Traders bet on rally to continue.The February 14th $28 call options onNike (NKE) saw a 14-fold rise in volume, going from 104 open contracts to nearly 1,500. With 25 days to go until expiration, the buyer of these options is betting on a 3.5 percent move higher in shares from the current price around $104.30. The option buyer also paid $0.45 to get into the trade, so the trade won’t profit at expiration unless shares hit at least $108.45 or higher. Shares of the company are already at all-time highs, and trading around 36 times earnings following a 30 percent rally in the past year.Ac...

Traders bet on relief rally after earnings miss.Shares ofWells Fargo (WFC) took a hit after reporting earnings earlier this week, and at least one trader is betting that some of that recent loss will be unwound in the coming days. That’s based on the 20-fold rise in volume on the February 7th, 2020 $49 calls on the company. With 21 days until expiration, and shares right around $49, these options are at-the-money, and could start moving higher dollar-for-dollar with a recovery in shares.Action to take: We like the company’s prospects as a rebound play. As we looked at in further detail e...

Traders bet on recovery from yesterday’s drop.Yesterday, shares of retailerTarget (TGT) slid about 7 percent as the company announced poor holiday sales. But at least one trader sees the drop as temporary. That trader started to buy the January 31st $120 calls, expiring in just 15 days, creating a seven-fold rise in volume on the options. Paying about $1.05 per contract, that trader will need to see shares recover to just over $121 from around $117, or move higher by about 3.4 percent, to profit. Even after yesterday’s drop, shares of the retailer are still up about 83 percent in the ...

Traders bet on continued rally this month.The January 31st $95 call options onBest Buy (BBY) saw a 16-fold rise in volume, going from 174 open contracts to seeing over 2,800 contracts trade. The bet, expiring in 16 days, is that shares will rise another $4 from their price near $91, or another 4.3 percent. The call buyers paid $0.41, or $41 per contract, so shares would need to trade closer to $95.50 by the end of the month for the buyers to profit. Shares of the electronics retail giant have had a banner year, surging 59 percent and well outperforming the market.Action to take: On a ...

Traders bet on further rally in shares.April 2020 $30 call options onON Semiconductor Corporation (ON) saw a 28-fold rise in volume, going from 123 open contracts to over 3,400. Expiring in just 94 days, the bet is that shares can rise about another $5 from their current price close to $25, or about 20 percent higher. The option buyer paid about $0.50, or $50 per contract to make the trade, so shares would need to hit $30.50 at expiration to profit the buyer. Shares of the semiconductor company are up 38 percent in the past year, with most of that return coming in the past few months ...

Traders bet on rally in oil giant.$18 call options expiring in March onPetroleo Brasileiro (PBR), also known as Petrobras, saw an 8-fold rise in volume, going from 916 open contracts to having over 7,000 trade hands. The bet, expiring in 67 days, is that shares, just under $16 right now, can head higher by at least $2 at expiration, or about 12.5 percent. Buyers of the option paid just $0.19, or $19 per contract, an inexpensive bet for shares to head higher. As Brazil’s partially state-owned oil play, Petrobras has control over the country’s massive offshore oil reserves, which could ...

Traders bet on rally in next month.The February $65 call options onThe TJX Companies (TJX) saw nearly 8,900 contracts trade hands. With a prior open interest of just 160 contracts, that’s a 56-fold rise in volume. Traders are betting that the company, currently trading around $62.50, to rally another $2.50 in the next 42 days until expiration. The traders paid just $0.65 for the trade, so shares would need to trade a bit closer to $66 at expiration to profit. The TJX Companies is the holding firm behind HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and other big-box retailers offering various appare...

Traders see a big rally in the first half of the year.The June 2020 $52.50 call options onThe Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) saw a 10-fold rise in volume, going from 340 open contracts to over 3,475 contracts trade hands. As shares trade closer to $47.50, traders are betting on at least a 10 percent rally in shares before the option expires in the next 162 days. The traders also paid about $1.30 for the contracts on average, meaning shares would need to trade closer to $49 by expiration. Shares of the brokerage firm are up just 10 percent in the past year, far underperforming the m...

Traders make in-the-money bearish bet.The March 20th 2020 $14 put options onGeneral Electric (GE) saw a 12-fold rise in volume, going from 855 open contracts to just under 10,000 contracts. The trade, expiring in 72 days, is a bet on shares to decline. But with GE shares around $12, the option is $2 in-the-money, and should increase in value dollar-for-dollar with any decline in GE shares. The option trader paid $2.09, so the option has very little time premium in it. General Electric shares had a great year, with a 44 percent rally, with shares seeming to gain momentum in the past fe...