Saturday, November 23, 2024
There was quite a bit of unusual options action in the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) last week. Energy has been in the spotlight with the price of crude oil plunging in recent days. However, a large ratio call spread in XLE suggests that energy stocks may have more room to rise this year. […]
With interest rates moving higher, so are bond yields. However, bond funds still aren’t that exciting from a yield perspective. For instance, iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) has a dividend yield of only 1.5%. One way to boost the cash flow from popular bond funds like IEF is to sell calls against the […]
A massive options trade occurred last week in iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG). HYG is a massively popular high yield bond fund that also has a very active options chain. A put spread was recently sold on HYG with over 150,000 contracts per leg. This trade is likely meant to boost “yield” […]
Based on a large options trade in the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), it appears a well-capitalized trader believes that financial stocks may move sideways for the remainder of the year. The trader possibly sold a 5,000-lot strangle in January XLF options. A strangle involves selling a call above and a put below the […]
Once you are able to determine where unusual options activity is occurring, the next step is looking at the time and sales list. This is the granular trade information, where you can sort the list and look at what the biggest trades have been, and what caused the underlying instrument to show up on your […]
When searching for and analyzing unusual options activity, it’s important to understand all the data being presented. Key variables include volume, relative volume, bearish versus bullish activity, and upcoming earnings/event dates. Having a grasp of these data points will help traders better grasp why unusual activity may be occurring.
An intriguing way to hedge your portfolio’s downside risk for essentially no cost is by using a put spread collar. A large zero-cost put spread collar was placed last week on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) The trader sold calls and used the proceeds to purchase a put spread. The position will give a […]
Chinese stocks saw a significant amount of options activity last week when Chinese regulators appeared to ease up on some restrictive practices. Chinese internet giant Alibaba (BABA) was up 15% in a day, while trading over 1 million options. It looks like some of the biggest block trades were bullish call purchases in September and […]
Pinterest (PINS) is a social media company that lost users after the pandemic lessened, causing the stock price to plummet. However, the company has recently begun adding users again. A large options block trade in PINS from last week looks like a very bullish call position in July options. This may be a sign that […]
Electric vehicle stocks haven’t been nearly as active as they were during the heart of the Covid crisis. However, Nikoka (NKLA) options traded over 200,000 contracts on a busy day last week, which is 4x the regular amount. In this case, it appears that a large institutional position was either rolled to July or closed […]
