AMC Shorts Get Smoked Again And Options Traders Hammer Calls

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC was trading up 22%, at one point, Monday afternoon amid continued retail interest in squeezing institutions and hedge funds who have short positions on the stock.

Between May 24 and June 2, AMC’s stock skyrocketed 496% to $72.62 before falling 45% to $39.71 where it found a bottom. The stock has since made a run back up and on Monday gapped up just over 4%. The gap left below didn’t scare off traders who came in and immediately purchased shares and options contracts of AMC, which caused the stock to run north even further.

Bullish AMC options are betting AMC is in for an even larger squeeze and purchased hundreds of call contracts totally well over $8.68 million.

See Also: How to Buy AMC 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 AMC Entertainment Option Trades: Below is a look at the notable options alerts, courtesy of Benzinga Pro:

• At 10:25 a.m., Monday a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 200 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $145 expiring on July 16. The trade represented a $148,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid $7.40 per option contract.
• At 10:36 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 223 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $40 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $335,615 bullish bet for which the trader paid $15.05 per option contract.
• At 10:36 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 321 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $40 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $487,920 bullish bet for which the trader paid $15.20 per option contract.
• At 10:42 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 220 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $29 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $563,200 bullish bet for which the trader paid $25.60 per option contract.
• At 10:52 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 304 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $60 expiring on July 2. The trade represented a $442,320 bullish bet for which the trader paid $14.55 per option contract.
• At 10:52 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep above the ask of 615 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $60 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $900,975 bullish bet for which the trader paid $14.65 per option contract.
• At 10:59 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 769 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $40 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $1.46 million bullish bet for which the trader paid $19.05 per option contract.
• At 11:19 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 1461 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $85 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $555,180 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.80 per option contract.
• At 11:20 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 719 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $55 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $738,413 bullish bet for which the trader paid $10.27 per option contract.
• At 11:21 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 644 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $55 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $669,760 bullish bet for which the trader paid $10.40 per option contract.
• At 12:51 p.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 303 AMC Entertainment options with a strike price of $65 expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $209,070 bullish bet for which the trader paid $6.90 per option contract.

AMC Price Action: Shares of AMC Entertainment were trading up 16.6% to $57.53 at publication time.

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