Option traders switch sides on bouncing Twitter Inc (TWTR), while put buyers see a bigger slide for GoPro Inc (GPRO)
The 20 stocks listed in the table below have attracted the highest total weekly options volume during the past 10 trading days. Stocks highlighted are new to the list since the last time the study was run, and data is courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. Two notable names are microblogging stock
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and wearable camera company
GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO).
TWTR has been bathed in negative sentiment -- both in and
out of the options arena -- of late. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), for example, the equity's
10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.77 rests above all other comparable readings taken in the past year.
Today, though, with the stock up 0.6% at $17.57 on news Executive Chairman Omid Kordestani and Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto bought more than 122,000 and 15,500 shares, respectively, calls are crossing the tape at an accelerated clip. Most active are Twitter Inc's February and January 2018 18-strike calls, which could possibly be seeing buy-to-open activity. If this is the case, these
call buyers expect TWTR to extend its
Presidents Day momentum in both the short and long term.
Put buyers have also been active in
GPRO's options pits in recent months, per the security's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 0.66 -- in the 93rd annual percentile. This morning, puts are trading at a slightly higher-than-usual clip, and it looks like speculators could be initiating new long positions at the security's February 12 strike -- which expires at this Friday's close.
From a wider perspective, while peak put open interest of 8,542 is located at the deep in-the-money February 20 strike, a lofty accumulation of front-month put open interest is currently found at the February 10 strike. According to the ISE, more than 2,800 contracts have been bought to open since late December. In other words, a number of speculators expect GPRO to finish the week in single-digit territory. At last check, the shares of GoPro Inc were off 4.7% at $12.38.
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