Author Archive: hschwartz
Henry Schwartz is the president of Trade Alert LLC, a provider of real-time options analysis tools to leading Wall Street firms. His systems analyze hundreds of thousands of transactions per second to help professionals identify and interpret market activity in real time, supporting informed trading decisions and intelligent idea generation. He has held institutional trading and management roles with Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Salomon Brothers and the Hull Group, and made markets on the CBOE and AMEX floors in the US, and EUREX and MONEP overseas. Prior to founding Trade Alert, he led the electronic market-making group at Bank of America coincident with the launch of the International Securities Exchange. He received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
SPDR S&P 500 [JUMBO] (SPY/1K) $163.31 +0.26%
May-13 160.5 C (Jumbo).. Boston Options exchange is rolling out the jumbos no SPY today. this is only a test…
Spread Trader Reaps Massive Win in MBIA (MBI)
MBIA shares gapped up and halted three times this afternoon, peaking near $15 (a 50% increase) on details of the settlement with BofA. While the litigation was widely watched, the magnitude of the payment is a positive surprise for shares, and appears to have netted one trader about $3.2 million on the largest call position [...]
EEM: Wow, Really Big!
Massive block of puts bought on the Emerging Markets ETF this morning on the PHLX, possibly hedging a billion dollar notional position in the fund that holds names like Samsung, Taiwan Semi, China Mobil and Petrobras. Initiator paid 43cents for 240,000 May 42.5 puts, outright, as shares traded near 42.97. Premium paid exceeds $10million and [...]
Braskem Sa (BAK) $17.20 +6.44%
Handy 55% overnight return, or $200,000 to the well-timed buyer of those Braskem June 17.5 calls we noted yesterday. Buyer paid an avg of 61cents for nearly 6000 contracts in the afternoon when shares were near $16. Shares up nearly 7% this morning on analyst upgrades and those calls are trading for 95cents.
Braskem Sa (BAK) $15.91 +5.64%
Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem set an all-time record for call volume today with 6100 upside June 17.5 calls trading in a burst just before 2pm as shares traded near 15.91. Earnings expected in early May and today’s position will also set a new record for open interest in the name. Shares are near the top [...]
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) $88.90 +0.92%
Largest block of the day just printed a moment ago on the PHLX as a buyer paid 1.33 for 50,000 Exxon Mobile July 85 puts tied to 88.85stock on a 29delta to open a very large position in front of earnings, due Thurs morning. Premium totals $6.65 million and the 5million shares of notional size [...]
Bank of America Corporation (BAC) $12.15 +3.67%
BofA leads the single stock option space this morning with shares up 3% to $12.08 following an upgrade by Morgan Stanley. 12 strike calls that expire Friday lead the flow, with nearly 35K trading at an avg price of 13.2cents and bullish buyers leading the charge. Largest block was a more defense move, as an [...]
Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc (ACHN) $7.26 -2.81%
Biotech Achillion is seeing heavy call volume of 3000 contracts this morning (vs 27 puts) as shares trade off nearly 3% at $7.26 following a press release regarding their Sovaprevir Hepatitis C drug. Nearly all the flow is in upside calls, including a 1000 lot of Sep15s bought for 20c (likely closing a 45cent sale [...]
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (LGF) $23.49 -0.93%
Lions Gate Entertainment put volume running 72x normal as shares sink 1.35% to $23.36 this morning. Nearly 9500 June 23 puts bought for an avg px of 1.16. Shares up nearly $6 this year and today’s buyer may be looking to lock in some of those gains. Earnigns expected end of May.
SanDisk Corp (SNDK) $53.63 +2.88%
Sandisk sees very aggressive early call buying today with nearly 4000 7% out of the money June 57.5 calls bought to open, from 92 to 98cents as share traded near $53.11. Likely catalysts include investor day in early May and peer Western Digital (WDC) earnings tomorrow after the close.
