The iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF (EWY) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of South Korean equities. The chart looks weak and it seems as if it wants to break the Ichimoku Cloud to the downside. Today, a trader bought 2,500 EWY April 58 Puts for $.85. Puts are bought for 1 of 2 reasons, speculation to the downside or as a hedge against a long stock position. With the chart looking so weak, I think the trader thinks there is more potential downside and with the breakeven of this trade at $57.15 a trader thinks that EWY can take out the 52 week lows. I have no position in this stock right now, but will be looking to get short if I notice more bearish activity.

Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) is a worldwide nutrition company selling a variety of health and nutrition products through a multi-level network of independent distributors. The company’s stock is currently trading around $57.45 in as 52 week range of $34.72-$83.51. The stock is down over 27% year to date and shares fell more than 13% over the past week as the Federal Trade Commission launched a civil probe into Herbalife’s operations. This announcement has long been expected since activist investor Bill Ackman announced a large short position and accused HLF of being a pyramid scheme last year. Options action in HLF during today’s trading session suggests traders believe this trend will continue through the end of the week. Earlier in the session a trader bought 1,623 HLF Mar 56 puts for $0.84. While this may not be a large trade in terms of normal HLF volume this is a rather large bet for such a short term time frame. With shares of HLF breaking down further on the cloud we believe that this trade sets up well on a reward to risk ratio for a short set up to the end of the week.

My Trade: I bought the HLF Mar 56 puts for $0.84
Risk: $84 per 1 lot
Breakeven: $55.16

Citrix Systems, Inc. (CTXS) is a cloud computing company that develops software for enterprise and online services. The company’s stock is currently trading around $60.85 in a 52 week range of $51.18-$77.16. The stock has been under performing the broader market with shares falling around 3.7% year to date. Options action during today’s trading session would suggest that traders believe this trend will continue through June expiration. Earlier today a trader bought 2,000 CTXS Jun 65 Calls for $2.825. This trade is a bullish bet that CTXS continues its recent move higher. Although the stock is down on the year it has rallied over 6.6% in the past month. The stock is now trading above the Ichimoku Cloud after breaking to the upside earlier this month. With bullish order flow and a strengthening chart we believe CTXS is setting up well for a long position.

Trade: Buying the CTXS Jun 65 Calls for $2.85
Risk: $285 per 1 lot
Reward: Unlimited
Breakeven: $67.85

Community Health Systems, Inc. (CYH) is an operator of healthcare facilities in the U.S. The company’s stock is currently trading around $35.45 in a 52 week range of $35.36-$51.29. The stock has been massively underperforming the market and has made new 52 week lows during today’s trading session. As the stock makes new lows we are seeing large put buyers in CYH.  Earlier in the session a trader bought 6,652 CYH May 39 puts for $4.66. Now a total of 10,000 contracts have traded on that line and today’s volume will create the largest line of open interest in any contract in May expiration. These are extremely bearish bets that indicate the high level of bearish conviction this trader has in CYH. The stock is trading well below the Ichimoku Cloud and the future cloud is sharply downward sloping. With a weak chart and bearish order flow we believe that CYH is signaling for a short position.

Trade: Buying the CYH Apr 34 Puts for $0.95
Risk: $95 per 1 lot
Breakeven: $33.05

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc (DO) is an oil and gas drilling contractor that operates offshore rigs. The company’s stock is currently trading around $44.00 in a 52 week range of $43.95-$73.19. The stock has been massively underperforming the market this year with shares falling nearly 22% year to date. Options action during today’s session suggests that traders believe this trend will continue through the rest of the year. Earlier in today’s trading session a trader bought 1,652 DO Jan 2015 36.25 puts for $1.61. In addition to this large put order in DO we have also seen massive put buying in Transocean Ltd. (RIG) which operates in the same sector as DO. With shares if DO hitting fresh 52 week lows in today’s session we believe the chart is indicating lower prices. With a bearish chart we believe that this order flow signals for a short opportunity in DO.

Trade: Buying the DO Jan 2015 36.25 for $1.70
Risk: $170 per 1 lot
Breakeven: $34.55

NextEra Energy, Inc. generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy in the United States and Canada. The company produces electricity from gas, oil, solar, coal, petroleum coke, and nuclear sources and this sector has performed extremely well as of late.

Today we saw a trader buy 4,434 NEE June 100 Calls for $0.55.  This gives this options buyer the right, but not obligation, to buy 443,400 Shares of stock for $100 between now and June expiration.   This trader paid almost $250,000 for this right.

Since this order hit the tape the stock has been on fire and the calls have moved from $0.55 to $0.80, meaning the trader has paper gains of nearly $150,000.  I personally chose not to take this trade due to high open interest (already 12,000 prior to the order), but the NEE chart looks great and I believe it will continue to head higher.

Andrew Keene

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells across the world.  Looking at the chart and using the Ichimoku Cloud, every single matrix leads me to believe this stock is headed lower.  It is trading below the Ichimoku Cloud, it is under the 9- and 26-day moving averages, and previous performance is weak (the stock hit a new 52-week low today).

Combined with the above bearish arguments, today we saw a trader come in and buy over 12,000 RIG May 37 Puts for $0.70.  I think this is smart money and decided to follow, paying up slightly ($0.77) in the same line and currently close to getting filled at my first price target of $0.90.

Let’s break down my trade:

The Trade: I bought the RIG May 37 Puts for $0.77
Risk: $77 per 1 lot
Targets: $0.90, $1.10, $1.30 and $1.50

Greeks of this Trade:
Delta: Short
Gamma: Long
Theta: Short
Vega: Long

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc (APD) is a commodity chemicals company providing product and services to businesses in many different industries. The company’s stock is currently trading around $119.95 in a 52 week range of $84.04-$123.60. The stock has been doing well this year with shares rallying over 7% year to date. Options action in today’s trading session suggests that traders believe this trend will continue through the rest of the year. Earlier in the session a trader bought 9,000 APD Jan 2015 135 calls for $3.90. This is a very bullish trade and represents some very unusual volume in APD. Over 5.5 times the average daily option volume has already traded in APD. This is also an outlay of  nearly $3.7 million for this trader.  With shares trading well above the cloud we believe that APD should head higher through January expiration.

Trade: Buying the APD Jan 2015 135 Calls for $4.10
Risk: $410 per 1 lot
Reward: Unlimited
Breakeven: $139.10

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE: APD) provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, equipment, and services worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Merchant Gases, Tonnage Gases, Electronics and Performance Materials, and Equipment and Energy.  Today a trader bought 10,000 APD Jan 2015 Calls for $4.10.  Let’s breakdown this trade:  this is a $4.1 Million bet APD can trade up to $135 by the end of 2015 with a break-even of $139.10.  Anytime I see an order this large, I need to allocate some of my capital to this trade, so I just followed the trader into the same position:

The Trade: I bought the APD Jan 2015 135 Calls for $4.10
Risk: $410 per 1 lot
Reward: Unlimited
Break-even on Expiration: $139.10

Greeks of this Trade:
Delta: Long
Gamma: Long
Theta: Short
Vega: Long