Most Active Weekly Options: International Business Machines (IBM)

The 20 stocks listed in the table below are the S&P 500 Index (SPX) components that have attracted the highest weekly options volume during the past 10 trading days. Names highlighted are new to the list since the last time the study was run, and data is courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. One name of notable interest today is International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), where calls are flying off the shelves amid news of a partnership with Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).

As alluded to, International Business Machines Corp. announced it will be collaborating with TWTR on a number of enterprise solutions that will leverage the former's analytics solutions and the latter's social media data. Amid this news, IBM calls are being exchanged at more than twice the usual intraday rate, and outweigh puts 23,000 contracts to 10,000. What's more, the stock's 30-day at-the-money implied volatility (IV) has edged 1.1% higher to 16.5%, signaling elevated demand for short-term strikes.

The two most active options by a mile are the weekly 10/31 165- and 167.50-strike calls, where a collective 8,549 contracts are on the tape. The majority have crossed at or near the ask price, IV is up, and volume outstrips open interest, making it safe to assume fresh bullish bets are being initiated. In short, these buyers expect IBM to topple the respective strike prices by this Friday's close, when the weekly calls expire.

While today's options pits are decidedly bullish, very little has happened on the charts so far. In fact, at last check, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is up just 0.2% at $163.88, as the shares struggle to recover from last week's post-earnings swoon.