In what appears to be a bit of a ?pick off?/ a customer bought just under 17000 JNJ Jan 102 puts for .65
Bullish Call Spread in HTZ
Earlier today Hertz Global was trading at 24.50 and had a vol of 42%.? Today a customer traded the January 25/26 call spread tied to stock.? The trader bought 8500 of the Jan 25 calls for 45 and 8500 for .50 then sold 15,000 of the Jan 26 calls at .20.? This trade was tied to stock.? This appears to be a slightly bullish call spread with a slight ratio of long calls to short calls.? The stock tie changes it to more of a volatility play than a bull play, but the customer is still wanting the underlying to go higher
This trade should be considered bullish the underlying and bullish volatility in HTZ.? Traders looking to piggy back could simply buy the Jan 26/27 call spread for .25 or do a 26/27/28 butterfly for .10
Pick Off in JNJ
In what appears to be a bit of a ?pick off?/ a customer bought just under 17000 of the Jan 102 puts for .65.? At the time the stock was trading 105.22.? Since then the underlying has deteriorated and is now about 1.00 lower.? Well timed friend.? The trader has not unwound the trade and is currently up about .25 a contract.
The trader clearly believes that JNJ will keep falling and that the underlying is going to do so at, in JNJ terms, a significant page.? This should be considered aggressively bearish JNJ and bullish volatility.
Traders looking to piggy back could buy the 103 puts for 1.18 and sell the 100 put for .50 creating a put spread for less than .70 that can pay out 3.00.
Longo Special in CIM
Chimera Investment Corporation was trading at 3.32 today when a customer bought to close the Jan 2.3 put 22860 times at .01.? This appears to be part of an existing put spread from 3.30-2.30 that has been on the books for quite some time.? This trader appears to think that the underlying is going to drop at such a rate that it might be worth closing the 2.3 puts with 25 days to expire for .01.
This would represent a large drop in the underlying, almost 33% thus this should be considered aggressively bearish the name and bullish volatility.