Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is rarely among the most active of option series at the CBOE each day. A low price and low probability option trade was seen today that really stands out. The half-hour review at 10:30 AM EST showed that some 18,450 contracts in the MARCH 2012 $23.00 puts had traded. Now there have been 21,676 contracts traded and that figure has grown each few minutes. The prior open interest was only 4 contracts as the chances of this stock hitting $23.00 in less than a month from the $29.35 level today are probably slim to none. Most likely someone has decided to capture some premium via ‘synthetic long’ trades or they are taking a very cheap bet that something really bad is coming down the pipe between now and March 16 on expiration date.
The 52-week trading range for the stock was $19.19 to 29.83, but shares hit a new high of $29.92 earlier this morning before the selling came on. 20,000 contracts represents 2 million shares and we have only seen 4 million shares trade so far this morning.
Keep in mind that these trades are taking place for under $0.05 per contract.
JON C. OGG
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