One investor is upping the ante in Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, which has doubled since October.
optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker monitoring system detected the purchase of 3,000 March 30 calls for $1.20 and the sale of 1,500 March 25 calls for $4. Volume was below open interest in the 25s but above it in the 30s, which suggests that an existing position was rolled from one strike to the other.
The investor has probably made a nice profit and is now adjusting the trade fur further potential gains. He or she recovered $240,000 of capital and doubled the number of contracts owned at the higher strike.
That will increase leverage but will profit only if AEGR makes a big move in the next month. (See our Education section for more on how options can be used to manage positions.)
AEGR is up 1.42 percent to $29.25 in morning trading after hitting a new all-time high of $29.25 earlier in the session. It's been rallying since mid-October, when a Food and Drug Administration panel voted favorably on the company's lomitapide lipid drug.
Total option volume is more than 7 times greater than average in the name so far today, with calls outnumbering puts by 23 to 1.
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