Most Active Stock Options November 6, 2009 & Trading Activity

As of today the top ten option contracts traded were:

1. Volatility Index (VIX) January 22.50 Put Options
2. Volatility Index November 22.50 Put Options
3. Ford (NYSE:F) January 2011 5 Call Options
4. Ford January 2011 5 Put Options
5. S&P 500 SPDR (NYSE:SPY) November 105 Put Options
6. S&P 500 SPDR November 107 Call Options
7. PowerShares QQQ (NASDAQ:QQQQ) November 42 Put Options
8. Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) April 50 Call Options
9. S&P 500 SPDR November 107 Put Options
10. CB Richard Ellis Group Inc (NYSE:CBG) June 10 Call Options

By looking at the activity in the Volatility Index I would say this is more bullish than bearish. The January puts were purchased mainly for the ask price of $75 per contract meaning one assumes the VIX to drop below 21.75 by January VIX option expiration. The puts for the December VIX option expiration were mostly traded for the bid price, meaning the same trader possibly sold the puts at the bid to help finance the January position. We can also assume the trader is expecting the VIX to stay abobe 22.50 short term, and fall by January VIX expiration. There were plenty of very rare option contracts traded today, like both of the Ford (F) contracts making a possible straddle around the 5 strike, this is certainly a bullish play on Ford as Ford is currently in the money by 2.75 points on the 5 call, and pretty much protecting against a bankrupt Ford by January. QUALCOMM's earnings report must have made someone extremely bullish on the future of the company as it is very rare to see this many call options trade on the tech monster. The CB Richard Ellis Group strikes me as extremely odd. This company is engaged in Real Estate operations, which would signal to me that one trader may be getting bullish on the sector and decided to speculate with this mid cap company. I thought for sure it would have been a special event or dividend play, but I could not find anything related to this company, not to mention the calls are for June.

I did as I said I would today selling November 9 strike put options on the United states Natural Gas Fund (UNG) and selling November 12.50 put options on Quicksilver Resources (KWK) fetching a nice premium of $70 per option contract. I also waited for a drop in the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE:UUP) and purchased some December 23 call options for $30 per option contract. I will look to hold these as it is a hedge against my portfolio in case the dollar gets stronger. I could not get a bidder to fill my orders for Priceline.com (PCLN) and Perfect World (PWRD), but I did sell some November 17.50 put options on Rackspace (RAX) for $80 per option contract and will look to purchase 20 strike calls Monday if it does not open much higher. Have a nice weekend! Sphere: Related Content