EBAY – eBay, Inc. – Heavy trading in weekly call options on eBay near the start of the session pushed the stock onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this morning. EBAY shares are up 4.5% on the day at $53.38 as of 10:30 a.m. EST.
Traders appear to be piling into Nov 08 ’13 expiry calls on the stock, perhaps preparing for the price of the underlying to extend gains ahead of the weekend. The Nov 08 ’13 $51.5, $52, $52.5 and $53 strike weekly call options are seeing the most volume at present. Most of the early trading in these contracts appears to have been initiated by buyers. Traders who bought the call options near the open are enjoying sizable intraday gains in the value of their positions as shares in the name continue to push to the upside.
Notably, traders paid an average premium of $0.61 per contract to buy roughly 2,900 of the Nov 08 ’13 $52 strike calls during the first 15 minutes of the session. These calls are now changing hands at $1.52 each as of 10:25 a.m. EST. Similarly, traders paid an average premium of $0.38 apiece for around 1,700 of the Nov 08 ’13 $52.5 strike calls, which now tout an asking price of $1.20 per contract. Finally, approximately 2,000 of the Nov 08 ’13 $53 strike calls appear to have been purchased in the early going for an average premium of $0.25 each. Premium required to buy the $53 calls now has roughly quadrupled to $1.00 just before 10:30 a.m. in New York trading.
TSLA – Tesla Motors Inc. – Options volume on electric car maker Tesla Motors is well above average today, with shares in the high-flying stock off more than 14% at present to stand at $151.35, the lowest level since August 22nd. Shares in the automaker dropped after the company reported Model S deliveries for the third quarter that were less than some analysts expected. Volume in TSLA options is approaching 295,000 contracts as of midday in New York trading, which is well above the stock’s average daily options volume of around 151,000 contracts. Roughly equal numbers of call and put options are changing hands on the stock, and much of the volume is concentrated in options expiring at the end of this week and next week.