Washington Mutual Inc (WM) $2.84 +0.35%
Washington Mutual (WM, news, chart, volatility) continues to see heavy trading. Shares have been battered this week, falling to 17-year lows, after the bank failed to soothe investor concerns about its financial stability. Today, WM is down a dime to $2.68 and up 53 percent from Thursday’s lows of only $1.75 a share. In the options market, WM volume is running 230 percent the expected for this time of day. 34,000 calls and 13,000 puts traded in the first 90 minutes of Friday’s session. Sentiment is mixed. Interestingly, the five most actively traded contracts are call options (October 2.5s, September 3s, September 4s, October 4s, and October 6s). Roughly half of that volume is trading offerside and all of today’s trades have come in orders of fewer than 700 contracts. The action suggests that some investors (not necessarily large institutions) in the options market are willing to stick their necks out and take bullish trades in battered WaMu.
Category: All Stocks, Banks, Mid Cap Stocks
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About the Author (Author Profile)
Frederic Ruffy is a well-known trader, writer, and strategist who has spent years educating investors and creating intelligent, insightful, unbiased market observations that are frequently cited by the Wall Street Journal and other financial publications. As senior analyst, Fred provides frequent and regular notes and daily updates for activity of interest.
