Sirius Satellite (SIRI) adds 6 cents to $1.93 and 30,000 calls traded in the name. Looks like some investors are anticipating additional upside as the bulk of the volume is in $2 calls (May, June, Sep, Dec, and Jan). The activity is possibly a play an earnings. The satellite radio operator is due to release results around May 4.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Yahoo (YHOO), which gained 4.7 percent on earnings news yesterday, is down a nickel to $16.83. One options investor sold the Jul 18 – Oct 16 bullish risk-reversal at 47 cents, 9500X. It was tied to 703K shares at $16.79 and appears to be opening. While open interest is sufficient to cover in both contracts, most of the interest in the Oct 16 puts is from Monday when 10K were sold at $1.45. They’re being sold again today at $1.19.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Tradestation (TRAD) shares pop 30% to $9.65 on news it will be acquired by Japan based Monex for $411 million of $9.75 a share. Option volume is 25x the average but that is still less than 1,000 contracts on the day, all of which are calls. InterActive Broker (IBKR) seems to be getting a related boost and also buoyed by a positive earnings report. IBKR shares jump 7% to $16.90, but also minimal option activity

Baidu.com (BIDU) is trading down $1.50 to $147.83 and the expiring Weekly 150 calls are seeing interest for a second day. 12,615 traded Wednesday. Open interest declined by 577 to 5,208 contracts. The fact that OI fell indicates that some traders were likely opening and closing in the same session and playing the stock with these short-term options. The 4/21 $150 call is now 1.5 percent out-of-the-money and stops trading today. It was recently bid at 35 cents with a delta of .20. Volume in the first 20 minutes is 1,574 contracts. BIDU is slated to report earnings on the afternoon of April 27, which is after these weekly options expire.

Heading into earnings, Apple shares are up 1.5% near $343 and option volume is heavy, with 322K calls and 232K puts on the tape with 30mins left to trade. Upside strikes are the focus, with May 350 and 360 calls leading the volume and implied vols up slightly. Weeklys are also busy, with 20K 350 strike calls that expire tomorrow on the tape at a vwap of nearly $4. These buyers are looking for an upside reaction, and need AAPL to spike more than $10 to break even, a level not seen in about a month. Implied earnings gap move is a daily standard deviation of nearly 8%, 4 times the magnitude of non-earnings movement in AAPL share price.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume