Midday Unusual Options Activity Update: FMCN, BIDU, MOS, KGC, AMD, IP

Posted September 29th, 2011 by Joseph Cusick in Unusual Activity

Implied Volatility Movers And Unusual Volume Movers For Midday 9/29/2011

Implied Volatility Movers

Focus Media (FMCN) sees relative weakness and higher implied volatility today. Shares of the Hong Kong-based ad agency are off $3.16 to $21.72 on no obvious company-specific headlines. Options on the stock are seeing brisk trading as well, with 13,000 calls and 18,000 puts traded in the name so far. Typical volume through midday is about 4,000. October 20 puts, which are 7.9 percent out-of-the-money and expiring in a little more than three weeks, are the most actives. 5,580 traded. Meanwhile, implied volatility in the options on FMCN is up 33 percent to 88.

Unusual Volume Movers

Baidu.com (BIDU) options volume is running 2X the (22-day) average, with 164,000 contracts traded and put activity accounting for 57 percent of the volume.

Mosaic (MOS) options volume is 2X the average daily, with 83,000 contracts traded and put volume representing 65 percent of the activity.

Kinross Gold (KGC) options volume is running 3X the average daily, with 46,000 contracts traded and call volume representing 83 percent of the total volume.

Increasing options activity is also being seen in Focus Media (FMCN), AMD, and International Paper (IP).

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About Joseph Cusick

Joseph Cusick currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Education and a Senior Market Analyst for optionsXpress. Mr. Cusick seeks out common sense and technologically scalable educational pathways for self-directed investors of all experience levels. He is largely responsible for ramping up delivery of online and offline seminars to customers and potential clients worldwide. Prior to serving in his current role, Mr. Cusick immersed himself in the broker side of optionsXpress by managing his own book of business. Prior to joining optionsXpress, Mr. Cusick served as a market maker and portfolio manager at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Joseph is a graduate of Marquette University and holds his Series 4, 7 and 63 registrations with FINRA.

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