Roku weekly call options have been hot in recent weeks, too
The 20 stocks listed in the table below have attracted the highest weekly options volume during the past 10 trading days. Data is courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. Stocks highlighted in yellow are new to the list, including home improvement name Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which recently took a hit on a negative earnings reaction. We'll take a closer look at some of the other notable names on the list below, including blue chip Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), streaming specialist Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU), and social media name Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).
Disney stock saw 748,888 weekly call options traded in the past two weeks, compared to 172,315 weekly put options. This heavy volume came amid a red-hot run for the DIS, which closed November out with a 16.7% monthly gain. Today, the shares -- which tend to outperform in the week after Black Friday -- are up 0.04% at $151.65, not far from their Nov. 26 record high of $153.41. In the options pits, the out-of-the-money weekly 12/6 152.50-strike call is most active this morning, with the majority of the contracts crossing at the bid price.
Roku options traders have preferred weekly calls over puts by a wide margin in recent weeks, with 675,988 of the former and 537,683 of the latter traded in the last 10 days. ROKU stock has been chopping higher atop its 120-day moving average, but is down 14.6% today at $136.84 on a bruising bear note out of Morgan Stanley. Speculative players appear to be bracing for even bigger losses, with buy-to-open activity detected at the weekly 12/6 140-strike put.
Twitter weekly call options have also been in high demand, with 331,022 contracts exchanged in the past two weeks, versus 56,043 weekly put options. TWTR stock has been churning in the $29-$31 region following a late-October earnings-related bear gap, down 2.1% today at $30.26. Some traders may be targeting a breakout over the next week, though, with the weekly 12/6 31-strike call most active today, and new positions possibly being purchased here.