Trading Tips Blog

Call buying predicts big move higher in the next month. The November 15th $4.00 call options on Encana (ECA) saw over 21,800 contracts trade, an 85-fold surge in volume relative to the prior open interest of 258. With shares already at $4.30, the option is about 7 percent in-the-money, and should move penny-for-penny with shares in the next 35 days until expiration. The buyer paid $0.50, or $50 per contract, indicating that shares need to be at least $4.50 in the next ...
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Director ups stake by 11 percent. Fred Clark, a director at National Security Group (NSEC), picked up 9,813 shares recently, increasing his stake by 11 percent and leaving him with 98,723 shares. The buy cost just over $118,000. Insiders have been buyers at the company in the past year, with the last insider sale occurring in 2018. Overall, insiders own 52 percent of outstanding shares, a huge sign that management is aligned with shareholders for growing long-term value. National Security Group is ...
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Director makes $275,000 buy. Richard Massey, a director at Cannae Holdings (CNNE), picked up 10,000 shares recently, shelling out just over $275,000 to do so. The buy increased his holdings by nearly 5 percent, to just under 214,000 shares. This is his third buy of shares this year, and other insiders have been buyers at the firm, including the CFO last month. In the past two years, insiders have been steady buyers, with no sellers. Insiders own over 7 percent of ...
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April 2020 put buying suggests further pain for shares. The April 2020 $6 put options on Deutsche Bank (DB) saw over 5,600 contracts trade, an 11-fold increase over the prior open interest of 526. With 190 days until expiration, the trade will move in-the-money if shares fall just $0.90 from their current price of $6.90, or about 15 percent. With shares trading as high as $11.50 in the past year, shares have been nearly halved, and this option trade is a ...
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Major owner $140,000 additional buy. James Filler, a major owner at Century Bancorp (CNBKA), added 1,612 shares to his stake lately. This brought his total ownership up to 725,341 shares, and he paid nearly $140,000 to make the trade. This follows up from a 1,044 share buy he made last month, and other insiders have been buyers of shares near recent prices for the regional bank as well. There have been no insider sales in the past three years. Shares of the ...
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Surge in October 25th call options. The October 25th $4 call options on Yamana Gold (AUY) saw trading of over 2,950 options contracts against an open interest of 254. That 11-fold surge in volume indicates that at least one trader is betting on higher gold prices this month. With 16 days until expiration and with shares around $3.50, shares of the gold miner would need to rally at least 14.5 percent for the option to trade in-the-money. With the option trading at ...
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Call option buys indicate higher move ahead. A number of options plays on Analog Devices (ADI) occurred with unusual volume. The November 15th 2019 $115 calls saw over 4,500 contracts trade, a 40-fold surge in volume from the prior open interest of 113. With shares just under $113, shares need to move about $2 higher, or 1.8 percent, in the next 38 days for these options to move in-the-money. The expiration is right before the company next announces earnings in late November. The ...
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Major owner makes $1.4 million buy. Outerbridge Master Fund, a major holder in Barnes & Noble Education (BNED), picked up nearly 476,000 shares recently, increasing their holdings by over 8 percent. The buy also raised their total share count to 6,396,895 shares. At a price of $3.01, the purchase came to just over $1.4 million, and is the fund’s third buy in the past three weeks. Corporate insiders have both bought and sold shares year-to-date. However, the bulk of sales occurred from ...
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