Mid-day Flow Summary
Lennar (LEN)
Lennar (LEN) options are among the most active in the market today. The stock currently is up 2% to 43.50. Earlier in the morning, a large block of 30,000 May 40 Puts traded on NYSE/Arca in a market-neutral opening trade that was tied to stock.
Semiconductors ETF (SMH)
Semiconductors ETF (SMH) is also very active today with significantly bullish order flow. The ETF is currently trading up nearly 3% to $35.64. More than 34,000 of the May 37.5 Calls have traded so far today. These trades started small at $.14 and have traded up to $0.25 for several large blocks of 10,000 contracts.
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Intel (INTC)
Also in semiconductors, Intel (INTC) options are on pace for twice their average daily volume of 475,000 contracts. Order flow is dominated by at-the-money options sellers for most months. This includes the April 20 straddle, where over 31,000 calls and 17,000 puts have traded so far today. The May 22.5 Calls are also active, with over 35,000 trading on a selling bias. INTC stock is trading near 21.25.
In general, the semiconductor sector flow is bullish today, with over 500,000 calls changing hands compared to only 203,000 puts. This put/call ratio of .41 is well below the 22-day moving average of .91 for the sector. The flow direction is confirmed by the net dollar value of stock to buy in the sector (based on trades where direction can be determined). We are currently seeing $3.4 billion in stock to buy.
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About Henry Schwartz
Henry Schwartz has traded derivatives on US and European exchanges for nearly 20 years. His experience includes market-making and institutional trading at the Hull Group, Salomon Brothers, Bear Stearns and most recently Banc of America Securities, where he led the electronic market-making project coincident with the launch of the ISE. His current work involves real-time stream analysis of options market activity for a number of leading institutional sell-side firms.
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