1,096, Nasdaq 2,173, NYSE 7,204 and Russell 623 and nothing has happened to change our fundamental outlook for the better so the closer we get to those levels, the LESS comfortable we are taking bullish positions." I mentioned how tempting it had been to cash out all our longs and go 100% bearish when we hit 10,300. Our downside levels told us to wait until the 16th, when Monday’s move up was finally the last straw and we are out of the bull game (our last major Buy List was July 11th and most picks are up over 100%), probably for the rest of the year.
This chart shows you that the S&P is primed for a 5% correction back to 1,050. I don’t know why Jesse didn’t extend out the lower support line, which would take us right about to my pullback target of S&P 1,000/Dow 9,650. I stuck my neck out on TV two weeks ago, calling for a 10% correction to those levels but we’ve been playing both sides of the fence until this week, when I finally had to put my foot down on Monday, after having discussed cashing out for the holidays in Member Chat over the weekend. Our general plan this week was to cash out the winners and leave only longer-term, hedged bullish plays while adding more speculative downside plays for the short-term correction.
Why the change of heart? Well, something you don’t see on this chart but is pretty clear on the Yahoo monthly view, is that virtually all of the gains (ALL of them if you include the spikes) in the Dow for the ENTIRE month of November have come on single days each week. This week it was Monday (139 points), last week Monday (206 points) and Nov 5th was Wednesday (198 points). Take those days out of the run from our Oct 30th close at 9,712 and we’re up just 63 points to 9,975 despite there being only 1 losing day in the first week (11/3, down 16 points) of the month and one losing day in the second (Nov 12th, down 92 points). That is one super-flimsy way to build a "rally" don’t you think?
Getting 90% of our gains in on 3 days in 3 weeks indicates a certain lack of follow-through to these bullish market moves. I…
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Option Trader Prescribes Bullish Risk Reversal on CVS
by Andrew Wilkinson - November 19th, 2009 5:43 pm
Today’s tickers: CVS, LIZ, ITMN, MA, V, RF, KG, HW, WSM, AEP & NTAP
CVS – CVS Caremark Corp. – Shares of the pharmacy retail chain are up 1.5% to $31.11 perhaps due, in part, to the ‘buy’ rating it received at UBS today. Optimistic options activity took place in the December contract as one investor initiated a bullish risk reversal. It appears the trader sold 4,400 puts at the December 31 strike for an average premium of 94 cents apiece in order to finance the purchase of the same number of calls at the higher December 32 strike for 63 cents each. The investor pockets a 31 cent credit on the trade, which he retains in full as long as shares remain above $31.00 through expiration. Additional profits accumulate if CVS’s shares rally above $32.00.
LIZ – Liz Claiborne, Inc. – A 15,000-lot covered call in the January 2011 contract on Liz Claiborne today suggests shares are likely to recover, albeit at a glacial pace. Shares of the apparel and accessories retailer suffered a 5% decline to $4.55 during the trading session. One investor effectively purchased shares of the underlying stock for $3.30 apiece by selling 15,000 calls at the January 2011 5.0 strike for a premium of 1.25 each. Thus, the trader stands ready to accrue gains of 51% if shares of LIZ appreciate to $5.00 by expiration. The long-term positioning of the covered call play provides several advantages to the investor. One advantage is that the call options do not expire for another 13 months, which leaves ample time for LIZ’s shares to appreciate up to the strike price of $5.00. The 15,000-lot call transaction represents nearly 50% of the total existing open interest on LIZ of 31,502 contracts. Note that shares last traded above $5.00 yesterday at approximately 10:35 am (EDT).
ITMN – InterMune, Inc. – A bull call spread on the biotechnology company today suggests shares could rally significantly by expiration in April 2010. Bullish options activity on the stock belies the more than 3% decline in ITMN’s shares during the session to $10.94. The call spread involved the purchase of 3,750 calls at the April 15 strike for an average premium of 2.25 each, marked against the sale of the same number of calls at the higher April 25 strike for 75 cents apiece. The net cost of the transaction amounts to 1.50 per…
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Sizeable Combination Trade in Regions Financial
by Andrew Wilkinson - October 1st, 2009 4:31 pm
Today’s tickers: RF, GNW, EEM, RHT, MRVL, CMCSA & LEAP
RF - Banking services firm, Regions Financial, jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this afternoon after one investor exchanged 120,000 option contracts on the stock. The investor made bullish moves on RF despite the more than 3.5% decline in shares to $5.97. It appears the trader sold puts short 40,000 times at the May 6.0 strike for an average premium of 1.30 apiece, in order to finance the purchase of a bull call spread. The investor constructed the spread by buying 40,000 calls at the January 6.0 strike for one dollar each and simultaneously selling 40,000 calls at the higher January 10 strike for 12 pennies apiece. The trader receives a net credit of 42 cents per contract on the three-legged strategy. He retains the full credit of $1,680,000 as long as shares remain higher than $6.00 through expiration in May of 2010. However, additional profits are available if shares of Regions Financial rally by expiration in January. Maximum potential profits on the call spread amount to 4.0 per contract – or a total of $16,000,000 – if shares of RF surge 68% from the current price to $10.00 before the calls expire in January. – Regions Financial Corp. –
GNW - The financial security company experienced a more than 5.5% decline in shares to arrive at the current price of $11.28. Bearish investors active on GNW today exchanged more than 3.5 put options to every single call option in play on the stock. One investor took a long-term pessimistic stance by initiating a ratio calendar spread. The transaction involved the purchase of 10,000 puts at the December 10 strike for an average premium of 1.22 per contract, spread against the sale of 15,000 puts at the lower January 2011 7.5 strike for 1.70 each. The investor takes a credit on the trade because he received richer option premium on the sale of a greater number of puts set to expire in January 2011. The placement of this trade suggests the investor is bracing for potential declines in GNW through expiration in December. – Genworth Financial, Inc. –
EEM - Shares of the emerging markets exchange-traded fund have dipped 2.5% lower to $37.90, prompting one trader to establish a bearish risk reversal in the January contract. The trader targeted the January 38 strike to sell 12,000 just out-of-the-money…
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$101,674 Portfolio Update – Week 3
by Phil - September 13th, 2009 8:26 am
Slow and steady wins the race!
We had a big run and capped our gains a little early for the week by doubling up on our PSQ (short Nasdaq) calls on Thursday’s mad run. This did the job of locking in our profits but that hedge is now making up $450 of losses, which is 1/3 of all our losses for the month. Still we managed to gain $396 for the week with still just $28,537 in positions so that’s another 1% for the week, a pretty good clip…
I am happy to say that our $100K Portfolio is now live and available on WallStreetSurvivor.com at:
We’re actually well ahead of our cash goal as we also have $86,101 in cash along with our $28,537 in positions with $13,768 in margin devoted to some of the longer hedges we’ve sold. That leaves us with $147,935 in margin buying power and we’re going to use it to do a few "stupid option tricks" into expirations that should pick us up a little extra cash over the next 5 days and Wednesday or Friday we must expect to make our rolling moves for the current month and I’ll be sending out Alerts to Members later in the week. For now, we are very happy with all of our current positions as we have 16 winners and just 7 losers – that’s very good for a well-hedged portfolio…- AMZN has a great premium and selling 5 $85 calls for $1.25 and 5 $85 puts for $1.75 (any
…
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Tech Back in Demand as Call Buyers Line Up at XLK
by Andrew Wilkinson - September 11th, 2009 4:39 pm
Today’s tickers: XLK, RF, NBR, MCD, KEY, MGM, HBAN & LVS
XLK - The tech-sector exchange-traded fund attracted a hoard of call buyers this afternoon amid a less than 0.5% decline in shares during the session to $20.62. Traders expecting upward momentum in the price of the stock looked to the December 22 strike price where approximately 35,000 call options were purchased for an average premium of 43 cents per contract. Investors will turn a profit on the calls if shares of the XLK rise 9% from the current level to surpass the breakeven price of $22.43 by expiration in December. – Technology Select Sector SPDR –
RF - Investors exhibited near-term bearish sentiment on RF today by piling into put options on the stock. Shares of Regions Financial have slipped 1% lower today to stand at the current price of $5.54. The heaviest volume was observed at the September 5.0 strike where about 31,000 puts look to have been purchased for an average premium of 11 cents apiece. More pessimistic traders looked to the lower October 4.0 strike to get long of 3,100 puts valued at 10 cents per contract. Perhaps traders exhibiting such behavior are long shares of the underlying stock. If this is the case, the put action was inspired by traders seeking downside protection through expiration next Friday and through October’s expiration day. – Regions Financial –
NBR The largest onshore drilling firm edged onto our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner today due to call action in the October contract. Investors were apparently not discouraged from taking bullish stances on the stock even though shares are currently lower by about 1% to $18.84. Approximately 6,000 calls were coveted at the October 20 strike for an average premium of 95 cents apiece. Traders long the calls are hoping to see shares rally about 11% higher by expiration so that they may begin to garner profits above the breakeven point at $20.95. – Nabors Industries Limited –
MCD - Traders hungry for calls – or perhaps a Big Mac – placed bullish bets on the golden arches using options despite a 1% decline in the price of its shares to $54.36. Nearer-term optimism was observed at the October 60 strike where approximately 4,500 calls were pocketed for an average premium of 12 cents per contract. Perhaps the continued rise in unemployment has helped fuel bullish sentiment on the fast…
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Penn Gaming joins casino-movers – put options in action
by Andrew Wilkinson - May 26th, 2009 5:59 pm
Today’s tickers: PENN, CIT, EXPE, RF, XRT, FITB, UNH, UNG & MU
PENN – Shares of the gaming and racing company have lifted 8% to $30.79 amid gains experienced by a number of casino operators today. PENN edged onto our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner after one investor initiated a put spread in the October contract. The spread was established through the purchase of 6,550 puts at the October 25 strike price for 2.02 each against the sale of 6,550 puts at the lower October 20 strike for a premium of 79 cents. The net cost of the transaction amounts to 1.23 and yields a maximum potential profit of 3.77 if shares declined to $20.00 by expiration. Such a trade could represent downside protection by an individual who is long the stock. Or, it could potentially represent a medium-term bearish position by a trader hoping to profit in the event of a 22% decline in shares through the breakeven point at $23.77 by expiration. – Penn National Gaming, Inc.
CIT – The bank holding company’s shares have rallied nearly 7% to $3.38 today, attracting some bullish option players seeking to benefit from further gains in the stock. Call-volume at the near-term June 5.0 strike price ballooned upward by more than 48,000 as investors purchased at least 37,200 contracts for an average premium of 23 cents each. The calls will begin to yield profits to investors if the underlying shares can increase 55% from the current price and surpass the breakeven point at $5.23 by expiration. Optimism spread to the July 5.0 strike where 5,500 calls were coveted for 40 cents apiece. Finally, the October 5.0 strike attracted some bullish action as well as some 2,000 calls appear to have been bought for 65 cents per contract. Option implied volatility climbed as high as 192% during the trading day up from Friday’s closing value of 151%. – CIT Group, Inc.
EXPE– Shares of the online travel company have climbed more than 6% to $15.88 amid renewed takeover chatter reported by one source. Option traders on EXPE have braced themselves for bullish movement in the stock as some 2,300 calls were purchased at the near-term June 17.5 strike price for an average premium of 35 cents per contract. In order to profit from a long-call position by expiration shares of Expedia must double today’s rally in order to breach the…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(