Most Active Stock Options November 23, 2009 & Trading Activity

As of today the top ten most traded option contracts were:

1. Bank of America (BAC) January 17.50 Call Options
2. PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ) December 45 Call Options
3. S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) December 111 Call Options
4. S&P 500 SPDR December 115 Call Options
5. Volatility Index (VIX) Decmber 60 Call Options
6. S&P 500 SPDR December 111 Put Options
7. PowerShares QQQ December 44 Call Options
8. S&P 500 SPDR December 120 Call Options
9. S&P 500 Index Options (SPX) December 1180 Call Options
10. Origin Agritech Ltd. (SEED) December 10 Call Options

The sentiment from today's most active options seems very bearish, excluding the December 60 strike call options on the Volatility Index. I believe this position is the outcome of one trader hedging his/her portfolio. If you look at the OptionsXpress December VIX option chain below, you can see that nearly double the amount of VIX 60 strike calls traded than the December VIX 45 calls, the 45 calls were pretty much financed by the 60 calls. This trader expects volatility to rise near term, but not by more than 75. The break even for this trade would be roughly 75 on the VIX.

click to enlarge

Common shares of Origin Agritech Ltd. (SEED) traded like options today, doubling in value. The 10 calls exploded with volume today, it will certainly be interesting to see what both the shares and options do tomorrow. Today I traded Google 590 and 600 calls several times, with being short the 600 calls overnight. Happy trading!