IB Options Brief: Facebook, Inc. (FB)

Posted September 28th, 2012 by Caitlin Duffy in Unusual Activity

FB – Facebook, Inc.

Shares in the largest social networking company are bucking the trend today, trading up 6.7% on the day at $21.68 as of 11:50 a.m. in New York. Trading traffic in weekly options on Facebook this morning suggests some traders are positioning for shares in the name to extend gains in the near term. The company yesterday launched a new gift-giving feature that allows users to buy items for friends without exiting the site.

Traders anticipating continued gains the share price next week snapped up more than 2,000 calls at the Oct. 05 ’12 $21 strike for an average premium of $0.83 apiece this morning. Intraday moves in the price of the underlying now finds premium required to purchase the $21 strike call has nearly doubled since then to $1.20 apiece as of 12:40 p.m. ET. Buyers stepped in to get long the Oct. 05 ’12 $21.5 and $22 strike weekly calls, as well. It looks like traders picked up more than 1,800 calls at each strike, paying average premiums of $0.50 and $0.31 apiece, on average, respectively.

Fresh interest is also building in far out-of-the-money weekly calls with $22.5 and $23 striking prices. Traders paid an average premium of $0.21 apiece to buy roughly 200 of the $22.5 strike calls and plunked down $0.12 in premium to purchase some 240 of the $23 strike call options. Call buyers may see the value of their contracts increase if Facebook’s shares continue to push higher during the next five trading sessions. Intraday price action in FB shares has already moved the needle in favor of early-bird call buyers who now hold bullish options that have doubled in value in some cases since this morning.

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