$ATVI calls double intraday

Bullish option traders are posting intraday profits in Activision Blizzard (ATVI) today.

Before noon today, Feb. 9, Market Rebellion’s Unusual Activity Service detected the purchase of 3,100 Weekly $81 calls, expiring this Friday, for $0.12 to $0.43 with shares at $80.42. Open interest in the strike before the trade occurred was just 2,105 contracts, showing that this was a new position.

Those calls traded up to $0.95 this afternoon, more than 2 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 1.8% in the same time period, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved with options.

Long calls lock in the price where a stock can be purchased, gaining with a rally and providing leverage to the underlying shares. The contracts can quickly lose value if the stock stalls or pulls back but also carry less risk than owning the shares themselves.

ATVI closed higher on the day by 1.58% at $81.50.