From Schaeffer's Research:
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) -- which will be stepping up to the earnings plate this Wednesday -- has gained about 2.8% so far today to wink at the $141.87 level. In fact, the stock touched a new all-time high of $142.65 within the first half hour of the session. As earnings loom, speculators from both ends of the trading spectrum have converged on TSLA, with roughly 29,000 calls and 25,000 puts changing hands -- a 25% mark-up over the equity's expected intraday option volume. Also, the equity's 30-day, at-the-money implied volatility is climbing higher, up 5.1 percentage points (or 6.6%) from Friday's close.
On the call side, nearly 1,700 contracts have been exchanged at the weekly 8/9 150 strike for a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $5.45. The majority of these out-of-the-money calls crossed at the ask price, pointing to buyer-driven activity. Meanwhile, today's volume has exceeded current open interest levels, and implied volatility has spiked 32.5 percentage points -- underscoring our theory of fresh bullish bets. In other words, traders are expecting TSLA to muscle north of the $155.45 level (strike price plus the VWAP) by Friday's close, when these weekly options expire. This denotes a 9% increase from the equity's aforementioned record high.
Elsewhere, a number of bears set their sights on the September 140-strike put, where over 1,100 contracts have traded at a VWAP of $13.56. Nearly all of the puts switched hands at the ask price, suggesting they were purchased....MORE
