EBAY – eBay, Inc. – Heavy trading in weekly call options on eBay near the start of the session pushed the stock onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this morning. EBAY shares are up 4.5% on the day at $53.38 as of 10:30 a.m. EST.
Traders appear to be piling into Nov 08 ’13 expiry calls on the stock, perhaps preparing for the price of the underlying to extend gains ahead of the weekend. The Nov 08 ’13 $51.5, $52, $52.5 and $53 strike weekly call options are seeing the most volume at present. Most of the early trading in these contracts appears to have been initiated by buyers. Traders who bought the call options near the open are enjoying sizable intraday gains in the value of their positions as shares in the name continue to push to the upside.
Notably, traders paid an average premium of $0.61 per contract to buy roughly 2,900 of the Nov 08 ’13 $52 strike calls during the first 15 minutes of the session. These calls are now changing hands at $1.52 each as of 10:25 a.m. EST. Similarly, traders paid an average premium of $0.38 apiece for around 1,700 of the Nov 08 ’13 $52.5 strike calls, which now tout an asking price of $1.20 per contract. Finally, approximately 2,000 of the Nov 08 ’13 $53 strike calls appear to have been purchased in the early going for an average premium of $0.25 each. Premium required to buy the $53 calls now has roughly quadrupled to $1.00 just before 10:30 a.m. in New York trading.
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