Trading Tips Blog

With the new year comes new trading opportunities. One method traders use to take advantage of the new year is to screen for companies that underperformed in the prior year. Buying these “dogs” tends to make for a market-beating year, on average. Trading Tips’ Andrew Packer explains in our latest video ...
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Trader bets on rally with in-the-money calls. April 2020 $34 call options on AT&T (T) saw a 13-fold rise in volume, going from 144 open contracts to nearly 1,900 trade hands. The bet, expiring in 77 days, is about $3 in-the-money. The buyer of the calls expects a further rally from here, and can profit from any dollar-for-dollar move in shares. The buyer paid $3.50 per contract on average, or about $3 of “moneyness” of the option and $0.50 in time premium. Shares would ...
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Trader bets on rally in next week. With 8 days until expiration, the February 7th $16 call options on FireEye (FEYE) saw an explosion in volume, going from 170 open contracts to over 7,350—a 43-fold rise. The bet, which is essentially at-the-money as shares trade around $16, cost the option buyer about $0.50, or $50 per contract. The trade will profit the buyer only if shares clear $16.50 by the option expiration. With FireEye reporting earnings on February 5th, this trade is a bet ...
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Trader bets on 70 percent rally by July. July $85 call options on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) saw a 30-fold surge in volume, going from 100 open contracts to about 3,000. The trade, expiring in 170 days, indicates a 70 percent move higher for shares, based on their current price near $50. The buyer of these options also paid about $0.60, or $60 per contract, so the trader may just be betting on the company before it reported earnings after the market close ...
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Trader bets on jump in shares in the next month. February 21st call options with an $87 strike on AbbVie (ABBV) saw a 30-fold rise in volume, going from 104 open contracts to over 3,100. The trade, expiring in 24 days, is a bet on shares rising about 3 percent from their price near $84.50. Adding in the $1.65 the option buyer paid on average, the trade will profit the buyer if shares rally closer to 5 percent. AbbVie has recently shed some of ...
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Trader bets on decline through March. March 2020 $23 put options on Juniper Networks (JNPR) saw a 50-fold surge in volume, going from 123 open contracts to over 5,900 trade hands. The trade, expiring in 53 days, is a bet that shares of the company will fall at least $1.50 from their current price. For the trader to profit at expiration, shares would need to close in on $22.65, to make up for the cost of $0.45 per contract. Shares of the communication equipment ...
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Trader bets on 80 percent rally in shares this year. January 2021 calls with a $270 strike price on Spotify Technology (SPOT) saw a five-fold increase in volume, going from 157 open contracts to over 825. The bet, expiring in 358 days, would call for an 80 percent rally in shares from the current price around $148. The trader paid about $1.05, or $105 per contract, so any rally in Spotify shares this year would likely lead to outsized returns on this trade. Shares ...
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Trader bets space tourism company’s shares will go to the moon this year. January 2021 calls with a $25 strike on Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPEC) saw a 12-fold rise in volume, going from 295 contracts to over 10,300. The bet, expiring in 358 days, is that shares will hit at least $28.25, adjusting for the $3.25 that the option buyer paid in premiums. The $25 strike price is currently about 35 percent higher than where shares currently trade near $18.50. For the buyer ...
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