Monday, May 17, 2010

So why is Freddie Mac Jumping After-hours?: "Put Volume Spikes on Freddie Mac" (FRE)

AH the stock is trading up six cents (4.51%) after closing down four cents at $1.33.
From Schaeffer's Research:

It would be a massive understatement to note that puts are rather popular today on Freddie Mac (FRE), with more than 30,000 of these pessimistically oriented options changing hands so far. This flurry of activity represents about 18 times the equity's expected daily put volume of fewer than 2,000 contracts.

FRE's July 1 put is far and away the most popular, with exactly 30,000 contracts trading at this narrowly out-of-the-money strike. All of these puts have crossed the tape at the ask price, suggesting they were purchased. But, with 34,460 contracts in residence at this strike, it's unclear whether this volume consists primarily of newly opened puts, or liquidations of existing contracts....MORE