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Chevron Corporation calls are trading at two times the intraday average
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) found a firm foothold atop the century mark this week, home to peak put open interest in the December series. Today -- thanks to a sector-wider rally in energy names -- the shares are up 3.6% at $105.36, making CVX the biggest gainer on the Dow. This strong bounce has done little to satiate options traders, though, who are scooping up calls at two times the intraday average.
Most active by a mile is the stock's January 2015 110-strike call, where 11,216 contracts have been exchanged. It appears a number of positions have been bought to open -- a theory echoed by data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) -- as traders bet on an extended run higher through January options expiration.
From a wider sentiment perspective, today's accelerated call activity marks a change of pace in CVX's options pits. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.98 ranks in the bearishly skewed 80th annual percentile. Should Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) extend its rebound from support at the round-number $100 mark, a continued shift in sentiment among options traders could help fuel the security's fire.