Implied Volatility Mover
Implied volatility in the options on Barrick Gold (ABX) is moving higher, as the stock slides to new 52-week lows Wednesday. The stock is down $1.76 to $24.93 in heavy trading of 19.4 million shares on another rough day for the gold bugs and on news a Chilean court has suspended one of the Barrick’s mining projects. The stock is down and options volume is up to almost 100K contracts. 57,000 calls and 40,000 puts so far. Meanwhile, 30-day implied volatility in the options on the stock jumped 12 percent to 34.5.
Volume Signals
Microsoft (MSFT) options volume is running 3.5X the (22-day) average, with 258,000 contracts traded and call volume accounting for 68 percent of the volume.
First Solar (FSLR) options volume is 3X the average daily volume with 62,000 contracts traded and call option volume representing 52 percent of the activity.
Barrick Gold (ABX) options volume is running 4X the average daily with 90,000 contracts traded and call volume accounting for 59 percent of the activity.
Increasing options activity is also being seen in iShares Japan Fund (EWJ), Ciena (CIEN), and HCA.
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