Found this little ditty.
CHICAGO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Investors continued to bid
equity calls higher on Tuesday after International Business
Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) set a stock split.
Calls on IBM were especially active on the Chicago Board
Options Exchange, where the February 185, 190 and 200 calls
topped the most active list, registering combined volume of
12,750 contracts. The stock was up 3-5/16 at 184-1/4.
Overall equity call volume on the CBOE, the biggest options
market, outpaced put volume 228,871 contracts to 78,981 as of
1130 CST/1730 GMT.
"The smart money is currently selling extremely expensive
calls to the public," said Jerry Hegarty, chief analyst with
Cape Market Research and editor of Hegarty's Options Navigator.
"Look for call option writers to clean the pockets of call
speculators over the next few months," he added. "The euphoria
swirling around stocks virtually insures little overall upside
progress in prices."
Michael Schwartz, chief options strategist with CIBC
Oppenheimer, attributed part of the heavy volume in equity
calls during the last few weeks to day traders on the Internet.
"It's a combination of day traders and people selling
premium," he said, noting that premium levels were still very
high.
The S&P 100 (INDEX:$OEX) was up 3.15 points to 619.21, while the
Market Volatility Index (INDEX:$VIX.X), which measures implied
volatility of several strikes on OEX options, slipped 0.86
point to 30.81.
chicago.derivatives.newsroom@reuters.com))
Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service
P.S. I sold my expensive MSFT calls today for a double to some fool (or maybe I'm the fool)
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