Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Tech Stock Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Barbara Barry who wrote (40274)	4/18/1998 2:09:00 AM
From: SteveG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58727

<A> Options Report: Rolling Tech Positions On Expiration Friday By Steven M. Sears NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The April expiration of options is proceeding smoothly as traders close out positions and roll them into distant months. Trading is relatively orderly against the backdrop of a rising market. The Standard & Poor's 100 index - which options trader use to trade the market - is up 4.42 to 540.36. In equity options trading, traders are rolling put options on some leading technology stocks, suggesting that the concerns may not have waned. Positions in Motorola and Oracle have been closed in April and rolled into May. Stock investors often buy put contracts to protect the value of their stock. The value of puts, which provide the right to sell stock at a certain price within a certain time, increase in value as the price of the underlying stock decreases. With Intel's stock hovering around 75, traders are closing their April 75 puts and calls because the stock price is too close to the stock price to take the chance of being long or short, said Michael Schwartz, CIBC Oppenheimer's chief options strategist. In the restaurant sector, a position of 4,083 April 15 puts in Planet Hollywood International was rolled to the same strike price in May. Elsewhere in the options market: -Speculators who bought Cendant's May 20 calls were right that investors overreacted when they sold off Cendant's stock Thursday on news of possible accounting irregularities. The speculators bet that the stock would break above 20 on Friday after falling 16 9/16 to 19 1/6 in the previous session. The stock opened at 20, hit a high of 20 15/16, and is now trading at 20 7/16. - Investors are bringing a lot of anxiety to the Ucar International pit. They're trying to protect their stock with put options after the company said in its annual report that it may be forced to seek Chapter 11 protection because of the impact of a 1997 charge of $340 million, the settlement of an antitrust probe by the Department of Justice and related lawsuits and claims, Federal Filings reported. Almost 2,400 puts have been bought, which is more than unusual because Ucar's options generally trade by appointment. Not a single call option has traded. "It's not very often you bring up an option page and see that all of the options are on the put side of it and none are on the call side," said Paul Foster, 1010 WallStreet.com's market strategist.