Why trader is selling NetApp calls
A call spread topped the unusual option activity in NetApp yesterday after the company reported earnings the night before.
optionMONSTER systems show that a trader bought 10,000 September 45 calls for the ask price of $0.25 against previous open interest of 22,866 contracts yesterday. At the same time, he or she sold the same number of the October 45 calls for the bid price of $0.54 in volume that was well above the open interest at that strike, so it is a new position.
This could be a short calendar spread , but it is more like that the trader is rolling a short-call position forward to the October 25 strike. Those short calls calls could have been combined with long shares in a covered-call strategy , which would be bullish up to that $45 level but give up gains beyond that. (See our Education section)
The initial reaction to the data-storage maker's quarterly results Wednesday evening had NTAP down to $40.20 at the open after closing at $42.33. But it climbed off that level and ended yesterday at $42.03, down 0.71 percent.
More than 72,400 NTAP options changed hands yesterday, quadruple its daily average in the last month.
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