Data in the options market is provided freely by many online platforms like Barcharts and Webull. As a result, it is possible to see how large and small investors are positioning themselves for the future. The options trading industry is a vast one, especially in the United States.

Instead, it is an important resistance level where the stock has struggled to move above before. As shown below, this 35 is both an important psychological level and an important resistance level, as shown in the chart below. For example, many insiders usually know whether the company is doing well or not. For example, recently, when the Wirecard crisis came out, many senior executives knew more about the fraud the company was carrying out.

How to use Level 2 Data to Trade at a Higher Tier!

And even if the $202.50 strike price puts are exercised, at least then the investor will own the TSLA shares at $202.50 (less 30 cents net credit). So then they will have a covered call position with the $310 OTM calls. So, in effect, the short-put investor has a profit of $1.04 in the long puts, as long as TSLA stock stays at $201.16 or lower. Meanwhile, they must figure the call options will wither over time unless TSLA stock rises by over 54% over the next 142 days (almost 4.75 months from now). The first tranche of options (puts) was in-the-money since the price of TSLA stock closed at $201.16 on Tuesday, May 16.

For example, if the stock is trading at $10, you could identify a large call option in the next three months. This means that there is a large trader or investor who expects the stock to rise during this period. As such, unusual options activity is the process where you study activities in the options market and see some unusual activity. However, this strategy comes with a high risk that AMD stock could rebound before the expiration period of this Friday. In that case, their shares could be called away at the strike prices seen above.

How to Use Unusual Options Activity in Day Trading

They may have shorted the in-the-money puts with the hope that TSLA stock will rise in the next 2 days. These strike prices are over 7% and 9% higher than today’s price, and so provide good upside protection for investors selling covered calls. Either way, AMD option premiums show huge income opportunities for existing long investors in the stock, as they wait for the stock to rebound. This means that investors are taking short-term bets on the direction of the stock.

• High daily volume on an options contract warrants further analysis to try and identify where the trades are coming from.
• Flipcharts are available, and you may choose to view charts for the underlying equity or for the option strike when you open the Flipcharts link.
• For example, the $83.00 strike price calls for May 5 are trading for $1.09 at the midpoint.
• As shown below, this 35 is both an important psychological level and an important resistance level, as shown in the chart below.
• As a result, Barchart now reports that there has been huge unusual call option activity in AMD stock.
• Available only with a Premier Membership, you can base an Options Screener off the symbols currently on the page.

These investors may be willing to pay that price, as it may not seem a high hurdle to them. For example, call options expiring on May 26 at $88.00 per share trade for $1.40 per call contract. In addition, the $90.00 call prices are at 96 cents per call option.

What are options in simple terms?

For example, if the stock is trading at $10, you could have a call option that buys it when it rises to $14. This tool will download a .csv file for the View being displayed. For other static pages (such as the Russell 3000 Components list) all rows will be downloaded. At least that way the long call position is more than paid for, with a net 30-cent credit (i.e., $5.45 from the short puts – $5.15 for the long OTM calls).

• For example, the puts closed at $5.45 per put contract, and the calls traded at $5.15 per call contract.
• Therefore, looking at this unusual activity can help you find trading opportunities.
• These investors may be willing to pay that price, as it may not seem a high hurdle to them.

The first step of trading using the unusual options activity is to find it, as we have seen above. For example, in the chart above, we see that there is some unusual activity in Wells Fargo. Unique to Barchart.com, data tables contain an option that allows you to see more data for the symbol without leaving the page. Click the “+” icon in the first column (on the left) to view more data for the selected symbol. Scroll through widgets of the different content available for the symbol. The “More Data” widgets are also available from the Links column of the right side of the data table.

Unusual Stock Options Activity

For example, the company said adjusted earnings per share (EPS) was 60 cents, which was 4 cents better than analysts forecast, according to Seeking Alpha. However, in Q EPS was $1.13, showing a 47% drop in earnings per share. On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake, CFA did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.

The second tranche was way out-of-the-money (OTM) since the $310 call strike price is 54% higher than today’s price. The activity in the options market is important because many insiders, investors, and investment bankers use options. Therefore, looking at this data carefully can give you more details about whether to buy or short a stock. To understand the unusual options activity, it is important that you know what a call and put option are. That’s because the two are the main order types in the options market.

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Site Members may also download the data on the page to a .csv file. Another perfect example is what happened on September 9, 2001, when terrorists hit New York. Shortly after that, shares of all airline stocks declined sharply. A closer look at the data showed that there were some investors who had previously shorted these stocks, meaning they know what will happen. High daily volume on an options contract warrants further analysis to try and identify where the trades are coming from.