Trading Tips Blog

Big bet on shares declining in the next month. On Friday, a bearish bet on Caterpillar (CAT)led the options market for the size of unusual activity. Over 7,700 contracts traded on the August $128 put options, against an open interest of 123. That is a 62-fold surge in volume. With the share price around $134, shares will need to fall at least 4.5 percent for the option to trade in-the-money before the option expires on August 16th. Caterpillar is a global leader in ...
Read More

Big bet on shares rallying through October. On Thursday, a large bet was made on shares of Targa Resources Group (TRGP) continuing its recent rally higher. Over 5,250 of the October $43 call options traded hands, against an open interest of 242—making for a 21-fold increase in volume. With a current share price around $40.50, this is a bet that shares will move at least 6 percent higher in the next 84 days. Targa is a storage and transport company for natural gas ...
Read More

  Major holder adds to truck transportation company. On Thursday, Elliott International, LP, bought 1,866 shares of Roadrunner Transportation Systems (RRTS). While the total cost was under $20,000, Elliott already owns over 23,148,000 shares of the company— making them a major shareholder. The recent buy increases their holdings by 0.01 percent, the fund has been a repeat buyer of shares near current prices in prior months in the 1,500-8,000 share range. Roadrunner operates asset-light transportation and logistics services, primarily in the United States and ...
Read More

Director adds to stake of regional bank. On Tuesday, director Karl Silberstein picked up 4,000 shares of Bank of Commerce Holdings (BOCH). The buy increases his stake to 30,295 shares, and came at a total cost of $42,400. Over the past two years, insiders at Bank of Commerce Holdings have been buyers, with no sales. Insiders own nearly 6 percent of outstanding shares.   Bank of Commerce Holdings is the holding company for Redding Bank of Commerce in Northern California. The bank is largely ...
Read More

Big bet on decline following earnings surge. Shares of Snapchat (SNAP) may have rallied on Wednesday following their strong quarter, but most traders were betting the rally in shares would be short-lived. On Wednesday, a number of put options on the company saw an explosion in volume, suggesting shares would come down in the coming days—possibly as soon as Friday. The most interesting of these options? The August 16th $17 puts. With shares of Snapchat hitting $17 in trading on Wednesday, the option ...
Read More

Big bet on massive share rally by February. Shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) may be heading higher between now and February, 2020, 212 days away. On Tuesday, over 2,000 contracts of the February $30 calls on the warehouse retailer were bought, against an open interest of 138, a 15-fold surge in volume. With shares around $24, it’s a bet that shares will rally by $6, or 25 percent from here. Shares of the company have traded as high as $33 in the ...
Read More

Director adds to stake of industrial giant. Last week, director Michael Ancius picked up another 1,104 shares of Fastenal (FAST). The buy cost over $33,000 and increased his total stake by just over 5 percent. This marks the first insider buy at the industrial company so far this year, after a number of sales by insiders at higher prices.   Fastenal engages in the distribution of industrial and construction supplies around the world. Products include fasteners such as bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and washers, ...
Read More

[image] Major fund owner adds to stake. Last week, Owl Creek Asset Management bought over 428,000 shares of pdvWireless Inc (ATEX). This represented a 16 percent increase in the fund’s holdings and brings their total share ownership up to over 3,076,000. The fund, with over $2 billion in assets under management, owns over 10 percent of shares in the company.   pdvWireless provides network and mobile communication solutions to infrastructure and enterprise customers, with a cloud-based mobile resource management solution and push-to-talk mobile communication services, ...
Read More