Eldorado Gold Corp (EGO) Call Volume Soars on Asset Sale

M&A Monday is running at full throttle, and while many on Wall Street are buying, mining firm Eldorado Gold Corp (USA)  (NYSE:EGO) is selling. Specifically, the company is letting go of all its remaining China-based assets, worth $600 million. Against this backdrop, EGO call options are trading at twice the expected intraday amount, with most of the activity taking place at the July 5 call.

While it's unclear exactly what traders are doing with these calls, there's a possibility they are being sold to close. In fact, a block of 5,000 May 5 calls crossed the tape shortly after noon -- when EGO was trading north of $5.

More broadly speaking, EGO calls have been absurdly popular at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) over the past two weeks. By the numbers, nearly 9,300 calls have been bought to open, compared to just 328 puts. What's more, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) comes in at 0.10, meaning call open interest is 10 times that of put open interest, among options set to expire within three months. 

This seemingly optimistic set-up in the options pits makes sense considering Eldorado Gold Corp's (USA) (NYSE:EGO) technical performance in 2016. The shares are up 66% year-to-date, including today's 1.2% pop at $4.93. It seems analysts are beginning to eye some more upside for the shares, too, with Credit Suisse raising its price target on EGO to $6 from $4.50. 

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