Apple Options Traders Pile In Despite Market Uncertainty

On Monday, Apple Inc AAPL announced a number of new products and features on the first day of its five-day Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple announced updates to its operating systems across its hardware products, Apple’s new cloud service dubbed Xcode Cloud and a number of new apps, but its stock failed to break out above resistance at the $127 area and has remained below it since.

On Thursday morning, Apple made another attempt to break out but weakness in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY caused Apple’s stock to drop back below its overhead resistance level. Despite the uncertainty, Apple options traders purchased call contracts consistently throughout the morning.

See Also: How to Buy Apple Stock Right Now

Why It’s Important: When a sweep order occurs, it indicates the trader wanted to get into a position quickly and is anticipating an imminent large move in stock price. A sweeper pays market price for the call option instead of placing a bid, which sweeps the order book of multiple exchanges to fill the order immediately.

These types of call option orders are usually made by institutions, and retail investors can find watching for sweepers useful because it indicates “smart money” has entered into a position.

The Apple Option Trades: Below is a look at the notable options alerts, courtesy of Benzinga Pro:

• At 9:38 a.m., Thursday a trader executed a call sweep, near the ask, of 200 Apple options with a strike price of $125 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $159,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid $7.95 per option contract.
• At 9:55 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep, near the ask, of 440 Apple options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $232,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid $5.80 per option contract.
• At 10:03 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep, near the ask, of 223 Apple options with a strike price of $125 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $76,935 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.45 per option contract.
• At 10:26 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep, near the ask, of 934 Apple options with a strike price of $130 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $53,238 bullish bet for which the trader paid 57 cents per option contract.
• At 10:52 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep, near the ask, of 200 Apple options with a strike price of $123 expiring on June 11. The trade represented a $70,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.50 per option contract.
• At 11:27 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep, near the ask, of 1000 Apple options with a strike price of $130 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $43,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid 43 cents per option contract.