IB Options Brief: Bank of America Corp. (BAC)

Posted March 15th, 2012 by Caitlin Duffy in Unusual Activity

Action In Weekly Calls Bodes Well For Bank of America

BAC - Bank of America Corp.
Shares in Bank of America are up 2.9% this morning at $9.09, extending gains sparked by the release of results from the latest round of stress tests. But, will this rally continue? Options trading in the newly issued weekly options on BAC suggest some traders believe the stock may have more room to run.

Bullish activity in calls set to expire one week from tomorrow is heaviest at the Mar. '23 $9.0 strike where more than 5,000 in-the-money calls changed hands. It looks like most of these options were purchased for an average premium of $0.21 apiece.

Meanwhile, traders speculating the shares could rally to their highest since August 1, 2011, were willing to plunk down an average of $0.03 per contract for some 1,800 calls at the Mar. '23 $10 strike in the first half of the session. Investors long the $10 calls make money at expiration next Friday as long as Bank of America's shares add another 10.3% to top the average breakeven price of $10.03.

Finally, mixed trading in the Mar. $9.0 strike put options suggests some participants are positioning for shares to cool in the near term. More than 9,000 $9.0 strike puts traded in the first 90 minutes of the session, with roughly 5,500 of those contracts purchased for an average premium of $0.23 apiece. Overall options volume on the bank is nearing 390,000 contracts as of 11:40 a.m. ET.

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