Most Active Options: Sunedison Inc and GoPro Inc

The 20 stocks listed in the table below 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. Two names of notable interest are solar stock Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) and wearable camera concern GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO).

SUNE is down 1% at $6.15, giving back some recent gains from the sector-wide rally in solar stocks. The stock is still down 68.5% in 2015, touching a three-year low of $2.55 in late November. Even so, traders continue to buy to open calls at a rapid-fire pace.

For instance, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), SUNE's 10-day call/put volume ratio has surged to 8.27, outranking 88% of all readings from the past year. This means call buying has been much more popular than normal lately.

What's more, SUNE's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) sits at 0.53, meaning call open interest among options that expire in the next three months nearly doubles put open interest. Of course, this penchant for calls may just be short sellers looking to hedge their bets, considering 44% of the stock's float is sold short.

Today, however, it's a different story, as puts are crossing at almost twice the normal pace. The most popular option is the December 6 put, and it does appear some traders are buying to open positions here, expecting Sunedison Inc to slip below $6 by tomorrow's close, when front-month options expire. 

As bad as SUNE has been on the charts this year, GPRO has been even worse, losing almost 71% year-to-date. Today, the shares are down 1.6% at $18.52, after being rejected near the $20 level once again. 

Call open interest among the front three-months' series outweighs put open interest in GPRO's options arena. In fact, the stocks' SOIR of 0.83 sits below almost two-thirds of readings from the past year, meaning short-term speculators are more call-skewed than normal. 

In today's options pits, though, put volume is accelerated, with the January 2016 19 strike leading the way. Data suggests buy-to-open activity is transpiring, as traders bet on GPRO to extend its losses before the contracts expire at the close on Friday, Jan. 15. 

Elsewhere, GoPro Inc could face another hurdle in the form of negative analyst notes. The majority of covering brokerage firms say the shares are a "buy" or better, while the equity's average 12-month price target stands at $35.35 -- almost two times current levels. In fact, GPRO was hit this morning with a price-target cut at Raymond James to $36 from $43.