Darrell,
Can you help decipher this? I'm afraid that options are Greek to me.
biz.yahoo.com
In individual issues, activity stacked up on Monday in options on Iomega Corp. (IOM - news), with the May and August 7.5 puts the busiest options on both the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the American Stock Exchange on Monday.
Volume in the May 7.5 puts at the AMEX totaled 9,067 and 19,657 at the CBOE on open interest of 70,216. The CBOE option ended off 3/16 at 2-1/2.
In the August 7.5 put, CBOE volume totaled 19,600 on open interest of 6,753, and AMEX volume was 9,015. The option closed off 1/8 at 2-3/4.
Also on the CBOE, the Iomega August 5.0 put posted volume of 8,910 on open interest of 10,253. It dipped 1/16 at 13/16.
But the volume buildup on both exchanges was tied to position-adjustment, although implied vols firmed.
''It's a roll,'' said a market maker at the CBOE in Iomega options. ''They're coming in for the August.''
Time-and-sales data for May and August CBOE 7.5 puts showed two, 5,000-lot orders executed as spreads in each expiry. Data also showed the AMEX May and August 7.5 put each had one, 7,500-contract spread executed.
The CBOE market maker said one large customer had rolled ''less than a third of his position'' in the May 7.5 put, but he also said implied vols near the close remained firm.
''Vols are going up a small amount, not a lot,'' he added, quoting the spread at near 96 percent, compared to its more-typical high-80s or low-90s area.
Thanks,
Ken |
