Options Flow Summary: C & GOOG
It's a very active expiration Friday following yesterdayís record highs. Overall option volume is nearing 11 million contracts toward the close, or 1.5x recent average levels. With the broad averages down more than one percent, the flow is generally bearish. Put buyers and call sellers are dominating with the financial and software sectors seeing the greatest interest.
Citigroup (C)
Immediately following earnings, Citi options were the most active financial name with more than 150,000 contracts changing hands. That is triple the recent average daily volume.
The stock opened up $.40 to $51.50. A significant portion of todayís flow involved August 50 puts, with more than 27,000 contracts trading over the course of the day. This option was also active yesterday with nearly 19,000 contracts trading at prices up to $1.30. Todayís activity appears to be position holders closing out short-term earnings plays.
Google (GOOG)
Yet another earnings name, Google traded more than 479,000 contracts today. Most market participants repositioned for expiration near the 520 strike instead of last night's $550 level.
More than 90,000 July 520 calls traded on the day and 67,000 520 puts, with option sellers leading the flow. While it's a dangerous game, the $520 straddle was trading near $7 this morning, and sellers seem to have hit the mark with a close at $520.01.
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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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