Author Archive: Fred Ruffy
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.
Buyers Seize Sprint Nextel (S) Puts
Sprint (S) is off 7 cents to $7.29 and $7 puts on the stock (expiring 5/31) are the most actively traded equity options contract in the first thirty minutes of market action Monday. 9,100 contracts have changed hands. Open interest is sufficient to cover, but some investors are possibly buying the contract on concerns the [...]
WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 05/10/2013
Market is mixed heading into the final two hours of trading. With no economic data due out until Monday’s Retail Sales, trading was steady after Japan surged nearly 3 percent overnight. European markets were mostly modestly higher, but crude lost $1.85 to $94.54 and gold lost $32.5 to $1,436. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 [...]
JP Morgan Chase and Company (JPM) Draws May Put Buyers
JP Morgan (JPM) drops 26 cents to $48.78 and May 48 puts on the bank are seeing interest today. Recent trades included a 10626-lot for 26 cents per contract when the market was 24 to 26 cents. A 12,000-lot traded earlier today for 27 cents per contract. More than 27K now changed hands against 36,333 [...]
Big Print in CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) Before the Weekend
CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is up .05 to 13.18 and a substantial four-way spread trades on the index. 73,000 June 18 – 25 call spreads traded on VIX at 70 cents and 75000 Aug 18 – 24 call spreads for about $1.12. The August spread was bought-to-open. The activity in June probably covers a position [...]
WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 05/09/2013
Trading is mixed on a busy day of earnings. A number of stocks are seeing big post-earnings moves including GMCR, RAX, MNST, TSLA, and GRPN. The economic news remains light and included a better-than-expected reading on jobless claims and in-line wholesale inventories. There was little reaction to the data and trading was mostly mixed overseas [...]
DANG: Unusual Options Activity
Ecommerce China DangDang (DANG) is up 5 percent to $4.56 and in the midst of a DANG one-week 20.9 percent rally. Trading is heavy, with more than 2.3 million DANG shares trading. Meanwhile, there’s an uptick in DANG options activity as well. 6,350 DANG puts and only 200 DANG puts so far. The flow is [...]
Big Move in Barnes and Noble (BKS) Draws Call Buyers
Barnes and Noble (BKS) gapped higher at the open and is up $2.70 to $20.47 on surging volume of 9 million shares after Microsoft (MSFT) said it wants to buy the bookseller’s digital assets of Nook media and a college book joint venture for $1 billion. Options on BKS are seeing brisk trading as well. [...]
WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 05/08/2013
The grind continues. The S&P 500 is up another 4 points to 1,630 and on track for another record close. The earnings calendar is light and there’s no economic data until jobless claims Thursday. Crude ticked 50 cents higher on weekly inventory. Gold rallied $23. Equity markets were broadly higher across the Eurozone and Asia, [...]
Early Birds Like Baidu (BIDU) Call Options
Baidu (BIDU) sees early call buying Wednesday. Shares of the Chinese Internet company are up 99 cents to $90.29 and making a move above an 50-day moving average, on no news. Meanwhile, Weekly 92.5 calls, which expire 5/24, are the most active in BIDU. 2,195 traded against 1,706 in open interest. May 92.5 and Weekly [...]
WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 05/07/2013
Slow news and light volume again Tuesday. No data of importance is due out until Thursday’s jobless claims and the earnings calendar is slowing as well. A bunch of second tier names – EOG, FSLR, FOSL – are out with a mixed bag of results. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei saw a noteworthy 3.6 percent rally over [...]
