With front-month expiration looming at the end of this week, options players on Monday loaded up on December-dated call options on Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS - 125.99). The banking stock's December 125 call saw 9,235 contracts exchanged, with the majority trading near the ask price -- suggesting they were purchased. Open interest at this strike rose by 2,861 contracts overnight, confirming the initiation of new long calls on GS.

Based on the option's volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $0.45, most of Monday's December 125 call buyers need GS to rally above breakeven at $125.45 before the end of the week. The stock is already trading north of that mark today, thanks to a Susquehanna upgrade to "positive" from "neutral."

In fact, savvy speculators might want to take profits on their front-month calls sooner rather than later. Despite several challenges of this level in the intervening months, GS has managed only one weekly close north of $125 since mid-August 2011. Plus, the shares could have trouble establishing a meaningful foothold above resistance at their 120-week moving average, near $126 -- which effectively capped the stock's rally attempts back in November.