Trading Tips Blog

Bet on shares collapsing by late October. Shares of Apple (AAPL) could fall by nearly 50 percent in the next 70 days—at least, if the surge in October $105 put options on Thursday is any indication. With shares around $202, the $105 strike price is essentially a bet that shares will drop in half. With over 2,800 of these contracts trading against an open interest of 190, that’s a 15-fold surge in volume on this deeply bearish trade. These options cost the buyer ...
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CFO makes six-figure buy. On Tuesday, August 6th, Ray Young, CFO at Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM), picked up 3,400 shares. His total cost came to just under $125,000. The buy increases his holdings at the company to over 353,000 shares. As the head of finance at a company, a CFO buy is a strong buy signal for investors, as the company may have more room to run ahead, or is otherwise undervalued on a fundamental basis. Trading at 16 times earnings and 11 times ...
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Bet on shares hitting new highs in next 13 months. Shares of The Walt Disney Company (DIS) sold off on Wednesday, following an earnings miss. Although shares are still up for the year, one trader is making an unusual bet that shares will head back to new all-time highs by September 2020. That’s based on the surge in trading on the September 2020 $170 calls—about 26 percent higher than where shares traded around $135 following their earnings miss. There’s a lot to like ...
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Big bet on rally in August. Shares of Beyond Meat (BYND) may rally over 50 percent between now and August 30th. That’s the bet behind the surge in August 30th $250 calls on the plant-based meat alternative company, whose shares currently trade around $160. On Tuesday, over 2,100 of the options traded against an open interest just under 200, for an 11-fold increase in volume.   Last week, the company reported that it quadrupled its sales as part of its earnings report. Despite those ...
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Key director adds to stake. On Monday, August 5th, Sean Downes bought another 1,100 shares of Universal Insurance Holdings (UVE), where he has served as CEO in the past and now serves as director. The total cost of the additional shares came to just over $29,000, and increases his total holdings in the company to 1,431,833 shares. Downes has been a buyer in shares in mid-June as well as back in May at higher prices. Universal develops, markets, and underwrites insurance with a ...
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Three directors make buys. On Friday, August 2nd, director Robert Hamill bought 1,000 shares of Arch Coal (ARCH), shelling out over $78,000 for the stake. He was joined by director James Chapman, who also bought 1,000 shares the same day at a slightly higher price. Both buys came a day after director Holly Koeppel bought 2,200 shares, paying over $195,000—and about 15 percent higher than where shares currently trade. These insider buys mark the first insider activity at the company since 2017, when ...
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Traders bet on share rally in the next month. Many tech names took a steep dive on Monday on trade war fears. But traders were betting those would be short lived. One name that saw multiple options with unusual activity was Nvidia (NVDA), maker of advanced graphic processors. The August 30th $155 call was one of several options on the company that saw unusual trading, with over 1,580 shares trade against an open interest of 114, making for a 14-fold surge in ...
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Traders bet earnings drop will be short-lived. On Friday, traders bet on a higher price for payment company Square (SQ), following a drop on lower than expected earnings. A number of different options traded on unusually high volume, most expecting a bounce within the next week. One big trade was on the August 9th $70 calls, which saw over 3,200 contracts trade against an open interest of 129, for a 25-fold increase in volume. With shares of Square dropping from $80 to under $70 ...
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