The 20 stocks listed in the table below are the names that have attracted the highest weekly options volume during the past 10 trading days. Those 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 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), as short-term bets are being placed amid a pair of fresh milestones.
The big news surrounding Apple Inc. this afternoon is that its market capitalization hit $700 billion earlier -- making it, by far, the most valuable publicly traded company. What's more, the equity reached another record high of $119.75 -- thought it was last seen 0.3% lower at $118.29.
Elsewhere, AAPL options are flying off the shelves at a 75% mark-up to the intraday norm. Short-term strikes are in focus, as well, per the stock's 30-day at-the-money implied volatility (IV), which is 4.8% higher at 22.2%.
The two most active options are the weekly 11/28 119- and 120-strike calls, where nearly 117,000 total contracts have been exchanged. Activity is more-or-less evenly split between the bid and ask prices, IV is on the rise, and volume outstrips open interest. All told, it's safe to assume new positions are being sold and bought to open, respectively -- a theory partially confirmed by data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE).
The call writers expect AAPL will remain below the strikes through the end of the week, when the 11/28 series expires. By contrast, the buyers anticipate the shares will topple the aforementioned levels within the same time frame.
Technically speaking, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been on a tear. This year, the shares have advanced nearly 48%, and they've also outperformed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 12.2 percentage points over the last two months.