Google Inc (GOOGL) has drawn the ire of France's privacy watchdog CNIL
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) puts are in high demand, after French privacy regulator CNIL called on the company to
expand the "right to be forgotten" rule globally -- or face sanctions. Specifically, the contracts are being exchanged at 1.8 times the usual morning rate, with plenty of eleventh-hour traders getting in the mix.
Four of GOOGL's five most active options expire at today's close. In the lead is the weekly 6/12 550-strike call, which traders may be selling to open in hopes the stock settles below $550 tonight. The weekly 6/12 545-strike put is also in focus, and may be seeing some buy-to-open activity -- as speculators bank on the underlying to close the session south of $545.
Speaking of
put buying, the strategy has been popular in recent weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Specifically, GOOGL's 10-day put/call volume ratio across those exchanges is 0.78 -- just 2 percentage points from an annual high. Now is a good time to buy premium on the stock's short-term options, too, considering its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) rests at a 52-week low of 15%.
Technically speaking, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is off 0.5% this morning at $547.06, and has lost 6.4% since its late-April high of $584.70. Off the charts, it's been reported BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)
may use GOOGL's Android operating system in a future smartphone.