Trading Tips Blog

At least one trader is betting that pharma giant Bristol Myers-Squibb (BMY) will have a big rally in the first half of 2021. That’s based on the call buying in the June 2021 $72.50 calls. The strike price of the option is about 15 percent higher than where shares currently trade at $62. Over 2,500 contracts traded against a prior open interest of 263, a nearly 10-fold rise in volume. The buyer of the contracts paid about $1.09 on average. While BMY ...
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European bank Credit Suisse (CS) has seen its shares rise over the past few months. One trader sees an even bigger move ahead. That’s based on the March 2021 $14 calls. Over 4,300 contracts traded yesterday against a prior interest of 213, for a 20-fold gain in volume. The call buyer paid about $0.30 for the calls, which would move in-the-money if shares rose about 15 percent. The $14 strike price would put shares about where they traded before the March ...
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Carol Foster, a director at Hercules Capital (HTGC) recently bought 3,850 shares. The buy increased her holdings by 30 percent, and came to a cost of just over $50,000. This is the first insider transaction of 2020, and the first insider buy since 2015. Foster previously sold some shares last year at a price near where the stock trades today. Hercules is an investor in early-stage companies, typically with a focus on new technologies. The company is structured as a business ...
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Different companies in different sectors of the market are measured best by different metrics. A restaurant may look at turnover, or how many times it can seat customers at tables every day. In the tech space, innovation is key. And for the chipmaker stocks, innovation is ongoing and iterative. That’s why spending on research and development (R&D) in the chipmaker space is on track to rise 6 percent in 2020, even with a stalled economy. Based on how much a company Read More About This

Alternative energy play First Solar (FSLR) has generally been trending up, although shares recently saw a strong pullback. One trader is betting that the drop is temporary, and shares will trend higher. That’s the logic behind the surge in the December $92.50 calls. Expiring in 29 days, the calls will move in-the-money on a 14 percent rise in shares. Over 8,760 contracts traded, a 25-fold rise in volume from the prior interest near 350. The buyer of the calls paid about $1.38, ...
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It’s sometimes dangerous to follow into a trade that’s popular with retail investors. In a market selloff, they may be quick to send shares lower, and without institutional investors, rallies can be out of proportion to a company’s prospects. But with one tech name reporting massive earnings and sales growth, there’s more room to run, even with so many retail traders loving the stock. With a number of analyst upgrades as well, traders can still play the long-term uptrend. The stock? Nio ...
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Christian Brickman, President and CEO of Sally Beauty Holdings (SBH), remelt added 11,350 shares to his holdings. The purchase price came to just over $124,000 and increased his total stake by 2.5 percent. This follows a 10,000 share buy from the CEO in August, around the same time a director picked up shares as well. Insiders have been active throughout the year, with insider buys handily beating insider sales at the company. Shares of the cosmetics firm remain down 40 percent ...
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SRS Investment Management, a major holder at Avis Budget Group (CAR), added to their stake with a 149,796 share buy. The purchase increased the fund’s stake in the company by 0.8 percent, and came to a total cost of just over $5.36 million. This marks the fund’s first purchase in over two months. Besides being a regular buyer throughout the past few months, a number of directors bought shares in March. Shares of the car rental firm tanked during the pandemic ...
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