Bank of America Corp (BAC) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) have been targeted by call players of late
The 20 stocks listed in the table below have attracted the highest total
weekly options volume during the past 10 trading days. Stocks 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 notable names of interest are bank stock
Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and mining firm
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX).
Weekly call options are hot on
BAC today. In fact, the stock's two most active options are the weekly 6/10 14.50- and 15-strike calls, where 48,417 contracts have collectively traded. It appears some of the activity is of the
buy-to-open kind, meaning speculators expect BAC to settle north of the respective strikes at this Friday's close, when the weekly series expires.
From a wider sentiment perspective,
BAC options traders have shown a distinct preference for calls over puts. For instance, the security's gamma-weighted Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.49 indicates near-the-money call open interest more than doubles put open interest among options expiring in three months or less.
This seemingly bullish outlook is surprising, considering BAC is down 13.3% year-to-date at $14.59. What's more, Bank of America continues to stare up at its 180-day moving average -- a trendline that has swiftly rejected recent rally attempts, and that the stock has not closed north of once in 2016.
Call volume is running at a slightly accelerated clip on
FCX --
marking a change in pace ahead of Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting. The equity's July 13 call is most active, where it looks as if new positions are being purchased. If this is the case, call buyers are betting on FCX to rally north of $13 by the close on Friday, July 15 -- when the back-month options expire.
Elsewhere, the equity's weekly 6/10 12-strike call could be seeing a mix of buy- and sell-to-open activity. Those buying to open the calls are rolling the dice on a bigger end-of-week rally, while those
selling to open the call are expecting the $12 level to serve as a short-term ceiling for FCX.
Today, Freeport-McMoRan Inc has surged 4.8% to $11.64, amid
a broader rally in mining stocks. Longer term, the shares have more than tripled since hitting a 15-year low of $3.52 in late January.
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