Sarah Wasserman (swasserman@sir-inc.com) United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) has seen a surge in call activity today, with roughly 15,000 of these bullishly oriented options changing hands -- double the delivery diva's expected daily call volume of roughly 7,200 contracts. By contrast, just 4,770 puts have been exchanged.
In fact, today's heavy call volume is in line with a recent trend on the International Securities Exchange (ISE). During the past two weeks, speculators on the ISE have bought to open over 16 UPS calls for every one put, a ratio which ranks above 95.1% of all other readings taken during the past year. In other words, speculators on this exchange have seldom initiated calls at a faster clip.
Call players have focused on the soon-to-expire December options series today, with one strike in particular claiming the bulk of traders' attention. Nearly 7,400 contracts have crossed the tape on UPS' December 72.50 call -- 75% of which traded at the bid price, suggesting that they were likely sold. With UPS currently trading around $73.14, these 72.50-strike calls are in the money. As such, it seems that call players are likely liquidating their in-the-money positions ahead of tonight's expiration.
Technically speaking, UPS has been doing quite well lately, with the shares recently breaking above the round-number $70 level to tag a series of fresh annual highs.
No comments:
Post a Comment