Short-Term Speculators Give Sirius XM Radio Inc. a Wide Berth

Option players are avoiding short-term trades on Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI). Among all July- and August-dated contracts, there are just 11 calls and 236 puts lingering in open interest. Considering the shares are languishing just shy of $0.50 marker, this isn't too surprising -- we're looking at a very, very limited number of strikes with which to make reasonable bets on near-term price changes.

However, speculative investors aren't dodging SIRI altogether. Open interest ramps up significantly out in longer-dated series, where a notable accumulation of 37,530 calls can be found at the September 1 strike. Likewise, the December 1 call has drawn a crowd of 23,955 contracts, with another 1,507 contracts changing hands today.

Drilling down on option activity from yesterday and today, it's tricky to determine whether investors are buying or selling calls at these 1-strike options. Many large block trades have occurred at the ask price, which would normally indicate buy-to-open activity -- though, with the bid price currently resting at zero for the September options, it seems premature to assume.

However, data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) lends a bit of clarity. During the past five days, traders on this exchange have bought to open 2,092 calls on SIRI, compared to just 61 puts. In fairness, the equity's technical performance actually hasn't been too abysmal lately -- the shares are currently poised to close the week above their 10-week moving average for the first time since early May.

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