How one bull is sticking with Occidental
Traders have made a killing in Occidental Petroleum, and they're not ready to exit the name yet.
optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker monitoring program detected unusual option activity in the Los Angeles-based energy company several times last month, giving investors gains of at 50 percent to 100 percent on more than one occasion. On Friday, one of those trades was adjusted in hopes that the shares continue to rally.
This time, a block of 24,855 June 90 calls was bought for $3.65. Less than one minute later an equal number of May 85 calls was sold for $6.20 in volume below the previous open interest at that strike.
It appears that the trader is closing an existing long position and rolling it forward by a month. Adjusting the position let the trader collect a credit of $2.55 while keeping him or her exposed to further upside . (See our Education section for more on how to manage risk with calls and puts.)
OXY rose 3.03 percent to $90.76 on Friday and is up 12 percent in the last month. Overall option volume was quadruple its daily average, with calls accounting for more than 80 percent of the total.
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