Selling Still The Word On Options Boulevard
Options players continued along
what
has become a well-beaten path this Thursday morning, with call-sellers coming
out in force. Put sellers are also rattling their sabers, as traders elect to
collect premium while the market bucks and whipsaws. Tech activity is heavy as usual, with call-sellers especially dominant. Order volume began with a modest pre-bell level and remains low after the
first hour of trading. (Registering a 22 on our scale of 1-100)
Let’s
look at the tale the numbers tell…
Pre-open
order volume was light today. In the overall market, call sellers led buyers at
2:1, and put sellers led buyers at 3:2. No
big surprises in the top-five order-volume leaders today:
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
JNPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). In CSCO, pre-bell call sellers were out in force, leading buyers
2:1. INTC call sellers outnumbered buyers 2:1, while put sellers led buyers
3:1.
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers were out
big-time, pounding buyers 4:1.
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
call sellers outgunned buyers 10:1.
After
the first hour of trading, overall call sellers led buyers at 2:1, and put
sellers led buyers at 3:2. CSCO call sellers were out in force, leading buyers
2:1 while put sellers trumped buyers 4:1. JNPR
call sellers made their presence felt as well, leading buyers 3:1, but buyers
came out to top sellers 3:2.
(
NTAP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
call sellers outnumbered buyers 4:1, while put sellers led buyers 3:1.
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers were out big-time, pounding buyers 4:1.(
RATL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) call sellers outgunned buyers 10:1.
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) order flow picked up dramatically, with call sellers leading buyers
4:1, and put sellers crushing buyers 9:1.
A
glance at our open spreads reveal the CSCO 37 1/2 – 42 1/2 still in striking
distance. The 37 1/2’s are now
worth 1 5/8 to 1 7/8, and the stock remains just below the strike, so we’re
still ahead from buying the stock outright. Any rally in the stock will reap big profits. The
(
EXTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) spread is not yet profitable, but with earnings yet to come out
(due expiration Friday) the calls will keep their juice until expiry. The stock
is still not trading at a level that would mean profit, so we remain cautiously
optimistic with this spread as well. We’ll look to lay out some premium if we
get a chance (another run-up in the stock intraday…as is did yesterday,
trading over $46).
We
are still building our database of questions and answers from you earnest
readers out there. As this database
grows, we will have a road-map of areas of interest that we can use to better
serve our reader base. So keep
those questions coming, and I’ll keep answerin’!!
Tonys@tradingmarkets.com