Quick profits shine in Silver Wheaton
Upside option activity hit Silver Wheaton early on Friday, and traders racked up some fast money in the stock.
The Weekly 19 calls that expire at the end of this week were purchased early for $0.43, according to optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker scanners. Almost 5,000 traded in the session versus previous positioning of just 179 contracts, clearly showing that this is fresh buying.
Calls lock in the price where shares can be purchased, which can result in some nice leverage if the investor times the move correctly. That's exactly what happened in Friday's trade because those Weekly 19 calls more than doubled to over $1 by the afternoon.
SLW rose 7.49 percent to close the session at $19.67 but has lost more than half its value since November amid a big selloff in gold and silver prices. The company is highly leveraged to silver prices because it purchases the metal from big miners at a discount and sells it at market prices.
More than 28,000 calls traded in the session, compared to fewer than 6,100 puts. Total option volume in the name on Friday was more than twice its daily average.
Disclosure: I own SLW calls.
(A version of this post appeared on InsideOptions Pro on Friday.)
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