Nightcap.

On the options front, trading is active heading into expiration Friday. With two hours left to trade, the projected volume is a respectable 18.5 million contracts. 7.2 million calls and 5.7 million puts traded across the exchanges so far. Nearly 100,000 contracts traded in EBAY on the heels of its earnings report. Trading is active in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), as shares gain 4 percent. The company said today that it will release earnings on November 27. 117,000 options traded on GMCR. Rolling activity is driving a lot of the action as well. Today is the last day to trade many index contracts and tomorrow the last day to trade equity and ETF options. CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is ticking a bit higher ahead of expiration Friday, now up .16 to 15.23. Trading is active in the VIX pit. 345,000 calls and 175,000 puts so far.

Notable Flow

RRD – Bearish activity detected in RR Donnelley and Sons Company with 10080 puts trading, or 11x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $10.56 (-0.29) with ATMIV lifting by 20.30 point and 85% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert)

ETN – Bearish activity detected in Eaton Corp with 7095 puts trading, or 3x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $46.09 (-0.65) with ATMIV lifting by 1.19 point and 50% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:11

STP – Bullish flow detected in Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd with 2722 calls trading, or 7x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $0.8821 (0.0121) with ATMIV lifting by 26.19 point and 65% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:41

(Source: Whattrading)

Mid-Day Trade Ideas. October 18, 2012

Bullish Idea:

Silver Wheaton : (SLW)

SLW is trying to breakout from long term trendline. The stock is on an up trend and silver prices have more room to run. Can be a long term holding as well.
Disclosure: I hold SLW.

Bearish Idea:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF):

An aberration in the fashion world, no one wearing clothes will miss anything if this company closes down. The stock is in a down trend. The short interest and put/call ratios are high which indicates pessimism about this stock. As the stock is in a downtrend, it can be considered as an affirmation of the negative sentiment.
Disclosure: No position.

Trade ideas: October 18, 2012

Bullish Idea:

Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR)



Murphy Oil (MUR) adds $4.54 to $63.54 after announcing plans to spinoff its refining business. The company also said it was paying a special dividend and initiating a $1 billion share buyback. The stock is up and recent options trades on the stock include a Jan 62.5 – 65 (1X2) call ratio spread for $1.70, 20000X. It possibly rolls a block of 20,000 Jan 62.5 calls opened earlier this month when 20,000 were bought for $1.89 following a CNBC report that Third Point might take an activist role in MUR (see 10/4 color). The stock has rallied 9.2 percent since that time and the position is being closed at $3.90 — a $4 million win. A new position is being opened in 40,000 Jan 65 calls for $2.80 and, at the same time, a 20000-lot of Jan 70 calls was sold at $1.10 per contract, resulting in a new position in the Jan 65 – 70 (2X1) call ratio spread. If so, the new position seems to express continued confidence in MUR.

Bearish Trading Ideas:

Overseas Shipholding Group: (OSG):



Overseas Shipholding (OSG), which saw a flurry of put activty Friday when the stock was still north of $5 (see 10/12 color), has come under fire today. The stock is down $1.46 to $3.71 on heavy volume of 2 million shares and at session lows on concerns the shipping company has maxed out its lending facilities. Another 20,000 puts and 7,350 calls traded on the stock. Jan 4 puts were the most actives Friday. Now, Jan and Oct 3 puts are seeing the bulk of the flow and 30-day ATM vols are soaring 83 percent to 220.

Trade Ideas (H/T: Fred Ruffy )

Please do your due diligence. Options and derivatives involve high risk as in any trading. You are responsible for any trade you take. Please read the full disclosure above.

Unusual Put & Call Activity of 17Th Oct. 2012

FYI

Ideas For the Night. October 17, 2012

• How I would Play LEN:

There are many ways you can skin the cat but if I were to take an options play on LEN, I would
"Sell put option on Len when the market is bit weak, most likely after October 25th."

• SPX Daily Option flow:

• VIX Option Flow:

• 52 Weeks Highs & Lows;

52-Week Highs
198 new highs: .HGX AAT ACE AEP AFFY AGP AHL AIG ALL AMGN AMWD AN ANV AOL AOS ARIA ASR AUY AWH AXS BAX BCEI BEN BG BK BMI BWS CAG CATY CB CBM CHDN CHS CI CL CLGX CLNY CLW CLX CMCSA CMCSK CNK CNP CP CRL CTFO CUK CVH CYMI DFS DGI DVY DWRE DXPE DYAX ECL EHTH EIX EPL EPP ESC EVER EWH EWL EWM EWW EXH FAF FMS FMX FNF FSIN FUN FVE GEO GIL GILT GLP GMO GRP GXP HBC HCBK HCC HOV HTH HYD IDA IFGL IRM ITB JKHY JNJ KBH KEP KIE KOF KR KRG KS LAMR LEG LEN LINTA LKQ LLY LMLP LOW LPX LUX LYB MA MANH MAT MDF MHK MHO MHP MIDD MKL MMP MORN MPW MRH MRK MTB NFP NGG NLSN NOC NVE NVO NVS NWL ONXX OSTK PAC PCH PCY PDLI PFE PFF PHG PHM PII PIR PJC PMT PNG PNM PPG PRE PTIE PTP PVH RCL RDN RE REGN RKT ROP RSE SBAC SEMG SHAW SHEN SIGI SIM SIX SPNC SSI STC STRM STZ SVA SVXY SXL TAO THO TRV UGI UL UN UNF V VAC VASC VCIT VFC VMED VR WES WHR WY WYN XHB XLV XOM

52-week Lows
30 new lows: ACTV AMD AONE APOL CHKP EGI ESI FXP INTC INTX LDK LEDS LOJN OSG PBT QNST SATC SJB STRA THQI TWIN UVXY VIIX VIXM VIXY VLTR VNDA VXX VXZ ZAZA

Options Trade Ideas: October 17, 2012

Bullish Stocks:

Lenner Corp:(LEN)
Up trending in the last 3 months. Housing is supposed to be hot.(I don't believe it, but market does not care about what I believe) Has a hight short interest, which can be considered a contrarian indicator for an uptrending stock.
I would like to take a long position in this stock till about 25th November.
Target Price: $ 43/$44
Stop Loss: $35+/-
Current price: Around $38

Put & Call Activities. October 17, 2012

(Source: schaeffersresearch)